CORONAVIRUS

‘Bring back facemasks and social distancing’, says NHS leader Chris Hopson

More than 70,000 NHS staff are off sick, while almost 16,000 patients are in hospital with Covid-19
More than 70,000 NHS staff are off sick, while almost 16,000 patients are in hospital with Covid-19
VICTORIA JONES/PA

People should be encouraged to socially distance and wear facemasks to protect the health service, a senior NHS leader has said.

Chris Hopson, chief executive of NHS Providers, is urging ministers to discuss “sensible precautions” that the public can take to help reduce pressure on the health service. “There is concern across the NHS that the government doesn’t seem to want to talk about coronavirus any more,” Hopson said. “But we think we need a proper grown-up national debate about what living with Covid actually means.” He said pretending that the coronavirus “doesn’t exist any more and that nobody needs to take any precautions” was one of the reasons for the current prevalence of infection. Boris Johnson announced the end of all legal Covid restrictions