Patients being able to meet friends and family outside hospital without protective measures made a “mockery of infection control”, an inquiry has heard.

Scottish Covid Bereaved lead member Jane Morrison told the UK Covid-19 Inquiry in Edinburgh that while her wife Jacky was ill with the virus in hospital, she saw other patients leaving the building to meet with friends and families in groups with no personal protective equipment or social distancing.

Jacky died in Ninewells Hospital in Dundee with Covid-19 in October 2020 aged 49, having contracted the virus while a patient there.

Responding to questions from Jamie Dawson KC, lead counsel to the current module of the inquiry, Ms Morrison said the movement of patients made a “mockery of infection control” and was like “pulling down a portcullis to stop a swarm of bees”.

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