Mr. Liam Woods:

I will take the first question. With regard to infection in hospitals, the key control is the infection rate in the community. It is very visible that where there is a high rate of community infection, there are genuine challenges in the hospitals. There are many measures in place within hospitals to control infection but the reality is that hospitals are treating vulnerable patients and doing so in a way that complies as best as possible with all the policies, including those on the use of PPE, handwashing, social distancing and all the other measures that we could talk about. Fundamentally, however, the control concerns reducing the virus in the community.

Once the incidence of the virus in the community is high, it is a battle in hospitals to minimise its impact. Hospital staff, however, live in community.

To the point about hospital staff who need to self-isolate, there has been provision in Citywest, as an example, where a facility is provided for such staff. In fact, its use is now quite high. Some recently concluded studies have identified trends in this area and the strong indication is that one of the key drivers is the community infection rate, which brings us back to the core requirement to manage this pandemic, namely, compliance with the public health rules.

Dr. Glynn may wish to comment on the Chairman's broader points, which were about messaging.