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The British government will introduce new procedures allowing people the chance to say goodbye to loved ones dying from coronavirus in hospitals and care homes “wherever possible.”
Health Secretary Matt Hancock said wanting to be with someone you love at the end of their life is “one of the deepest human instincts,” and that the government was working with Public Health England, the care sector and many others to limit the risk of infection, to give relatives their “right to say goodbye.”
Speaking at the daily government coronavirus briefing, Hancock revealed that he had wept at news reports that Ismail Mohamed Abdulwhab, a 13-year-old from south London, had died without a parent by his bedside.
The health secretary also said the government will prevent do-not-resuscitate orders being applied in a “blanket fashion,” stressing that there must always be a “personalized process.” However, he gave no details about how the new guidelines would work.
His comments came as the U.K’s hospital death toll from coronavirus rose by 761 to 12,868 as of April 14, according to the health ministry.
Hancock said that all residents and staff of care homes with Covid-19 symptoms will be tested for the disease and care givers will be given improved access to protective equipment.
At the moment Britain tests the first five residents who have symptoms but this will be expanded as laboratory capacity increases. The government is aiming to boost testing to 100,000 a day by the end of April.
Britain’s Office for National Statistics (ONS) released figures on Tuesday that showed 237 people died in care homes in England and Wales in the two weeks ending April 3. But the ONS only records what is written on death certificates rather than suspected cases.
The U.K. government’s chief medical adviser, Chris Whitty, said at Wednesday’s briefing that he thought the death toll in Britain is reaching its peak with the trend in new infections beginning to flatten out, but said more information was needed before the government could relax social distancing measures.
The government is due to decide at a Cobra meeting on Friday whether to extend the lockdown for another three weeks.
On Wednesday, German Chancellor Angela Merkel announced plans to ease the strict lockdowns the country has imposed to fight the pandemic. Social distancing rules will stay in place until at least May 3rd.
