Africa Press-Nigeria:<\/p>\n
HEALTH leaders are calling for an urgent review to determine whether the UK is properly prepared for the \u201creal risk\u201d of a second wave of coronavirus.<\/p>\n
In an open letter published in the British Medical Journal, ministers were warned that urgent action would be needed to prevent further loss of life.<\/p>\n
The presidents of the Royal Colleges of Surgeons, Nursing, Physicians, and GPs all signed the letter.<\/p>\n
It comes after Boris Johnson announced sweeping changes to England\u2019s lockdown.<\/p>\n
The Department of Health said it would continue to be guided by the latest scientific advice and would give the NHS \u201cwhatever it needs\u201d.<\/p>\n
On Tuesday, the prime minister said pubs, restaurants, cinemas and hairdressers will be able to reopen from 4 July.<\/p>\n
The 2m social-distancing rule will be replaced with a \u201cone-metre plus\u201d rule, meaning people should stay at least 2m apart where possible, but otherwise should remain at least 1m apart while taking steps to reduce the risk of transmission, such as wearing face coverings.<\/p>\n
Following the announcement, health leaders called for a \u201crapid and forward-looking assessment\u201d of how prepared the UK would be for a new outbreak.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhile the future shape of the pandemic in the UK is hard to predict, the available evidence indicates that local flare-ups are increasingly likely and a second wave a real risk,\u201d they wrote.<\/p>\n
\u201cMany elements of the infrastructure needed to contain the virus are beginning to be put in place, but substantial challenges remain.\u201d<\/p>\n
The authors of the letter, also signed by the chair of the British Medical Association, urged ministers to set up a cross-party group with a \u201cconstructive, non-partisan, four nations approach\u201d, tasked with developing recommendations.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe review should not be about looking back or attributing blame,\u201d they said, and instead should focus on \u201careas of weakness where the action is needed urgently to prevent further loss of life and restore the economy as fully and as quickly as possible\u201d.<\/p>\n
Conservative MP Bernard Jenkin, chairman of the liaison committee, told BBC Two\u2019s Politics Live he supported a \u201clessons learned\u201d enquiry and had broached the subject with the government following the BMJ letter.<\/p>\n
He said it wasn\u2019t a \u201cfull-blooded inquiry but \u201cabout setting up a process that learns lessons\u201d.<\/p>\n
Pointing to an outbreak at a meat processing plant in Germany and South Korea having to trace 1,700 contacts after an incident at a nightclub, he said: \u201cIn the places which are the best in the world they are dealing with these spikes and we have to recognise there is a very real risk of that here too.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Africa Press-Nigeria: HEALTH leaders are calling for an urgent review to determine whether the UK is properly prepared for the \u201creal risk\u201d of a second wave of coronavirus. In an open letter published in the British Medical Journal, ministers were warned that urgent action would be needed to prevent further loss of life. The presidents […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":84,"featured_media":22549,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3,4],"tags":[1279,304],"class_list":{"0":"post-24633","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-all-news","8":"category-community","9":"tag-coronavirus-in-zimbabwe","10":"tag-health-ministry"},"yoast_head":"\n