Seven UK Health Workers Have Now Died Amid Coronavirus Outbreak, Says Michael Gove
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Seven health workers in the UK have now died after contracting coronavirus, Michael Gove has announced.
On Friday, the NHS confirmed the deaths of Walsall nurse Areema Nasreen and 39-year-old Aimee O’Rourke, who was part of the nursing team in the Queen Elizabeth The Queen Mother Hospital in Kent.
Gove said their deaths – along with those of 13-year-old Ismail Mohamed Abdulwahab and a 5-year-old with underlying health conditions – demonstrated the need for the public to stay at home.
“Whatever the temptations this weekend, please don’t go outside to visit the lakes, the beaches, the countryside,” the Cabinet minister said during the government’s daily briefing on Covid-19.
“Take pride instead in keeping your own families and communities safe.
“The more we restrict contact, the more we slow the spread of the infection, the more time we have to build capacity in the NHS.”
On Saturday, the death toll in the UK from coronavirus topped 4,000, with 708 deaths recorded between 5pm on Thursday and Friday.
Meanwhile, the department of health revealed that almost 42,000 people had tested positive for the infection.
UPDATE on coronavirus (#COVID19) testing in the UK:
As of 9am 4 April, a total of 183,190 people have been tested of which 41,903 tested positive.
As of 5pm on 3 April, of those hospitalised in the UK who tested positive for coronavirus, 4,313 have sadly died. pic.twitter.com/XOGZ8TvAOR— Department of Health and Social Care (@DHSCgovuk) April 4, 2020
NHS England national medical director Professor Stephen Powis said the death rate continued to be high and “unfortunately this is likely to continue for a week or two”.
It is “not the time to be complacent”, he said.
During the conference, Gove said the government was working to increase the UK’s capacity to fight the coronavirus pandemic, including the number of ventilators...
