Getty Images Intensive-care units came under severe strain during Covid, the inquiry has heard (stock photo) At least one NHS trust put in place a blanket “do-not-resuscitate” order for sick patients in the pandemic, the Covid inquiry has heard. It would mean individuals had been considered ineligible for potentially lifesaving CPR, solely on the basis … Read more
Covid Inquiry Tamsin Mullen was giving evidence to the Covid inquiry about the impact on maternity services A mother of premature twins has told the Covid inquiry she did not feel like she was treated as a parent after giving birth in the early stages of the pandemic. Tamsin Mullen said she was kept in … Read more
Mark Tilley Mark Tilley worked as an ambulance technician in south-east England through the first two waves of the pandemic Ambulance crews faced crucial delays trying to save dying patients in the pandemic because of the time it took to put on protective equipment, the Covid inquiry has been told. Ambulance technician Mark Tilley appeared … Read more
Getty Images The chair of the Covid inquiry has refused an application from the UK Health Security Agency to keep the identities of two junior clinicians secret. Lawyers for UKHSA applied for an order preventing publication of their names, on the grounds they could be subject to abuse and harassment on social media and in … Read more
Getty Images Racoon dogs are implicated as one of the potential animals that could have been the source of Covid A team of scientists say it is “beyond reasonable doubt” the Covid pandemic started with infected animals sold at a market, rather than a laboratory leak. They were analysing hundreds of samples collected from Wuhan, … Read more
UKHSA’s Prof Susan Hopkins questioned over face masks at Covid inquiry. There is only “weak evidence” that high-grade face masks better protected health workers than surgical ones in the pandemic, the Covid inquiry has been told. Prof Susan Hopkins, chief medical adviser at the UK Health Security Agency (UKHSA), said respirator masks – known as … Read more
BBC Dame Ruth May was England’s chief nurse from 2019 until she retired in July 2024 Nurses bore the brunt of the pandemic, with low staffing levels and difficulties accessing protective equipment, according to England’s former chief nurse. Dame Ruth May told the Covid inquiry the NHS had been understaffed in 2020, in part because … Read more
Getty People have started catching a new Covid variant that could soon take off and become the dominant type, according to scientists. Identified in Germany, in June, cases of the XEC variant have since emerged in the UK, US, Denmark and several other countries, posters on X, formerly known as Twitter, say. It has some … Read more
The NHS was “creaking at the seams” when the pandemic hit – and this undermined the care given to both coronavirus patients and those needing treatment for other conditions, the Covid public inquiry has been told. On the opening day of the third stage of the inquiry, which is looking at healthcare, lawyers said the … Read more
BBC Mandi Masters, a community midwife, was hospitalised with Covid in the pandemic. The public inquiry into the pandemic will start 10 weeks of hearings on Monday looking at the impact on patients, healthcare workers and the wider NHS. Covid patients have been admitted to hospital more than a million times in the UK since … Read more