Today’s update includes:
- Requests and Offers from the Stroud Coronavirus Community Response team and beyond
- Summary of local news
- Key national and international news
Requests and Offers from the Stroud Coronavirus Community Response team and beyond
- Request: Citizens Online is looking for people who could help others with digital skills enabling people to access the internet at this time. They have free online sessions every Thursday (and you can find a recording of the previous session via the weblink). Citizens Online is based in Stroud
- We would like to emphasise that 5G mobile networks DO NOT spread COVID-19. Read the latest myth buster from the World Health Organization (WHO)
- We shared scam warnings from the Office of the Police and Crime Commissioner and another from Gloucestershire Constabulary who would like us to be aware that a number of scams relating to the Coronavirus are circulating.
- Anyone who has fallen victim to a scam can report it via 101 or Action Fraud on 0300 123 2040. More information on fraud types can be found at: www.actionfraud.police.uk
- Vanessa Reiger let us know that free Home-Start groups are now online
- Nick Weir shared that Rosie and Nell are now selling though the Stroudco online shop which is doing a trial run this week and will go public soon, using their pop up stall to sell tomato plants that are surplus from the communal allotment group on Summer Street
- Finally Alex Hobbis from Good On Paper kindly shared a link to Stroud dwelling authors and their books.
Local updates:
- There have sadly been seven more Coronavirus deaths in Gloucestershire – the total is now 143. Of those who died, 125 were being treated at Gloucestershire Hospitals while 18 were being cared for through Gloucestershire Health and Care NHS Foundation Trust. There are nearly 1,000 confirmed cases in the county. (934, Gloucestershire Live)
- Stroud District Council has written to every household in the district as part of its comprehensive response. The letter will be particularly useful for those who have less access to the internet and social media.
- NHS says A&E is safe as number of patients reduces by half in Gloucestershire (Gloucestershire Live)
- Gloucestershire County Council reminds us that at home shouldn’t mean at risk. If you or someone you know is suffering from #DomesticAbuse, isolation rules don’t apply. Police response and support services are still available. Find support at orlo.uk/WkxgN or call 999 if you are in immediate danger. #YouAreNotAlone
National news:
- “As of 9am 21 April, 535,342 tests have concluded, with 18,206 tests carried out on 20 April. 397,670 people have been tested, of whom 129,044 have tested positive. As of 5pm on 20 April, of those hospitalised in the UK who tested positive for coronavirus, 17,337 have died” (Department of Health and Social Care pinned tweet)
- 823 people died in the last 24-hour period, and 4,301 tested positive.
- “Official figures also show that Covid-19 fatalities in care homes in England and Wales more than quadrupled in a week; rising to 1,043” (The Guardian)
- The most recent data from the Office for National Statistics reports COVID-19 related deaths in England and Wales at a number 41% higher than Department of Health and Social Care figures. There are reasons for this. Please see the link for full explanation and caveats.
- “Deaths in England and Wales have nearly doubled above what would be expected, hitting a 20-year high. The Office for National Statistics said there were 18,500 deaths in the week up to 10 April – about 8,000 more than is normal at this time of year. A third were linked to coronavirus, but deaths from other causes also increased, suggesting the lockdown may be having an indirect impact on health. But experts believe this period could well be when virus deaths peaked.” (BBC News)
- “Human trials of a potential coronavirus vaccine developed at Oxford University are to begin on Thursday, health secretary Matt Hancock has announced.” (The Independent)
- “The [NHS Nightingale] hospital has been unable to admit about 50 people with the disease and needing “life or death” care since its first patient arrived at the site, in the ExCeL exhibition centre, in London’s Docklands, on 7 April. Thirty of these people were rejected because of a lack of staff.”
- “Boris Johnson’s ministers deliberately snubbed EU efforts to buy equipment to help the fight against coronavirus – despite claiming it had been an accident, a senior civil servant revealed today. Sir Simon McDonald told MPs it had been a ‘political decision’ by the Government not to take part in Brussels-orchestrated efforts to bulk-buy protective equipment. [The permanent under-secretary at the Foreign Office’s] evidence to the Foreign Affairs Committee today raises questions about the Government’s account of what happened. Boris Johnson’s administration has previously claimed that ‘communication problems’ caused by missed emails had meant the UK did not take part in a procurement scheme for ventilators and PPE.” (Daily Mail)
International developments:
- More than 2.5m are now confirmed to be infected (2,540,523).
- More than 175,000 people have now died after testing positive (175,438) deaths in 185 countries/regions
- 669,252 people have recovered after testing positive
- More than 4 million tests have been carried out in the USA (4,035,860, above statistics all from Johns Hopkins University tracker).
- Addressing the UN Security Council during a video conference, David Beasley, head of the World Food Programme (WFP), said the world had to “act wisely and act fast” to avoid catastrophic famines. The fourth annual Global Report on Food Crises “estimates that the number suffering from hunger could almost double from 135m to more than 250m.” (BBC News)
Notes
Please remember we have a (growing) list of resources to support your emotional and mental health during this time on our website.
Thanks to everyone who helped create this update through our Facebook group. If you submit posts, we will often decline posting them to the discussion directly and instead hold them till the single daily summary – to try to reduce the number of posts in the feed and make it easier for people to follow the information. Please continue to submit posts to admins for this purpose with a flag REQUEST / OFFER / UPDATE / QUESTION