NHS Dr stuck in Italy warns UK government to ‘shut down everything’

An NHS doctor who is trapped in coronavirus infected Italy has warned the British government to “shut down everything.”

Professor Mohamed Abu Hilal who is quarantined in Bresica, north Italy has said the NHS needs to prepare now for “beds, ventilators, antivirals, doctors and nurses” after witnessing what is happening in Italy.

He said it is not just the elderly who are dying, the young are also even though coronavirus does affect the elderly and vulnerable the most.

Professor Abu Hilal who works in pancreatic and minimally invasive surgery at Southampton University Hospitals NHS Trust.

He wrote, “To my friends accross the globe! COVID19 is serious, feels to be in a war! People are dying, not only elderly.

‘Beds are full. Governments must shut down everything, prepare beds, ventilators, antivirals, doctors and nurses. People should stay at HOME! [sic]’

Professor Abu Hilal’s thoughts echos that of other leading medical figures.

Richard Horton, chief editor of the prestigious Lancet medical journal who has criticised Boris Johnson and the Health Secretary, Matt Hancock.

Writing on Twitter Horton said, “The UK Government – Matt Hancock and Boris Johnson – claim they are following the science. But that is not true.

“The evidence is clear.

“We need urgent implementation of social distancing and closure policies. The Government is playing roulette with the public.

“This is a major error.”

Good Morning Britain’s resident doctor, Dr Hilary Jones, also criticised the government, saying they should have “banned mass gatherings” a week ago.

Speaking of the significant surge of coronavirus cases across the UK, Dr Hilary said, “Well I think this was predictable.

“We were always running containment and delay concurrently in reality, we always knew numbers were going to increase probably double every three to four days.

“We are on the same trajectory as Italy, if you look at the Italian situation overnight two hundred deaths nearly, so clearly this is very serious.

“Having said that the delay phase is critical, people need to socially distance, we should have banned these mass gatherings probably a week ago.”

As of Wedneday, the death toll in Italy has risen by almost 200 in 24 hours now totally 827, and the number of confirmed cases has soared to more than 2,000 from, 10,149 to 12,462.

The worst affected area in Italy is the wealthy Lombardy region that has seen 617 deaths.

This week she Italian prime minister Giuseppe Conte, has ordered 60m people to stay at home and must get permission for essential travel.

In a TV address to the Italian nation Conte said the emergency measures are to protect the vulnerable and elderly, he said, “there is no more time.”

An Italian doctor who is at the heart of the coronavirus outbreak has spoken out and has said the virus is a “tsunami that has swept us all.”

Dr Daniele Macchini candidly spoke of the huge pressures that health professionals are going through across Italy, which has now been classed as “protected zone.”

Coronavirus is spreading so fast doctors are making comparisons to war time triage medics who are deciding on who lives and who dies as there are limited numbers of beds in the intensive care unit.

Dr Macchini said, “After thinking for a long time if and what to write about what is happening to us, I felt that the silence was not at all responsible.”

Yesterday, the World Health Organization (WHO) has now categorised the deadly coronavirus outbreak as a global pandemic.

Ghebreyesus, Director-General of the WHO said: “WHO has been assessing this outbreak around the clock and we are deeply concerned both by the alarming levels of spread and severity, and by the alarming levels of inaction.

“We have therefore made the assessment that COVID19 can be characterized as a pandemic.”