Asylum seekers spent four days on board the Bibby Stockholm barge after Legionella bacteria was discovered, it has emerged.
Dorset Council says Home Office contractors were notified about the results last Monday – but all 39 migrants only left the controversial site on Friday as a “precautionary measure”.
The council went on to claim that a Home Office staff member was informed about the bacteria on Tuesday.
However, a government source has told Sky News that there is no record of this conversation – and claimed that the Home Office only received a written notification about the Legionella on Wednesday evening.
Legionella bacteria can cause a potentially deadly lung infection known as Legionnaires’ disease. It is contracted by people breathing in droplets of water containing the bacteria.
None of the migrants on the barge have shown any symptoms of the disease, according to the Home Office.
Ministers are facing questions about who was informed about the Legionella test results and when.
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Sky News has pieced together a timeline of when Legionella bacteria was found on the barge, and how long it took before those migrants on board were evacuated.
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2:14
Inside the Bibby Stockholm barge
Tuesday 25 July
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Dorset Council’s environmental health department takes water samples from the Bibby Stockholm barge and sends them to the UK Health Security Agency (UKHSA) for testing in its environmental lab facility.
The tests typically take at least 10 days to complete.
Monday 7 August
Initial test results are received by Dorset Council – the same day the first 15 asylum seekers board the Bibby Stockholm.
Dorset Council said it informed CTM and Landry & Kling – the companies contracted by the Home Office to operate the barge – that same day.
A spokesperson said it was not the council’s responsibility to tell the Home Office about the Legionella, as this fell to the contractors.
Image: People are pictured boarding the barge on Monday
Tuesday 8 August
Dorset Council’s environment health team meet the barge’s contractors “to further discuss results”. The council said a Home Office official was “verbally informed of the test results”.
A government source told Sky News there was no record of that conversation.
A small number of asylum seekers also arrive on the boat the same day.
Wednesday 9 August
Dorset Council officers visit the barge again to take further samples and “concern about control measures” prompt it to alert the UKHSA.
The UKHSA confirmed it was contacted by Dorset Council on Wednesday evening.
Sky News has been told that the first written notification to the Home Office was also that evening.
Thursday 10 August
The UKHSA convenes an “incident management meeting” between Dorset Council, the Home Office and the contractors, as well as representatives from the NHS.
The meeting concludes no more passengers should be allowed to board the vessel while a risk assessment is carried out.
Those recommendations are later confirmed in writing to the Home Office.
A second incident management meeting and risk assessment takes place in the afternoon.
The government said it was advised by the UKHSA to remove the six people who had boarded the barge that day.
A decision to remove all 39 individuals as a “further temporary precaution” was not taken until the next day.
Friday 11 August
Asylum seekers are not evacuated from the barge until Friday – four days after Dorset Council says it informed the barge contractors about the Legionella test results, and three days after it said it told a Home Office staff member.
Dorset Council said it followed “the appropriate technical guidance throughout on what to do when a positive Legionella sample is received”.
One of the barge’s contractors, Landry & Kling, said it was “working closely with local authorities to ensure housing solutions are safe and appropriate for service users”.
Landry & Kling said it and its project partners “have followed all written recommendations made by Dorset Council Environmental Health”.
Sky News has contacted the Home Office to ask when officials were made aware of the test result and when ministers were told.
A spokesperson previously said the health and welfare of those on board the vessel “is our utmost priority”.
UK health experts and officials have pushed back on Donald Trump’s claim that paracetamol is linked to autism, saying there is “no evidence” for it.
The US president said on Monday that there had been a “meteoric rise” in cases of autismand suggested that the use of Tylenol – an American-branded version of paracetamol – during pregnancy is a potential cause.
His claims have been widely corrected by officials, including Health Secretary Wes Streeting, who said that “I trust doctors over President Trump, frankly, on this”.
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4:19
Trump links autism with paracetamol
Speaking on ITV’s Lorraine, Mr Streeting said: “I’ve just got to be really clear about this: there is no evidence to link the use of paracetamol by pregnant women to autism in their children. None.”
The healthsecretary then referenced a major study in Sweden last year that involved 2.4 million children, adding it “did not uphold those claims”.
He added: “I would just say to people watching, don’t pay any attention whatsoever to what Donald Trump says about medicine.
“In fact, don’t take even take my word for it, as a politician – listen to British doctors, British scientists, the NHS.”
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2:25
Trump’s ‘not so careful’ autism claims
WHO says links ‘inconsistent’
Patient safety minister Dr Zubir Ahmed MP echoed this on social media, saying: “For the avoidance of any doubt, Paracetamol remains the safest painkiller to take during pregnancy.”
Dr Alison Cave, chief safety officer at the Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency, also said that “there is no evidence that taking paracetamol during pregnancy causes autism in children”.
She added that paracetamol “remains the recommended pain relief option for pregnant women when used as directed,” and that the MHRA’s advice “is based on rigorous assessment of the best available scientific evidence”.
The British officials were supported by the European Medicines Agency, which said there was no new evidence that would mean its recommendations for the use of paracetamol during pregnancy would change.
Tarik Jasarevic, a World Health Organisation spokesperson, added at a press briefing that the links between the use of the drug and autism “remains inconsistent”.
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2:14
Paracetamol & autism: Evidence examined
Trump: Tylenol ‘not good’ for pregnant women
During a press conference with US health secretary Robert F Kennedy Jr, Mr Trump urged pregnant women to stop taking Tylenol.
After saying that Mr Kennedy Jr “wants to be very careful with what he says,” the US president added: “Taking Tylenol is not good. All right. I’ll say it. It’s not good.
“For this reason, they are strongly recommending that women limit Tylenol use during pregnancy unless medically necessary. That’s, for instance, in cases of extremely high fever, that you feel you can’t tough it out. You can’t do it. I guess there’s that.”
Mr Trump then said key vaccinationsfor newborn babies should be delayed, that combined measles, mumps and rubella jabs should be given separately, and suggested that they are linked to autism.
“They pump so much stuff into those beautiful little babies, it’s a disgrace,” he added. “I don’t see it. I think it’s very bad.”
Mr Jasarevic pushed strongly back on that claim, saying: “We know that vaccines do not cause autism. Vaccines, as I said, save countless lives.
“So this is something that science has proven, and these things should not be really questioned.”