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Covid inquiry live: Chaos over care home testing during the pandemic laid bare at hearing - USTimesPost

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Covid investigation round-up: Lee Cain and Dominic Cummings offer worrying insights into No10A series of emails submitted to the Covid inquiry revealed the chaos surrounding the government’s efforts to discharge NHS patients into care homes, many of whom had asymptomatic cases of Covid.Dr. Ben Warner, who appeared before the inquest on Monday, sent an email to top officials at No 10 on April 13 in which he said he was “increasingly concerned” about the spread of cases picked up in hospital to care homes.A Cabinet Office official then said he had spoken to the head of the Department of Health about the issue, who said it was “not a problem”.Dr. Warner asked the officer to explain “very emphatically” why this was not a problem.Boris Johnson’s former top adviser, Lord Edward Udny-Lister, is expected to appear at the inquiry this afternoon after it emerged yesterday that the former prime minister had described the Treasury as a “death squad proponent” during the pandemic.Mr Johnson reportedly used the phrase at a meeting in January 2021 when he wanted the ministry to help him argue for a path to easing lockdown restrictions.1699358944Simon Ridley has told the Covid inquiry he was not consulted about the Eat Out to Help Out scheme during the pandemic. This was “decided by the Prime Minister and the Chancellor,” said the former head of the Covid-19 task force. A surprised senior lawyer, Hugo Keith KC, said: “They were the only body tasked with raising awareness of the policy and strategy to respond to the virus and providing advice to the government on how to respond.” “You must have been extremely worried,” he added. Mr Ridley squirmed over his answer before saying: “Surprising things happen… we focused on the advice we could give.” Mr Keith said: “Because you were basically blindsided by the Treasury and you couldn’t do anything?” “Right,” said Mr Ridley. 1699357421Simon Ridley was asked by Covid inquiry lead counsel Hugo Keith KC whether the Cabinet Office and No10 needed to “urge” the Department of Health to address the issue of testing NHS patients before they are discharged to care homes and testing of social care staff deal with. He was asked if they needed to say, “What’s going on?” What is being done about it? What can be done to solve these serious problems?” Mr Ridley, the former head of the Cabinet Office’s Covid-19 taskforce, said: “Yes, that is broadly correct.” 1699355595Simon Ridley, the former head of the Cabinet Office’s Covid-19 taskforce, said there had been “too many meetings” and an “overabundance of officialdom” during the pandemic. Mr Ridley told the Covid inquiry it was “confusing” for staff in the Cabinet Office and other departments, while staff at the Department of Health were “incredibly busy”. “There was too much activity,” he said. 1699354989A series of emails submitted to the Covid inquiry revealed the chaos surrounding the government’s efforts to discharge NHS patients into care homes, many of whom had asymptomatic cases of Covid. Dr. Ben Warner, who appeared before the inquest on Monday, sent an email to top officials at No 10 on April 13 in which he said he was “increasingly concerned” about the spread of cases picked up in hospital to care homes. A Cabinet Office official then said he had spoken to the head of the Department of Health about the issue, who said it was “not a problem”. Dr. Warner asked the officer to explain “very emphatically” why this was not a problem. The inquiry’s lead barrister, Hugo Keith KC, asked whether the problem was “continuing”, how worrying it was and what extent it was. When he gave evidence, Simon Ridley, the former head of the Cabinet Office’s Covid-19 taskforce, said “yes”. 1699353993The Covid inquiry found that several officials had raised “quite serious concerns” about discharging NHS patients to care homes. In late March and early April 2020, Simon Ridley told the inquiry that the aim was to move 15,000 people discharged from hospitals into social care settings to free up capacity in the health service. But the inquiry’s lead lawyer, Hugo Keith KC, has presented evidence that a number of officials have raised concerns that asymptomatic patients could spread the disease in care homes. The inquiry was then shown an email from a No 10 official on April 3 which said the government should consider “more extreme measures or guidance”. “Given that if someone becomes infected in one of these locations, many will die,” the email said. “We were concerned that there were issues in the care sector that needed to be addressed extremely quickly,” said Mr Ridley, the head of the Cabinet Office’s Covid-19 taskforce. 1699352443The former head of the Cabinet Office’s Covid-19 taskforce said the government “does not know with much certainty” how many people will need to “shield” during the pandemic. Simon Ridley told the Covid inquiry it would be in the “low millions” but there was an “ongoing debate” about whether shielding support should have only been offered to those who were clinically extremely vulnerable or those who were also were socially at risk or generally at risk and needed support. 1699351822Mr Ridley led the Cabinet Office’s Covid-19 taskforce during the pandemic. 1699350860Archie Mitchell and Adam Forrest reported on the revelations from Monday’s investigation Boris Johnson joked that the Treasury had been “the pro-death squad” during the pandemic because it wanted to quickly ease lockdown restrictions, Sir Patrick Vallance’s diaries reveal. The former chief scientific adviser recorded a meeting in which the former prime minister said he wanted to lift all Covid restrictions by September 2020. In an extract from his diary provided to the Covid inquiry, Sir Patrick said Mr Johnson “ended up saying the team had to bring in the HMT pro-death squad.” [Her Majesty’s Treasury]“. 1699350502Good morning and welcome to the Covid-19 live blog covering the query. Boris Johnson’s former top adviser Lord Edward Udny-Lister and Simon Ridley, the former Cabinet Office head of the Covid-19 taskforce, will appear as witnesses. 1698959757We’re pausing the live blog now, but will be back tomorrow with the latest information on the Covid investigation.

Covid investigation round-up: Lee Cain and Dominic Cummings offer worrying insights into No10A series of emails submitted to the Covid inquiry revealed the chaos surrounding the government’s efforts to discharge NHS patients into care homes, many of whom had asymptomatic cases of Covid.Dr. Ben Warner, who appeared before the inquest on Monday, sent an email to top officials at No 10 on April 13 in which he said he was “increasingly concerned” about the spread of cases picked up in hospital to care homes.A Cabinet Office official then said he had spoken to the head of the Department of...

Covid inquiry live: Chaos over care home testing during the pandemic laid bare at hearing - USTimesPost

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