Covid restrictions could RETURN with face masks brought back, minister warns

COVID restrictions could return with face masks and free lateral flows brought back, a health minister has warned.

Lord Syed Kamall said it was to help protect the NHS if the latest spike in cases and hospital admissions hindered the health service’s ability to treat other conditions.

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He told the House of Lords that doctors are still focusing on the massive backlog caused by the pandemic.

“If it gets to a point where it is affecting the backlog then clearly measures may well have to be introduced,” the junior health minister said.

He hinted at reintroducing measures to bring the number of backlog procedures down.

It comes as individual hospitals have already started to reintroduce face masks and social distancing in corridors and waiting rooms as Covid hospital admissions near an 18-month high.

There were 1,911 Covid admissions in England on July 4 – the latest data to come out – and it’s expected to rise further in the coming days.

If daily admission rise above 2,100 then it will mark the highest number since the peak of the second wave in January 2021 when more than 4,000 a day were admitted into ICU with the virus.

Only a third are currently primarily sick with Covid, which suggests rising admissions are a symptom of high infection rates rather than severe disease.

The majority – 64percent – are known as “incidental” cases, meaning they were sent to hospital for a different reason but happened to test positive.

Peers in the House of Lords grilled the government over its plans to tackle rising cases.

Labour peer Lord Hunt of Kings Heath said: “Can I ask him this, he said earlier that the incident rise is now leading to increased hospitalisations. What impact is that now having on the backlog?”

Lord Kamall replied: “I asked this very same question when I had the meeting with the UKHSA (UK Health Security Agency) officials earlier on.

“They are still focusing on the backlog. If it gets to a point where it is affecting the backlog then clearly measures may well have to be introduced.”

Earlier, he told peers: “We continue to see Covid case rates and hospitalisations rising in all age groups, with the largest increases in hospitalisations and ICU admissions in those aged 75 and older.

“‘The largest proportion of those hospitalised are for reasons other than Covid, however Covid is identified due to the increasing case rates in the community and the high rate of testing in hospital, including among those with no respiratory systems.

“Current data does not point to cases becoming more severe.”

Labour’s Baroness Merron said there had been a “stark rise” in infections but the No 10 had been “noticeably silent, perhaps being somewhat distracted”.

She asked if the government was prepared to run a campaign to raise awareness about the rising cases and if it would reintroduce mandatory mask-wearing in hospitals.

Lord Kamall responded: “We are always ready to stand up measures should the case rates rise so much that our health system was under pressure, but also what we have managed to do is break the link between infections and hospitalisations, and hospitalisations and death.

“‘If that gets out of control then of course we will stand up the measures that we have previously.”

When asked why the government hadn’t reintroduced free Covid tests for everyone in England and offered financial support for those self-isolatinh, the minister said there had to be a “trade off between where you spend this money”.

He went on: “All this will continue to be monitored. Should the number of cases spiral out of control then clearly we would look to reintroduce free testing at some stage if it needed that.”

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