• Disrupting Power Since 2015
  • Donate
  • Login
Wednesday, May 14, 2025
  • Login
  • Register
Canary
MEDIA THAT DISRUPTS
  • News
    • UK
    • Global
    • Analysis
    • Trending
  • Editorial
  • Features
    • Features
    • Environment
    • Lifestyle
    • Health
    • Money
    • Science
    • Business
    • Tech
    • Travel
    • Sport & Gaming
  • Media
    • Video
    • Cartoons
  • Opinion
No Result
View All Result
MANAGE SUBSCRIPTION
SUPPORT
  • News
    • UK
    • Global
    • Analysis
    • Trending
  • Editorial
  • Features
    • Features
    • Environment
    • Lifestyle
    • Health
    • Money
    • Science
    • Business
    • Tech
    • Travel
    • Sport & Gaming
  • Media
    • Video
    • Cartoons
  • Opinion
No Result
View All Result
Canary
No Result
View All Result

Government warned of need for PPE stockpiles and contact tracing four years before pandemic

The Canary by The Canary
8 October 2021
in News, UK
Reading Time: 3 mins read
162 10
A A
1
Home UK News
319
SHARES
2.5k
VIEWS
Share on FacebookShare on Twitter

The Government modelled the impact of a coronavirus hitting England four years before the pandemic, with health officials warning of the need to stockpile protective equipment and develop a contact tracing tool, documents show.

Exercise Alice, carried out in February 2016, recommended 12 actions for the government to make the NHS ready to cope with an outbreak of Middle East Respiratory Syndrome (Mers) coronavirus.

The need for PPE and contact tracing

This included ensuring sufficient levels of Personal Protective Equipment (PPE) and producing a plan examining the evidence on quarantine and self-isolation requirements and recommending a “viable” approach.

The exercise was commissioned by the Department of Health and Social Care in response to concerns raised by the chief medical officer about the planning and resilience to respond to a Mers outbreak in England.

The resulting 23-page report says that PPE stockpiles were suggested “as a means to ensure sufficient quantities were available”, and a live, web-based contact tracing system was also recommended.

A key section reads:

There was a general consensus on the need to identify capacity and capability of assets within the health system.

Assets in this context would be all resources that would be required to effectively respond to a Mers-CoV outbreak such as trained personnel, appropriate PPE in sufficient quantities and the requisite beds with suitable clinical equipment.

It is one of seven reports on pandemic preparedness exercises between 2015 and 2018, first reported on by the Guardian, which came to light after Freedom of Information requests from Dr Moosa Qureshi.

Public Health England tried to block releasing the document

It was claimed that Public Health England had previously refused to release the document, saying it “could precipitate an unnecessary heightened public concern that could lead to loss of public confidence in the Government’s and the NHS’s Covid-19 response”.

But it was disclosed after Dr Qureshi said he would complain to the Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO).

Dr Qureshi said:

Disgracefully, the Government covered up Exercise Alice – a coronavirus exercise which predicted the importance of isolating patients, contact tracing, PPE provision, trained personnel and adequate NHS beds.

The fact that Covid-19 is a novel type of coronavirus is irrelevant – every pandemic is different, but the lessons of Exercise Alice were generally applicable to coronaviruses including Covid-19, they were agreed by general consensus, and both political leaders and NHS England executives failed to implement that consensus.

They failed to maintain contact tracing capacity and isolate patients, they failed to provide adequate PPE, and they cut NHS beds.”

Leigh Day partner Tessa Gregory added: “The public have a right to know why issues such as PPE supplies and developing a working contact tracing system, which were flagged in 2016 during Exercise Alice, had not been addressed by the Government when the Covid-19 pandemic hit in 2020.”

The Government must carry out the inquiry immediately, and it must include a focus on the preparation in place beforehand and why this seems to have been thrown out the window the moment disaster actually struck.

Anything less is risking lives in the future.#CovidInquiryNow

— Covid-19 Bereaved Families for Justice UK (@CovidJusticeUK) October 8, 2021

“Manipulated”

Lobby Akinnola, a spokesman for the Covid-19 Bereaved Families for Justice group, said members felt “manipulated”, adding:

For the tens of thousands of families that lost loved ones as a direct consequence of the lack of PPE, ineffectual contact tracing systems or the failures in screening for foreign travel, this news is extremely painful.

Our loved ones might still be with us today, if only the Government has followed their own recommendations.

The group repeated its calls for the promised public inquiry to start as soon as possible.

A government spokesperson said Exercise Alice had focused on a different virus to SARS-CoV-2, which causes Covid-19, and “was not a coronavirus pandemic preparedness exercise”.

She said: “Mers-CoV does not transmit as easily as SARS-CoV-2 between people, outbreak sizes are comparatively small and the risk to individuals in the UK remains very low.

“The results of Exercise Alice have been incorporated into ongoing planning work conducted by DHSC, UKHSA and the NHS to respond to potential outbreaks of high consequence infectious diseases like Mers-CoV.

“We have always been clear that there will be opportunities to look back, analyse and reflect on all aspects of Covid-19, and full statutory independent inquiry is due to begin in Spring 2022.”

Share128Tweet80
Previous Post

Insulate Britain defies injunction again by blocking M25 and major London road

Next Post

It’s never the generals on trial for wartime atrocities. That needs to change.

Next Post
The Bogside

It's never the generals on trial for wartime atrocities. That needs to change.

NICE logo - it has delayed the publication of ME/CFS guidance

NICE will now face court over the ME guidelines debacle

Unions urge government to reintroduce coronavirus safety measures in schools

Unions urge government to reintroduce coronavirus safety measures in schools

Houses of Parliament

Almost no consequences for Tory MP who breached parliamentary rules three times

It took Sarah Everard’s murder for Met Police to examine sexual misconduct and abuse claims against officers

It took Sarah Everard's murder for Met Police to examine sexual misconduct and abuse claims against officers

Please login to join discussion
The British Museum just held an event with the Israeli embassy - and the Met police responded by repressing Palestine protesters
News

British Museum holds event with the Israeli embassy – so Met Police respond by repressing Palestine protesters

by The Canary
14 May 2025
EXPOSED: the public is paying for Keir Starmer's in-laws to live virtually rent-free in London
Analysis

EXPOSED: the public is paying for Keir Starmer’s in-laws to live virtually rent-free in London

by Ed Sykes
14 May 2025
People are coming together on 7 June to oppose Labour's DWP benefit cuts
News

People are coming together on 7 June to oppose Labour’s DWP benefit cuts

by The Canary
14 May 2025
Keir Starmer's 'Island of Strangers' speech: channeling the racist rhetoric of Enoch Powell
Opinion

Is Keir Starmer capable of killing?

by Jamie Driscoll
14 May 2025
As an ACTUAL GENOCIDE continues, its apologists come for Gary Lineker over an emoji
Opinion

As an ACTUAL GENOCIDE continues, its apologists come for Gary Lineker over an emoji

by Ed Sykes
14 May 2025
  • Contact
  • About & FAQ
  • Get our Daily News Email
  • Privacy Policy
  • Cookie Policy

The Canary
PO Box 71199
LONDON
SE20 9EX

Canary Media Ltd – registered in England. Company registration number 09788095.

For guest posting, contact [email protected]

For other enquiries, contact: [email protected]

The Canary is owned and run by independent journalists and volunteers, NOT offshore billionaires.

You can write for us, or support us by making a regular or one-off donation.

© Canary Media Ltd 2024, all rights reserved | Website by Monster | Hosted by Krystal | Privacy Settings

Welcome Back!

Login to your account below

Forgotten Password? Sign Up

Create New Account!

Fill the forms below to register

All fields are required. Log In

Retrieve your password

Please enter your username or email address to reset your password.

Log In
No Result
View All Result
  • News
    • UK
    • Global
    • Analysis
    • Trending
  • Editorial
  • Features
    • Features
    • Environment
    • Lifestyle
    • Health
    • Money
    • Science
    • Business
    • Tech
    • Travel
    • Sport & Gaming
  • Media
    • Video
    • Cartoons
  • Opinion

© 2023 Canary - Worker's co-op.

Before you go, have you seen...?

The British Museum just held an event with the Israeli embassy - and the Met police responded by repressing Palestine protesters
News
The Canary

British Museum holds event with the Israeli embassy – so Met Police respond by repressing Palestine protesters

EXPOSED: the public is paying for Keir Starmer's in-laws to live virtually rent-free in London
Analysis
Ed Sykes

EXPOSED: the public is paying for Keir Starmer’s in-laws to live virtually rent-free in London

People are coming together on 7 June to oppose Labour's DWP benefit cuts
News
The Canary

People are coming together on 7 June to oppose Labour’s DWP benefit cuts

Keir Starmer's 'Island of Strangers' speech: channeling the racist rhetoric of Enoch Powell
Opinion
Jamie Driscoll

Is Keir Starmer capable of killing?

ADVERTISEMENT
Business
Nathan Spears

When digital isn’t enough: why paper still matters in modern business

Tech
Nathan Spears

How Digital Addictions Are Formed in the Shadow of Large Platforms

Lifestyle
Nathan Spears

Recovery in the Sun: How the Canary Islands are Becoming a Wellness Tourism Hub