Health leaders call on government to implement ‘Plan B’ as Covid cases continue to rise

The NHS confederation is calling on the government to introduce tougher Covid restrictions (termed ‘Plan B’) to prevent the health service from “stumbling into a winter crisis”.

The calls come as coronavirus cases in the UK have begun to steadily rise over recent days. For the past week, Covid cases have exceeded 40,000 every day, with 43,738 recorded on Tuesday (19th October) and 49,156 on Monday (18th October). The last time cases were this high was in mid-July.

The Confederation is now particularly concerned as hospitalisations and deaths also appear to be rising, with the number of hospital admissions rising by 10% and the number of deaths rising by nearly 15% in just one week.

In fact, yesterday (19th October) the UK reported its highest number of deaths in a single day since early March, with 223 deaths within 28 days of a positive Covid-19 test.

While the number of deaths and hospitalisations is still relatively low compared to the peak of the pandemic, the Confederation says that preventative measures should be put in place “sooner rather than later” to prevent the situation from worsening, and putting unsustainable pressure on the NHS.

For this reason, health leaders now calling on the government to implement ‘Plan B’, which would see the re-introduction of certain measures, including: communicating caution to the public, legally mandating face coverings in certain settings, and asking people to work from home where they can.

Many of these measures are already in place across much of Europe, where disease prevalence is significantly lower.

An “uncontrolled epidemic” in school children

However, the business secretary Kwasi Kwarteng said implementing these restrictions in England is not needed “for now”. He insisted that the government is not being complacent and instead urged greater uptake of the booster jab.

Christina Pagel, a professor at University College London (UCL) and member of the independent SAGE group, said the spike in cases is partly due to “an uncontrolled epidemic in children in schools”.

She tweeted: “These past 10 days [I’m] hearing of so many friends and acquaintances getting Covid – and almost all of them are either children or adults who caught it from a child.”

She questions why we have abandoned “all the things we know work”, such as wearing masks and ensuring good ventilation, and agrees that Plan B should be implemented urgently. Prof Pagel says the government should also focus on vaccinating children and implementing infection control measures in schools to bring cases down.

The news comes as reports of a new variant, which some are calling “Delta Plus”, has begun to circulate in the UK. Although it has not yet been dubbed a “variant of concern”, scientists warn that it could be marginally more infectious.

Tests are now being performed to understand how much of a threat it may post, but thankfully it is not thought to be able to escape the Covid-19 vaccines currently available.

‘Plan B Plus’ urges the public to pull together and show extra support for the NHS

If cases continue on this upward trajectory, the Confederation say ‘Plan B’ should got a step further with the implementation of ‘Plan B Plus’. This plan would call on the public to mobilise around the NHS and do whatever they can to support frontline services this winter.

This could include: getting vaccinated (including booster shots), turning up for scheduled healthcare appointments on time, using frontline services responsibly (such as only calling 999 in emergency situations), and volunteering to support the NHS or joining/returning to the workforce.

Matthew Taylor, chief executive of the NHS Confederation, warns that if the government fails to get a grip on the rising cases of Covid-19 and other illnesses, the health service will only fall further behind as the backlog continues to grow.

He said: “There is a crucial opportunity for the public to pull together and show extra support for the NHS by behaving in ways that will keep themselves and others safe and also safeguard stretched frontline services for those most in need.

“It is time for the Government to enact Plan B of its strategy without delay because without pre-emptive action, we risk stumbling into a winter crisis. Also, health leaders need to understand what a ‘Plan C’ would entail if these measures are insufficient.

“The government should not wait for Covid infections to rocket and for NHS pressures to be sky high before the panic alarm is sounded.”