As the tragic milestone of 200 health and care worker COVID-10 deaths is passed, Mark Conrad reports on how doctors fear lockdown confusion could lead to further fatalities

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As confusion reigned over the UK government’s botched attempt to communicate its easing of Coronavirus lockdown restrictions, the number of frontline health and care fatalities this week reached another unwanted milestone: 200 deaths.

Data verified by the website Nursing Notes shows that, as of 11 May 2020, some 205 frontline health and care staff have now died as a result of Covid-19. That represents an increase of 26 fatalities since last week, indicating that UK hospitals and care homes remain Coronavirus hotspots.

The new data shows that 198 named frontline staff have now died from Covid-19, but at least seven un-named workers have also died — meaning the total figure now exceeds two hundred. Nursing Notes liaises with employers and families of deceased staff to verify its data – and has an agreement to share its data with Byline Times for public record.

Despite the new figures, Boris Johnson and his ministerial team yesterday opted to begin to ease the UK’s tight lockdown restrictions. However, the government’s revised policy and communications strategy – built around a the phrase “Stay Alert, Control the Virus, Save Lives” – came under immediate fire amid general confusion about the exact rules now in place across England and the rest of the UK.

While the Westminster government’s new rules — including allowing people to exercise as often as they like, new travel advice and a return to work for some jobs at venues considered safe — apply only to England, the leaders of devolved administrations in Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland have opted not to ease restrictions as much as Westminster. As a consequence, several sets of lockdown rules and guidelines now apply to different parts of the UK and critics have openly questioned prime minister Boris Johnson’s decision to ‘go it alone’ in England by easing restrictions sooner than elsewhere.

The general state of confusion caused by Johnson’s revised strategy was exemplified by London mayor Sadiq Khan, who appeared to distance himself slightly from Johnson’s revised guidance when he urged people in the capital to “stay at home wherever possible” – the stance adopted by Scottish leader Nicola Sturgeon.

Foreign Secretary Dominic Raab, Johnson’s effective second-in-command during the pandemic, also appeared to misinterpret the revised lockdown rules when he spoke to broadcasters on 11 May. Johnson’s televised address on Sunday indicated that workers could begin returning to their offices from today (11 May), but Raab appeared to contradict the prime minister when he told the BBC that the return to work policy would begin on Wednesday 13 May.

Labour leader Keir Starmer said the government’s lockdown policy had already begun to “unravel” and he called for greater clarity. Starmer said: “So many of us have questions that need answering.”

Former Labour leader Ed Miliband described the government’s apparent confusion over its own strategy as “shambolic”.

Attempting to clarify his new rules, Johnson today told the House of Commons: “The government is today submitting a [lockdown easing] plan which is conditional and dependent, as always, on the common sense and observance of the British people.”

The prime minister said the current situation required a “flexible response” across the UK, and potentially even parts of England, and added that there could be a return to stricter lockdown rules if the rate of infections begins to rise significantly once again.

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Johnson is due to host a press conference to provide further details of his plan later today.

But Byline Times was today contacted by several senior doctors concerned that the public now appear confused over how they are expected to work, socialise, exercise and shop.

One consultant said: “This week saw the two-hundredth frontline health and care worker die from health problems stemming from Coronavirus. I am worried that ministers have somewhat botched their communications strategy and, amid public confusion, we will see more people contract Covid-19 un-necessarily.

“If the decision to emerge from lockdown has been taken too soon in England, it risks undoing almost everything we have exhausted ourselves over since February.”

Fatalities to 11 May 2030