The health secretary, Matt Hancock, is facing fresh pressure over the protection offered to NHS staff after the European commission said the UK had been given “ample opportunity” to join an EU scheme bulk-buying masks, gowns, gloves and goggles.
After a day of confusion in Westminster over the UK’s lack of involvement in the EU’s joint procurement of equipment, a spokesman for the commission appeared to bolster the claim that ministers had taken a “political decision” to opt out.
The commission spokesman said UK representatives had been briefed on the EU plans throughout February and March when they could have signed up for the huge purchases of ventilators, laboratory supplies and personal protective equipment.
UK officials and ministers have repeatedly said the government only failed to take part in the schemes because “owing to an initial communication problem, the UK did not receive an invitation in time”.
The commission spokesman told reporters in Brussels: “The EU commission already announced on 31 January that it could help member states with organisation of such joint procurement schemes and this idea of joint procurement and reporting on the state of the medical supplies of the member states was a recurring topic of the agenda of the health and security committee meetings.
“The UK was, as all other members of the health security committee meetings, aware of the work that was ongoing and had ample opportunity to express its wish to participate in a joint procurement if it wanted to do so. As to why it did not participate, this is obviously something on which we cannot comment.”
On Wednesday, the foreign secretary, Dominic Raab, speaking in the Commons, announced that 69 people working within the NHS had died from the coronavirus. There are growing fears about the shortages of personal protective equipment within the healthcare system.
Raab confirmed, in response to questions from the new Labour leader, Keir Starmer, that the government needed to “strive even harder in this incredibly difficult and competitive international environment” to source protective equipment.
As the Guardian has previously revealed, UK health officials attended meetings on 31 January, 4 February, 2 March and 13 March, where joint procurement rounds for protective gear, ventilators and medical supplies were discussed.
On Tuesday, the health secretary was forced to deny claims, since retracted, by the UK’s most senior diplomat, Sir Simon McDonald, that ministers had made a “political decision” in not getting involved.
Speaking at Downing Street’s daily press briefing on Tuesday evening, Hancock said: “I have spoken to the foreign secretary. As far as I’m aware there was no political decision not to participate.
“We did receive an invitation in the Department of Health and it was put up to me to be asked and we joined so we are now members of that scheme.”
A spokesman for the European commission rebutted any suggestion that the UK was currently involved in any of the EU’s efforts to buy masks, gowns, ventilators or laboratory supplies. “They are most welcome to participate in future rounds,” the spokesman said.
Epidemics of infectious diseases behave in different ways but the 1918 influenza pandemic that killed more than 50 million people is regarded as a key example of a pandemic that occurred in multiple waves, with the latter more severe than the first. It has been replicated – albeit more mildly – in subsequent flu pandemics.
How and why multiple-wave outbreaks occur, and how subsequent waves of infection can be prevented, has become a staple of epidemiological modelling studies and pandemic preparation, which have looked at everything from social behaviour and health policy to vaccination and the buildup of community immunity, also known as herd immunity.
Is there evidence of coronavirus coming back elsewhere?
This is being watched very carefully. Without a vaccine, and with no widespread immunity to the new disease, one alarm is being sounded by the experience of Singapore, which has seen a sudden resurgence in infections despite being lauded for its early handling of the outbreak.
Although Singapore instituted a strong contact tracing system for its general population, the disease re-emerged in cramped dormitory accommodation used by thousands of foreign workers with inadequate hygiene facilities and shared canteens.
Singapore’s experience, although very specific, has demonstrated the ability of the disease to come back strongly in places where people are in close proximity and its ability to exploit any weakness in public health regimes set up to counter it.
What are experts worried about?
Conventional wisdom among scientists suggests second waves of resistant infections occur after the capacity for treatment and isolation becomes exhausted. In this case the concern is that the social and political consensus supporting lockdowns is being overtaken by public frustration and the urgent need to reopen economies.
The threat declines when susceptibility of the population to the disease falls below a certain threshold or when widespread vaccination becomes available.
In general terms the ratio of susceptible and immune individuals in a population at the end of one wave determines the potential magnitude of a subsequent wave. The worry right now is that with a vaccine still months away, and the real rate of infection only being guessed at, populations worldwide remain highly vulnerable to both resurgence and subsequent waves.
The EU launched four rounds of procurement of personal protective equipment, ventilators and laboratory supplies in late February and March.
The Guardian revealed last week that UK officials failed to take up an invitation to join the steering committee of participating countries that issues orders for medical equipment until 19 March – after the bulk purchases had been made.
The UK’s involvement in the EU’s scheme would not have precluded independent efforts to source equipment. Deliveries of protective equipment to European health workers are expected within days.
