As the coronavirus outbreak continues to wreak havoc across the world, health officials are considering suggestions of whether to label the crisis a “pandemic”. The World Health Organisation (WHO) has already declared the outbreak a “global emergency”. Former Health Secretary Jeremy Hunt spoke to the BBC’s Today programme about the UK’s preparations for dealing with the spread.

Mr Hunt told Radio 4: “We are preparing for a pandemic, whether or not its been officially labelled as such.

“There is a very specific definition of a pandemic which is when it reaches the point where it’s no longer possible to contain it.

“We don’t believe we’re at that point, we still think it is possible to contain the virus.

“We’re still very much hoping that will happen.”

When asked about the kind of preparations that are being made, the former Foreign Secretary said: “One of the things I think we should take some comfort from in the UK is that if I was going to choose a country to be in in a pandemic, I would choose the UK.

“Horrible thought though it is, the NHS is very very good at preparing for these kinds of situations.

“The NHS has centralised structures, bureaucracy that it’s sometimes criticised for, but it does mean it can react in a very coordinated and integrated way in a crisis like this.

“I think we should take some comfort in the fact that what we hear about is probably less than one percent of the actual preparations that are going on in hospitals and GP surgeries around the country.”

He continued: “I know people are working incredibly hard, and there are huge amounts of contingency plans.

“One of the biggest worries that you have in this situation is the impact on health workers themselves.

“As we see in China, heartbreaking stories of the risks that doctors and nurses on the front line face.”

DON’T MISS
Coronavirus shock: Cured patients reveal chilling reality of virus [INTERVIEW]
Coronavirus: ‘Super spreaders’ of disease at risk, warns expert [VIDEO]
Eurozone crisis: Merkel faces big hit as Germany set for recession [LATEST]

Mr Hunt also said: “But also if schools are closed, people are not being able to get to work because they’ve got to think about childcare, all those things I know the NHS will be thinking about

“I think we also have to recognise that although the initial spread of the virus may not have been identified because of China’s authoritarian structures, they have moved heaven and earth since then.

“We are all counting on China to do everything they can to control the spread of the virus.

“The real point about China is in Wuhan, it appears that it has peaked at less than five percent of the population getting it.

“We are having to make contingency plans for 70 percent of the population getting it.”

Source: Read Full Article