LONDON (Reuters) – As the UK’s COVID-19 death toll approaches 100,000, sad relatives of the dead expressed anger at the way Prime Minister Boris Johnson has handled the worst public health crisis in a century.
When the new coronavirus, which first surfaced in China in 2019, slid silently through the UK in March, Johnson initially said he was confident it could be shipped within weeks.
But 97,939 dead later, the UK has the fifth highest official death toll in the world – more than the number of civilian casualties in World War II and twice the death toll in the Blitz bombings of 1940-41, although the total population was lower then.
Behind the numbers is grief and anger.
Jamie Brown’s 65-year-old father died in late March after it was suspected that he contracted COVID-19 while traveling by train to London for work. At the time, the government was considering a lockdown.
Told by doctors to stay at home, he woke up days later with a tight chest, disoriented and nauseous, and was taken to hospital by ambulance. He died of cardiac arrest five minutes after arriving.
His son said the virus had damaged his lungs to the point where his heart gave out. He was a month away from retirement. ‘For me it was terrifying and poignant to see everything you hope for is taken away. He will never be at my wedding; he will never meet grandchildren, ”Brown told Reuters.
“Then you see the death toll rise as the ministers pat themselves on the back and tell you what good work they have done. It changes very quickly from personal to collective grief. “
Some opposition scientists and politicians say Johnson acted too slowly to stop the spread of the virus and subsequently messed up both the government’s strategy and the implementation of its response.
Johnson has opposed calls for an investigation into how to tackle the crisis, and ministers say that while they haven’t done everything right, they made decisions quickly and have one of the best global vaccination programs.
The death toll in the UK – defined as those who die within 28 days of a positive test – rose to 97,939 on Jan. 24. The toll has increased by an average of more than 1,000 per day in the past 7 days.
‘JUST NON-TOXIC’ REACTION
In a series of studies, Reuters has reported how the UK government made several mistakes: it was slow to notice the infections, it was late with a lockdown, and it continued to send infected hospital patients to care homes.
The government’s chief scientific adviser, Patrick Vallance, said in March that 20,000 deaths would be a good result. Shortly after, a worst-case scenario prepared by government scientific advisers brought the possible death toll to 50,000.
Many of the relatives are angry and want an immediate public inquiry to learn from the government’s response.
Ranjith Chandrapala died in early May in the same hospital where he took passengers to and from his bus.
His daughter, Leshie, said the 64-year-old was slim and healthy and had not missed a working day driving buses in the past 10 years.
She said he had not been given a face mask – she bought him one herself – and the passengers were not told to wear it.
“The government has neglected to deal with the crisis, it is just unforgivable,” she said. “People in power just sent these guys down the line unprotected.”
Chandrapala stopped working on April 24 after developing COVID-19 symptoms. He died in intensive care 10 days later, while his family was unable to say goodbye in person.
At the start of the pandemic in March, one of England’s oldest doctors told the public that wearing a face mask could increase the risk of infection. The government mandated face cover for passengers in England on June 15.
Nearly 11 months after the UK first passed away, some UK hospitals look like a “war zone,” Vallance said, as doctors and nurses fight more contagious variants of the SARS-CoV-2 coronavirus that scientists fear could be more deadly. to be.
On the front lines of COVID-19, patients and medics are fighting for life.
Joy Halliday, an intensive care and acute medicine consultant at Milton Keynes University Hospital, said it was “really heartbreaking” for the staff to see so many patients die.
“(Patients) deteriorate very, very quickly, and they go from talking to you and actually looking really good, to not talking to you 20 minutes later, to not being alive for another 20 minutes later,” she said .
“That is incredibly difficult for everyone.”
Written by Paul Sandle; edited by Guy Faulconbridge and Mike Collett-White