COVID-19, community trials, and inclusion thelancet.com - get the latest breaking news, showbiz & celebrity photos, sport news & rumours, viral videos and top stories from thelancet.com Daily Mail and Mail on Sunday newspapers.
There was room for some optimism in Rishi Sunak’s budget. The UK’s GDP is forecast to return to its pre-pandemic level by the middle of 2022, six months earlier than previously predicted. And after nearly a year of record borrowing, the chancellor felt compelled to continue funding business and employment recovery through support grants and the furlough scheme.
The bright side of the worst economic downturn in 300 years is the expectation that it will be followed by the sharpest upturn in half a century. And despite a lower government deficit than previously predicted, it’s still a massive 17%, and talk has turned to fixing the economy and “levelling with people” about future prospects.
THE People’s Covid Inquiry has highlighted the disastrous effects of decades-long NHS chronic underfunding which left it struggling to deal with the coronavirus crisis.
In its first of eight sessions on Wednesday night, the inquiry, led by Keep Our NHS Public (KONP), featured testimony from leading academics in health, who detailed the reasons the NHS was so close to being overwhelmed at the start of the pandemic.
The inquiry, set up following the government’s refusal to hold a public inquiry into its handling of the crisis, also heard testimony from key workers and members of the public.
Government NHS policy over the last 10 years has starved the health service of vital capacity which would have helped it to cope with the pandemic last year, the session heard.
Labour leader Keir Starmer condemns falling life expectancy in North East chroniclelive.co.uk - get the latest breaking news, showbiz & celebrity photos, sport news & rumours, viral videos and top stories from chroniclelive.co.uk Daily Mail and Mail on Sunday newspapers.