A paramedic and an acute care nurse have both died after contracting coronavirus.
The paramedic, whose family have asked not to be named, died in hospital on Friday, while Michael Allieu died on Saturday at Homerton university hospital in Hackney, London, where he had worked as a staff nurse since 2007.
Daren Mochrie, North West ambulance service’s chief executive, said: “It is with great sadness that we share the news that North West ambulance service has lost a very dear colleague who contracted Covid-19.”
Mochrie said the paramedic was married with children, and had worked for the trust “for a considerable number of years”.
“On behalf of everyone here at North West ambulance service, including our patients and the communities we serve, I would like to offer our sincere condolences to the family,” he said. “We would also like to thank our NHS colleagues for their professionalism and the compassionate care they have shown for our friend.”
He added: “This will deeply affect many people within the trust and we are supporting our staff during this very sad time.”
Homerton’s chief executive, Tracey Fletcher, said: “Michael was a vibrant, larger-than-life character on our acute care unit, and was well known and very well liked throughout the hospital. He will be greatly missed by all his colleagues both in the ACU and the wider Homerton hospital community. Our thoughts and condolences are with his family at this sad time.”
The Guardian knows of at least 58 private and NHS healthcare staff who have died from coronavirus as of Friday. A police officer in London also died of the virus on Saturday.
As the death toll among frontline medical staff , the government has come under mounting pressure to provide adequate supplies of personal protective equipment to reduce the spread of the virus.
