April 14, 2022 7.00 am This story is over 23 months old

‘COVID threat is being ignored,’ says Scunthorpe consultant

He wants the government to reconsider its plans

A consultant at Scunthorpe General Hospital, who has been off work with coronavirus, believes now that restrictions have been lifted the ‘COVID threat is being ignored’.

Sakkaf Ahmed Aftab, who is also a Governor at Northern Lincolnshire and Goole Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust, said on Monday, April 11 that 75% of the consultants in his department were off work with coronavirus that day.

The majority of coronavirus restrictions ended on April 1 with the onus now on personal responsibility. Dr Aftab is calling on the government to “please reconsider” its plans, saying “we do not have a living-with-Covid plan, we have living-without restrictions ideology, which is different”.

He told BBC Look North: “We must rethink our strategy. Yes, we should live with COVID but living with COVID without any protection, without any proper public health messaging, is very difficult.”

He added the health service was “almost at a breaking point”.

https://twitter.com/ahmedaftab68/status/1513452517362962436