The Health Secretary said that the official death toll of NHS staff with Covid-19 reached 27. Matt Hancock said the total has jumped from 19 since he gave an update last time.
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The official NHS staff death toll
This number includes pregnant Mary Agyeiwaa Agyapong, 28, who worked as a nurse on a general ward at Luton and Dunstable University Hospital for five years. She died on Sunday and more than £65,000 has been raised for her baby daughter, who was delivered successfully by cesarean section.
He added that this story was “terrible”, and thinks this was incredibly heartbreaking.It is something that feels very strong and thinks that the whole country should be joined to give support to the national health service and assistants in general. “We’re all deeply touched and moved by deaths of nurses like this”. Hancock also said every death amongst NHS staff was being investigated to find out “what we can do better” to protect those on the front line.
The figure does not include care home staff as pressure mounts on the government over the treatment of workers and the elderly. As stressed-out care workers fearing for their lives plead for more protective equipment, Hancock yesterday offered them a badge – sparking outrage. The Health Secretary said it would let them “publicly identify themselves” as NHS staff do.
But the GMB union said that the care workers need more than a badge to define their precious role in society. And one carer at a nursing home group where 11 people died said they are so short of protection that staff fears for their lives. Hancock today admitted 15% of care homes have an outbreak of Covid-19, more than 1 in 7. And it was only this week that care home staff with symptoms began being tested.