Caution urged as Covid-19 infections rise

As the number of people testing positive for Covid-19 begins to rise again, employers are being urged to avoid complacency amid fears about the potential increase in long Covid cases.

The number of people reporting testing positive for the virus in England increased by 27.9% in the week ending 29 July, official figures show. However, the true number of people with Covid-19 is likely to be higher as fewer people are testing for the virus and those that do are not obliged to report the result.

The Zoe Health Study, which monitors cases across the UK, reported that estimated cases jumped from 606,629 on 4 July to 821,074 on 30 July.

According to testing expert Dr Avinash Hari Narayanan, clinical lead at the London Medical Laboratory, people may have lost the antibodies that were helping them fight Covid-19.

He said: “Our chief concern is that the government ditched its vital Covid antibody monitoring programme in March. It gave invaluable data on how well antibody levels in the community were holding up. It’s likely to have been many months since most of us had a Covid top-up jab.

“As a result, even its final set of figures, for the week beginning 13 February, showed antibodies at the recommended 800ng/ml level had already fallen to 66.6% among 25-34 year-olds and 66.8% among 35-49 year-olds. This could demonstrate a population-level vulnerability to any Covid-19 resurgence in the UK.

“Most Brits are now less concerned about the impact of Covid, as the latest variants appear to present milder symptoms than earlier cases. However, we should not become too complacent; the impact of long Covid cannot be underestimated.”

He said London Medical Laboratory has seen a 30% increase in demand for Covid-19 PCR tests, while it has been reported that Boots has seen a 33% rise in Covid test sales for the week ending 22 July.

The government should reintroduce antibody monitoring to give a clearer picture of the potential impact of any Covid resurgence, as well as consider where more preventative measures are needed, he said.

Meanwhile, a group of healthcare workers in Scotland has urged the Scottish government to reintroduce face masks in health and social care settings, provide FFP2 or FFP3 masks to all health and social care staff, and improve ventilation and air filtration in their workplaces.

In a letter to first minister Humza Yousaf, the Scottish Healthcare Workers Coalition said the government should rethink its decision to remove guidance around wearing face masks in health and social care environments.

They said the withdrawal of face mask guidance in May potentially puts employers in breach of the Health and Safety at Work Act 1974.

The letter says: “It is alarming that the Scottish Government would now withdraw protections from these vulnerable workers, putting their health at risk and further threatening the sustainability of the health and social care workforce.

“At present, the workplace of health and social care workers has been made less safe by the withdrawal of routine use of masks. We question what form of organisational risk assessment could possibly have been carried out before the Scottish Government made this decision, which poses a serious threat to health and safety, and which goes against legal responsibilities.”

It adds that current building standards “promote bare minimum ventilation” that does not protect against infectious disease transmission and calls for sufficient ventilation and filtration in addition to respiratory protective equipment.

Earlier this year it was revealed that thousands of nurses in Scotland had been forced to take sick leave because of long Covid.

OH job opportunities on Personnel Today

Browse more OH jobs