Coronavirus: Lessons to be Learnt

Once this terrible disease has passed, let’s hope that we as a country can learn some lessons – so that we are better protected in the future.

• Why has the UK ignored the work of the Global Health Risk Framework for the Future which issued a report in 2016 recommending significant expenditure on prevention, detection and preparedness for such an event?  Last September the Co-Chairwoman of the Global Preparedness Monitoring Board described world leaders’ approach as being a ‘cycle of panic and neglect’.
• Why the UK has so few ICU beds per 100,000 inhabitants compared to other countries?
  • UK:                        6.6
  • Italy:                     12.5
  • Austria:                21.8
  • Germany:            29.2
  • Turkey:                29.8
• Why do we have so few ventilators compared to other countries?
• Why do we have so few testing kits?
• Why aren’t our doctors and nurses provided with proper protective equipment – three weeks into this crisis?