TheTimes8April2020

the times | Wednesday April 8 2020 2GM 11

News

Call for end to

wildlife traffic

Dame Jane Goodall is calling for a

ban on wildlife trafficking to help

prevent more diseases transferring

from animals to humans. The

primatologist said the pandemic

should make humanity rethink its

relationship with the natural world.

More than half the diseases that

have emerged since 1960 were

caused by transmission from

animals and “you’d think by now

we would have learnt how easily it

could happen again”, she said.

Evidence suggests that Covid-

may have originated in bats,

transferred to pangolins, then

infected humans at a live animal

market in China. Dame Jane, 86,

noted that Sars and Mers had also

been linked to viruses spread from

animals. “Every country must do

its part to create more

comprehensive legislation to

protect wildlife, end illegal

trafficking... and ban sales,” she

wrote in the online magazine Slate.

“The laws we create now to

protect wildlife will also protect

human communities.”

The Jane Goodall Institute and

other groups have urged the World

Health Organisation to push for a

ban on live wildlife markets.

No PPE for teachers

Teachers “do not require” personal

protective equipment and should

use social distancing and hand

washing, the government has said

in its updated guidance. It cites the

scientific advice that PPE is only

needed for “medical and care

professionals” providing close

contact care. The children of key

workers and those with special

needs or safeguarding reasons are

eligible to attend schools.

Carers move into home

Fourteen staff at The Old Hall

care home in Lincolnshire have

begun living in caravans on the

premises to avoid carrying in the

virus from outside. The manager,

Diane Vale, 54, said that not all

staff could do it but she and 13

others were “willing to move in for

as long as it takes”. Ms Vale said

she made the decision after 14 out

of the 20 residents at a care home

in Hove tested positive.

Police officers attacked

A man knocked a policewoman

unconscious and struck a police

dog with a plank after being asked

if his journey was essential. Nelson

Nelson, 29, from Aldridge, West

Midlands, attacked three officers

at Nottingham police station on

Saturday and was carrying a lock

knife when arrested. He will be

sentenced this month after

pleading guilty to various charges

at Nottingham magistrates’ court.

Fleabag star’s aid fund

Phoebe Waller-Bridge, the creator

of Fleabag, has started a fund to

provide £2,500 grants to theatre

workers who have had their

productions cancelled owing to

the lockdown. Waller-Bridge, who

aims to raise quarter of a million

pounds, said that she would

contribute a “substantial amount”

of her own money. Some 290,

people work in theatre across the

UK, most of them freelancers.

coronavirus in brief

The official UK death toll from corona-

virus stood at 6,159 last night after the

largest daily increase to date.

NHS England reported 758 new

deaths in hospitals, while the Welsh,

Scottish and Northern Irish authorities

reported 19, 74 and three respectively

— giving a total increase of 854.

The Office for National Statistics

(ONS) said that 93 per cent of deaths

occurred in hospitals with the remain-

der in hospices, care homes or private

homes: confirmation that the daily

numbers reported by NHS and govern-

ment officials underestimate the num-

ber of fatalities.

The ONS figures include any deaths

where Covid-19 or suspected Covid-

was mentioned on the death certificate,

and will include those where the virus

was not the main cause of death but a

UK death toll at 6,159 after largest daily increase

contributory factor. The Department

of Health and Social Care (DHSC) later

released its statistics for the number of

deaths, which stood at 786 over a 24-

hour period. The discrepancy between

the two official counts is consistent

with previous statistics and is explained

by varying reporting criteria. Differen-

ces between the figures are likely to be

because countries became aware of

more deaths after making daily reports

to the government, but before releasing

their own totals.

The increase followed two days of

smaller death figures, but experts urged

people to focus on long-term trends.

James Naismith, director of the Rosal-

ind Franklin Institute, said: “The

swings arise for good reasons, the NHS

trusts are not focused on reporting data

but on saving lives.”

The ONS said one in 20 deaths in

England and Wales in the week ending

March 27 was linked to coronavirus, up

from one in 100 the week before.

There were 11,141 deaths registered

that week, about 1,000 higher than the

five-year average. There were 1,

deaths in England and Wales as a result

of Covid-19 in the same week. However,

the proportion of deaths relating to in-

fluenza or pneumonia was below the

five-year average.

Separate figures from the ONS show

that more than 60 per cent of deaths re-

lating to Covid-19 registered in England

and Wales in the same week were of

people over the age of 75.

The ONS also used data from Google

to assess the impact of social distancing

measures in the UK up until March 29.

It found that visits and time spent at

retail or recreation locations had fallen

by 85 per cent since March 16 while

food shopping activity, had fallen to 45

per cent below usual levels.

Kat Lay Health Correspondent

Weekly deaths

Registered in

England and Wales

Source: ONS

2020

10,

11,

12,

13,

14,

15,

Feb 1 Mar 1

Five-year

average

A mother of five, including quadruplets,

has died after contracting the virus.

Shabnum Sadiq, 39, a Labour coun-

cillor, fell ill during a trip to Pakistan

early last month and died there on

Monday from complications of the

disease, Slough borough council said.

In June 2006 Ms Sadiq, who already

had a six-year-old daughter, Shireen,

defied the odds to give birth to quadru-

plets naturally. She had been given a

diagnosis of polycystic ovary syndrome

and had feared that she would not be

able to have more children.

Haqeeq Dar, a colleague on the

council, said that Ms Sadiq had spent 24

days on a ventilator. “It’s a tragedy. She

only went to attend a wedding in early

March on a short eight-day trip. But she

never came back. She was only there for

five days when she contracted the virus.

I just can’t believe that she’s gone.”

James Swindlehurst, leader of the

council, said: “This is very shocking for

all of us and our thoughts are with her

family and friends. We worked together

closely and personally I will miss her

very deeply. This is a significant loss for

the council and the town, but is nothing

compared to the loss her family, close

friends and community are feeling

right now.”

Jitendra Rathod, 58, a leading heart

surgeon, died on Monday at the hospi-

tal where he worked after contracting

the virus. The father of two had been

admitted to the University Hospital of

Wales in Cardiff before being taken to

intensive care.

Cardiff and Vale University Health

Board said: “He was well liked and

greatly respected by one and all. He was

very compassionate and a wonderful

human being. His commitment to the

speciality was exemplary.”

Anton Sebastianpillai, a consultant

geriatrician who retired last month but

returned to fight the outbreak, died on

Saturday at Kingston Hospital in

southwest London, four days after

being taken into intensive care. Dr Se-

bastianpillai, who had tested positive

for Covid-19, qualified as a doctor in Sri

Lanka in 1967 and had finished his last

shift on March 20. Kingston Hospital

care unit. Her sister Karen, 42, said: “On

Tuesday evening, she said she was

going to be sedated and that she was

scared. I told her everything was going

to be all right and that was the last mes-

sage she sent.”

The widow of Britain’s ninth bus

driver to die after developing symptoms

of the virus said that he and colleagues

had no personal protection equipment.

Bishara Maye described Nadir Nur,

48, as a dedicated father who took his

duty as a key worker seriously. He was

based at a depot in Hackney, east

London, and died in hospital last week.

Ms Maye said: “Nadir and his col-

leagues had no PPE whatsoever. They

worked in the frontline without any

protection from this aggressive, deadly

virus. PPE should be made available for

bus drivers who are putting their life at

risk daily in order to put food on the ta-

ble and pay bills.”

Chris Heaton-Harris, a transport

minister, has said that officials are

working to pinpoint areas with a “risk of

short supply”. He said that the govern-

ment wanted to ensure the equipment

was “in the right place at the right time”.

An unnamed woman who was in-

fected with the virus has died in labour.

She died at the Whittington Hospital,

in Archway, north London, after the de-

livery of the child, who survived. It is

not known if she had underlying health

issues and an investigation into her

death has been started by the coroner.

NHS Foundation Trust said: “We

would like to extend our sincere condo-

lences to his family.”

A nurse who came to the UK from

Hong Kong and worked for the NHS

for 44 years died from the virus yester-

day. The family of Alice Kit Tak Ong,

70, believe that she may have contract-

ed Covid-19 while working without pro-

tective equipment in a doctor’s surgery.

She was still working full-time across

two surgeries and running baby clinics

until she became ill. She self-isolated at

home but when her breathing deterio-

rated her family called an ambulance

and she was taken to the Royal Free

Hospital in Hampstead, west London, a

fortnight ago.

Her daughter, Melissa, described her

as “completely dedicated”. She told The

Guardian: “We don’t know for sure

when she contracted it, but she was

working without protective equip-

ment.”

An asthma sufferer who developed

symptoms of the virus sent a final text

message to her sister saying “I’m

scared” shortly before her death.

Lindsay Marshall, 44, from Rochdale,

Greater Manchester, died on Saturday

at the Royal Oldham Hospital.

Ms Marshall, who also had a thyroid

condition, had self-isolated for a week

but started to feel unwell on March 22

and was taken to Fairfield General Hos-

pital in Bury. Three days later she was

sedated and transferred to the intensive

face the longest lockdown

News

Mother of quadruplets dies

after 24 days on ventilator

Ben Ellery, Will Humphries

Neil Johnston

Jitendra Rathod, a surgeon, and Lindsay Marshall, who had asthma, both died

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