Coronavirus: UK counting cost of PM Boris Johnson’s slow response

Attacks continue on UK government for not securing enough personal protective equipment for frontline medical staff

Boris Johnson after being released from hospital after almost dying from coronavirus. Picture: Picture: Twitter

The British government has continued to come under attack for failing to secure enough personal protective equipment for frontline medical staff dealing with the corona­virus crisis as parliament ­resumed on Wednesday with part-video conferencing.

Boris Johnson’s government was expected to be grilled by the new Labour leader, Keir Starmer, as the country ratchets up 17,337 deaths and several thousand ­additional “excess deaths’’ above the usual weekly average, believed to be from people suffering heart attacks, strokes and sepsis, delaying visits to hospitals for fear of catching coronavirus or overburdening the system.

Mr Johnson, having achieved Brexit and celebrating an engagement and baby with fiancee Carrie Symonds, has come under fire for his early response to the crisis. He missed five crisis meetings and the government delayed a lockdown of the country for a week, allowing the virus to spread rapidly, particularly in London.

Scientists say London reached the peak of virus infections on April 8, but some other parts of the country are still on a plateau of new infections.

It is the botched handling of ­inadequate PPE supplies for ­National Heath Service staff and inadequate testing, amid a sense the nation is floundering without a clear plan to ease the lockdown, that has begun to erode public trust.

A consignment of surgical gowns arrived three days after the government said it would because of a licensing blunder, and British manufacturers are only now being urged to make PPE equipment for the local market after tonnes of equipment were sold to other countries. The army is now making masks to help overcome a ­national shortage.

The bold boasts of Health Secretary Matt Hancock that there would be 100,000 tests a day by the end of the month still seem optimistic as capability has slowly increased to only 30,000. However, only about half of that testing cap­acity is even being used and Mr Hancock this week suggested ­asymptomatic health workers may soon be tested.

Some of the tests already given to thousands of NHS staff may have been flawed and should no longer be relied on, a leaked document reveals.

Foreign Secretary Dominic Raab will continue to deputise for Mr Johnson, who is recovering from severe coronavirus.

Parliament was to sit with 50 MPs allowed in the House of Commons chamber and more than 100 participating through a Zoom conference call.

The government cabinet is split on the issue of relaxing lockdown rules, with Mr Johnson not wanting a second peak of infections.

Bank of England governor ­Andrew Bailey has backed Mr Raab’s claims of last week that any lift in measures could hurt the economy long-term.