Covid inquiry rejects clinicians’ request for anonymity

From February 2020 until it was disbanded in 2022, guidance on the use of PPE in healthcare settings was drawn up by the IPC Cell, a group of clinicians and officials from the NHS, government and public-health bodies such as Public Health England, which then Health Secretary Matt Hancock replaced with UKHSA in 2021.

Critics have said the IPC Cell was too slow to strengthen its recommendations on PPE after it became clear Covid could be spread by tiny airborne particles.

The Covid-19 Airborne Transmission Alliance (CATA), a group made up of healthcare organisations and individuals which campaigned for stricter guidance, has called it a “shadowy” organisation with “unclear” accountability structures.

UKHSA said the “heated and aggressive” public discourse around the subject meant there was a “high likelihood” junior members of staff could face online abuse if they were named in minutes published by the inquiry.

One social media post from 2022 accused the IPC Cell of having “the blood of many innocent Covid victims” on its hands, adding: “We shall not forgive. We shall not forget.”

Another, from early 2022, called the group “psychopaths, pure and simple”.