how afraid a coronavirus should we be
mad well clearly coronavirus is a huge
challenge to the country and on behalf
of everyone I want to send our deepest
condolences to the family and to the
loved ones of the patient who died today
with coronavirus and I'm sure that that
will be a worrying moment for lots of
people and understandably so and I feel
the responsibility deeply for getting
the government response to this right
the government Helmick only people who
need to respond it's actually something
all of us can play a part in and and
it's perfectly reasonable for people to
be worried now of course for the
majority of people if they catch
coronavirus then it'll be a mild
relatively mild disease and the vast
majority will fully recover and so from
that point of view for most people and
this will be something akin to getting
the flu if they get it and but obviously
it's also having some very significant
effects both on the economy in terms of
people how they manage their daily lives
and then for a for a small proportion of
people we estimate around 1% of those
who catch it then it is fatal and so it
is a very serious consideration and the
thing that makes it more difficult is
that this virus this disease is is new
and that means that none of us have the
natural antibodies that we have to
something like a flu so it is a serious
problem for the country and all of us
need to play our part and can play our
part in making sure that we as a country
and as a world respond as as well as we
possibly can do can ask how worried do
you I'm not personally particularly
worried because I feel that I don't fall
into the category where I should be
majorly concerned from what I have read
that it will be for the majority of us
severe cold or flu-like symptoms and yet
a lot of what you read implies that we
should almost be barrack
okay okay well we're going to get into
more specific things in a moment zant
how afraid should we be I think it's
such a good question Jill because
everyone I know is wondering how to
react to the news that we're getting the
first death today a hundred cases how
serious is it um I guess I would say
there is an urgency and the the fact
that covetous is dominating the
headlines is because every single person
in the UK should be changing their
behavior today the most important thing
is hand-washing now hand-washing will
not reduce your chances of catching it
to zero but it will dramatically slow
the spread and slowing the spread is
very urgent because the number of cases
doubles every few days so a few days ago
we had 40 50 cases now we have a hundred
in a few days time we will have 200 and
that doubling may well keep on going and
as it doubles as Matt said a small
proportion of those people not
necessarily the small proportion that
died but maybe 5% maybe 10% will need
intensive care or at least a high
dependency unit and those beds are in
short supply at the moment in the NHS as
they always are and so the more we can
spread things out the more likely it is
that we can provide high-quality care to
everyone that needs it and keep
mortality as low as possible
that's the urgency so everyone should be
invested I mean there are other things
you can do you should be hygienic in
terms of catching and killing sneezes
and coughs in terms of wiping surfaces I
think everyone should be self-monitoring
and if you're concerned even more than
normal
I'm infecting other people and then I
would say I know man I probably don't
really disagree with this I think the
government has been very very sensible
at providing good quality evidence-based
information personally I like not
handshaking not because it may in itself
stop the spread enormous Sleeper because
it makes you think when you walk into a
room we all just met I'm kind of
backstage and and I wouldn't shake
anyone's hand and it made it intensely
all good and everyone was suddenly
talking about coronavirus and I quite
like that then you start to get out the
alcohol gel and think about it there's
loads of other things you can do you can
do air kisses you can do a little hug
you can do about a wave a foot tap a
knuckle bump however you want to greet
people but all of it I'll
can elbow bump but all of that makes
people conscious of hygiene so yeah
everyone should be invested no one
should panic and sand will be
demonstrating all those things Margaret
was asking how afraid should we be I
don't think we should be afraid but I
think we should be wary and cautious and
and look for sound information I mean
one of the things that strikes me
forcibly is that this is going to
illuminate all the problems we've
already got in our health service which
we know is underfunded and all those
things and it will bring a lot of that
home and so I think this is going to be
apart for anything else going to be a
period where people can learn about each
other about what the country's problems
are what we need to do to resolve them
and that I think will in itself be
important but so I don't think we should
go about in fear and dread but I don't
think we ought to be silly either Tim I
noticed that all the loo roll is gone in
my local supermarket and so is the hand
gel as well I don't know why people have
gone for the Leo I don't know him to
know but it's all are you gonna give a
love normal to be a black market in it
soon I mean the government's getting it
about right which is to walk this fine
line between getting people ready and
getting people conscious of the way
they're behaving but also not causing
too much alarm because there's always a
risk that you generate so much alarm
that that actually does more damage than
the virus itself at least economically
we don't want our way of life to be
changed forever that that's always what
one is conscious about trying to avoid I
want to be able to go back to shaking
hands I'm not going to walk around doing
that all day I I want things to go back
to normal as soon as possible and
therefore any short-term inconvenience
that we have to accept fair enough but
the goal is to keep calm carry on
knock hysterical because that's kind of
what defines Britain Nina well I think I
think like you for myself I'm not
actually that worried I'm young and
healthy and if I get it there's a very
good chance I'll be okay but I am
worried for my particular elderly
grandparents people who are more
vulnerable people who
don't have the same resilience
financially as I do
I've been doing a lot of work in the
last few days writing to Matt in fact
about statutory sick pay thinking of
those who have jobs on zeros contract in
the gig economy who have to actually
think hard about do I go to work today
or do I do the right thing for other
people which is to self isolate if they
have those symptoms and they've been in
contact with someone and all credit to
the government they've been listening
and they have now changed those rules so
we are trying to all work together on
this and I think that's really important
that actually politicians at a time like
this
do our jobs and talk about the most
vulnerable constituents that we have the
other people I really do worry about are
people like the homeless and I was
talking to people in the sector today
who are concerned and I say this talking
to Matt they haven't had guidance about
what to do for people particularly rough
sleepers and you have to think if you
don't have a home how do you self
isolate and I see he's writing that down
and I hope you're going to take that
back because actually at a time like
this we perform a really important job
which is to ask the right questions on
behalf of the people that we serve and
the job of the government I think is to
respond and listen okay
there's a lot of very practical
questions that many of you have asked so
I'm going to do kind of for life for one
of a better phrase I got a quick fire
round to you Matt if I may so a quick
question and a reasonably brief answer I
want to get into minions as I can Jim
doctors you want to kick yourself with
the first death today should we now be
preventing large gatherings at sports
events and theaters well we're looking
into the exact science of what the
approach should be as the numbers grow
we're still in the phase where we where
we're trying to contain this virus but
also exactly as as Anne said delaying
the onset has a big benefit in terms of
the impact on the NHS and actually the
more we look at the science of this
particular virus the more it is clear
that the large-scale events are not
necessarily as big spreaders as a lot of
people think
and the reason for that is the way that
this virus transmitted is through its
respiratory through search through close
proximity so if you'll say outdoors then
and and you have the the virus then you
would still only be affecting the people
near to you so the most important thing
is to get the messages that people who
have the virus and have the symptoms
need to self isolate so following the
science is absolutely at the heart of
the government's response and if I just
also respond to Leila's point because
she was complimentary about how the
government is handling this I would also
say a cross-party in Parliament I've
never seen Parliament respond to
something like this absolutely coming
together to try to find the right
scientific response to this crisis and
try to bring the country together
another question from Thomas Bayes how
will the government support those who
self isolate due to coronavirus who
aren't entitled statutory sick pay such
as those on zero hours contracts Thomas
this is an incredibly important question
and we've said that people should not be
penalized for doing the right thing so
we will change the rules on statutory
sick pay but we're also working on
making sure that people who are say
self-employed or they're in an
employment contract that doesn't allow
them to get statutory sick pay because
they don't earn the the minimum amount
maybe because they don't do they don't
work full time and to make sure that
they get the support they need as well
because if we financially yes the
government yes because if we as
government are asking people to self
isolate then they shouldn't be penalized
for doing the right thing which is good
for them but good for the whole
community and when can we expect an
announcement on that well the the Prime
Minister made the announcement yesterday
in broad terms and I'm working with the
the DWP secretary and the business
secretary to get the exact rules of that
right and then they'll go through
Parliament okay Andrew Fenton
if I get coronavirus how should I self
isolate from my family well this is
another incredibly important question
people should try to self isolate from
their fan
so not only go home try not to go out
for instance shopping definitely don't
use public transport but within your
home you should also try to isolate now
look I'm the father of three children I
understand that that can be difficult
and some people have caring
responsibilities but as much as possible
stay on your own even within your own
home to practice and things like sharing
bathroom the kitchen well so long as you
wash your hands and wipe down surfaces
that you use you can take these
precautions and obviously you know there
are practicalities but the the strong
advice is to as much as you possibly can
even with your own within your own home
if you're self isolating keep yourself
to yourself okay
Nicola Pyle the media seem to help
create panic buying how do we stop
causing shortages caused by this yes
we've already heard about Lua
well there's absolutely no need for for
individuals to go around buying more
than they need and in fact look part of
the response to this has to be us coming
together we are after all a heard it's
the biology that is causing the problem
and and so obviously the very very
strong advice from the from the
scientists from the medics is that
people should not go about buying more
than they need and some I went to the
supermarket today pasta no pesto no dry
pastor at all no toilet rolls as you
said earlier Tim you know people are
panicked mind that I mean there's no
paracetamol anything like that that you
can get in the supermarkets well I
understand that but what I'd say is that
the government has supplies of the key
things that are needed and within the
food supply we are absolutely confident
that people will that that there won't
be a problem there and crucially we're
working with the supermarket's
to make sure that if people are self
isolating then we'll
able to get the food and supplies that
they need Louie maze where yes a student
about city levels for a place at
university what will happen if our exams
are cut short by the coronavirus well
this is this is another important one
we're doing everything we can to prevent
that happening subject to keeping people
safe
so the overall principle is that we
we've got two first priority absolutely
is to keep people safe and I feel that
very keenly but also we want to minimize
the social and economic disruption
hence unlike some other countries that
have done this the scientific advice is
really clear not to Scott close schools
and colleges and the message is to
schools is don't close unless you
specifically have the advice from public
health England to do so and then as we
come into exam season obviously we are
we're monitoring that very closely and
the Education Department is doing I
think a fantastic job in keeping the
school system running but as we get to
exams we will do everything we can to
allow that to proceed but but of course
you'll understand that if if we have to
take action to keep people safe then we
are prepared to do that
they say one more for throat open to
from Oliver Carter and what are the
government doing to tackle the wait time
from coronavirus tests yes the tests so
getting the test results back is really
is really obviously important if you're
waiting for tests and I know friends of
mine who've who've had the tests and
lots of people have talked to me about
it we're getting a new tech solution in
to be able to get the results back to
people much quicker and we've got a lot
of people on it so I I get it and we're
trying to make sure that happens as
quickly as possible okay now I'm gonna
go to the audience mother is there
anything that any of us are burning -
yes lady you want to say I mean I think
now is a time more important than ever
that we listen to experts and thank
goodness for experts thank goodness for
scientists and we just all have to be
mindful of what we're reading on
Facebook what we're reading on Twitter
what we might read in certain newspapers
and
one lady was asking you know newspapers
are partly responsible for panic buying
you guys have a choice you can choose to
buy them or not as well if you see that
they are stoking this we have to be calm
but listen to the people who actually
know what they're talking about
epidemiologists others doctors who know
this stuff and I know that I'm certainly
going to be encouraging all my friends
and family to do that I completely agree
with that but I think it also it's
really really important that we have
good communications and I know
Matan everyone in the government and
everybody across politics is aware that
there have got to be trusted voices and
people have got to be to listen to them
and to be able to trust them and we also
got to learn as much as we can from
what's happening internationally even if
sometimes it's what not to do okay now
I'm gonna take one another name question
here but then do get your hands up if
there's things you want to say because I
know from all the questions I saw come
in when you arrived earlier on the scene
there are a lot of things that you want
to ask but let me just go now to a
Christian patel how do you expect an
already strained NHS to cope given one
in 12 NHS posts are vacant and health
care professionals would need to self
isolate 14 days if exposed to the virus
consider you a health care worker yes I
am yeah what's your view on this I'm
very worried actually because on the
wards on a day-to-day basis were already
breaching points and I and I worry that
an asymptomatic patient with with the
virus infects the wards and we lose 50%
or even 25% of our our workforce and I
can't see how we we would be able to
deliver a safe service for patients
experience interesting it's such an
interesting question I suppose um been
thinking about this Mott my my first
instinct is to have a massive go at the
Tory government the last 10 years of
austerity the fact that the NHS has been
starved of cash and starved of staff and
resources for so long in fact um I think
this this represents such a significant
burden that no matter what health
service a country built the threat of
pandemic disease will always produce
diseases that will overwhelm a normal
and normally functioning health service
and so although although I share all
your concerns about the NHS and the
state of it at the moment our ability to
provide the level of intensive care beds
which is the main issue because we don't
have a cure for coronavirus so we don't
if you come into hospital you just
poorly you're not going to be achieving
anything more than you could at home so
the vast majority of people stay at home
get a box set have some lemon and honey
and convalesce if you're deteriorating
and you go into hospital the decision is
whether or not you need intensive care
things like ventilation and that is
we're in that sort of five percent who
need that urgent care that very extreme
care and that is where that the lives
are saved and those beds will be in a
major crisis like this those beds are
not going to be just drawn from the
normal pool of intensive care beds I
think and Matt of course will know much
much more about this than me but they
will be drawn from the major incident
plans and the big catastrophe plans that
are drawn up at the moment so although I
share your massive concerns about the
future of the NHS in this particular
case I think I think the immediate
resources come from elsewhere is that is
that yeah I think there's I think that's
absolutely reasonable that we
acknowledge that we need more people in
the NHS there's a record number of
people currently working today in the
NHS and I'm really pleased to see those
numbers have been going up recently and
but but as and is right that a the
challenging the NHS at the moment is
that demand has been going up and
something like this will add to that but
I would say this as well which is that
the the NHS is unbelievably good at
responding to crises I mean they do it
in a small way every day in all of the
Andes across the country and and it may
have to reconfigure in some ways
if there's a if this does become a
pandemic that has to be clinically led
so that the doctors can decide what is
the best way to save lives and I will
give them the absolute the freedom to
make the right decisions and we're also
making more money available if they need
it but it but you know it is less about
the money it's more about how do you use
the resources of the nation best to
support people to get through what will
be a very challenging period okay let me
come some yes the woman there in the
blue top I don't think there's enough
being done to prevent the disease coming
into the country when you travel to Asia
or to the Middle East at the moment
you're met at airports with your
temperatures taken and your symptoms are
monitored and then if you've got
symptoms you're I don't know exactly
what happened but you've certainly been
recorded or the case would have been
recorded in this country you arrived at
Heathrow you arrive at Gatwick nothing
is done you might be given a piece of
paper saying call one one one you get in
a taxi you go to a hotel there's no hand
sanitizer anywhere in Asia and other
parts of the world they're all over the
place so it just seems that anyone
coming into this country nothing's done
at the airport so it's just going to
spread because there's no prevention
okay let me take a few points and I'll
come back to you my office
yes the woman there yes this presumably
could be our new normal with climate
change with increasing temperatures new
pathogens trade and wildlife but this
has been predicted for a long time and
at the same time we're saying that we're
all mobilizing and actually there's a
lot of cross-party proactive action what
can we learn from this that we could
apply to the larger existential problem
that is climate change
okay
yes also social factors very important
here since the outbreak I've seen a
spike in racism on social media public
transport my friends have been
marginalized and we have the attack
yesterday on a agen man and I'd like to
ask what is the government doing to stop
this racist rhetoric and also the same
government that failed on the brexit hey
wash from the media so what are you
going to do about that okay let me take
a question from the back yes the man in
the glasses I think we as a community
can play a really big part it's not just
down to the NHS and the health
professionals yeah we should be looking
out for our neighbours elderly
vulnerable people that we know we should
step up and and help them out as best we
can I think that's really important okay
I'm gonna come back to you about summers
but let me just get around the rest of
the panel Tim I'm on the point about the
NHS I I agree with all the points are
being made but I also want PEC on what
Margaret said about how this crisis is
probably going to expose weaknesses that
already exists in the case of the NHS
for instance readers to my newspaper The
Telegraph report difficulties getting
through on the one one one number
difficulties getting a call back there's
the question of will GPS be doing visits
because GPS have stopped in many parts
the country doing home visits for very
long time a A&E is already overcrowded
and then you have the problem of people
being in hospitals a moment who should
not be in hospitals they should be in
social care it's not just an NHS
province or so a social care problem and
listening to all the agreement on the
panel it's fantastic but as a lady in
the audience suggested I'm rather
intrigued as to why we don't see more of
this surely there are some problems in
our society which are indeed nonpartisan
and it would be nice to hear this kind
of tone and this kind of working
together if only we could have this
blitt spirit when it came to the
environment or our schools or our
hospitals
be back to see the original question how
do you expect an already strained NHS to
cope given one in 12 NHS posts are
vacant and health care professionals
would need to self isolate for a
fortnight if expose that's the original
question well I think one of the other
things that that all of this is going to
do first of all is going to make us look
at other things not just the health
service which most of us tend to think
of as hospitals and GP but it was raised
in the house yesterday and in the same
constructive tone but we don't yet know
what the public health budget is or if
there's going to be much of a change
much of an improvement in the public
health budget local authorities
particularly if this gets worse local
authorities are going to be asked to
play a heroic role they already have
great responsibilities for social care
which they are struggling to fulfill so
to me one of the things that ought to
come out of all of this is for us to
recognize afresh the need for long-term
sustained investment and that goes
directly back to the point the lady
raised about climate change the answer
to all of this is to have proper
long-term planning whether it's for
floods or for fevers we've got to
recognize the challenges of our society
in our world and plan and prepare for
them on a consistent and thorough basis
taking all the scientific advice along
the way
I completely agree with what Margaret's
just said and I think on Tim's point
about adult social care I think there is
a lot of goodwill in the house and
across parties to work on this but it is
a conservative majority government with
a big majority and during the election I
remember Boris Johnson saying that
within the first hundred days he would
convene a cross-party Commission to look
at this intractable problem and to help
us find a solution it's day 84 today and
we still haven't seen that so I guess my
plea would be to the government well you
need to show some leadership because
that is how governments work the
government's produce this stuff and then
Parliament will engage with it but the
government has to initiate it and I
really hope that we will get on and
solve some of these big issues because
it can't wait any longer
and Matt do you want to answer some of
the questions that would put my members
I mean the lady over there was talking
about people coming into the country for
example well yes uh I'll answer as many
as I can I agree on the point on Social
Care and we will fulfill that manifesto
commitment the the the point about
people coming into the country I've been
asked about this a lot and the thing is
that if this virus becomes established
around the world then there is no way of
stopping it getting to Britain
eventually so the decision that we had
was do you try to shut ourselves off as
a nation and and delay it and if it does
go pandemic in the rest of the world it
is inevitable that it would come here or
do you try to keep as much normal life
as possible and tackle it by finding
those who do come into the country and
are then symptomatic so you rightly got
a leaflet saying that if you got a
symptom you would you should call one
one one and if you've got a symptom no
doubt you would have called one one one
and lots of people did and that's how we
found many of the cases and there was
one country in Europe that chose to stop
the flights and that was Italy and they
became the European epicenter of this of
this epidemic and and in a way that
really demonstrated to me how we must
follow the science you know there are of
course there are pressures on me to do
things that people that feel intuitively
that they're right and I totally
understand where you're coming from on
this but we've got to follow the science
and the epidemiology and our chief
medical officer I want to have a
shout-out to Chris witty absolutely
brilliant a scientist he is and the
voice of calm reason he is one of the
most experienced epidemiologists in the
world and he said to me look we can if
we stop the flights with all the
consequences that brings and it would
only delay the arrival of this disease
here by a matter of days but it would
also make it much harder for us to get
the medicines into this country that we
need because many of them are produced
abroad so temperature checking the
temperature doesn't have an effect and
the reason is you get loads of false
positives you get lots of people who
have our temperature and it's not for
coronavirus and so you end up spending
huge amounts of resources and not
spotting the people and the the
Americans tried tried checking
temperatures it may have reassured
people it has had no impact on the
spread of the virus there and the
Italians also did the temperature
checking so so III hear all these things
and instinctively I agree with many of
them it's a bit like the point about the
mass gatherings I understand why it
seems intuitive that that's the right
thing to do but the judgment that I made
with the prime minister right at the
start of this is we're going to listen
very hard to the scientists we're going
to think our way through this problem as
a country and we're going to try to have
the very best possible response despite
the pressures and then it's incumbent on
us to explain why we take
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