Key Item:
You can read the Prime Minister Boris Johnson’s “address to the nation on coronavirus: 10 May 2020” via gov.uk. In it, he stated “this is not the time simply to end the lockdown this week”. We cover some further details below under national news.
The Prime Minister said he would be “setting out more details in Parliament tomorrow and taking questions from the public in the evening”. We will endeavour to cover further commentary when these details and questions have been dealt with.
Today’s update includes:
- Requests & Offers from the Stroud Coronavirus Community Response team & beyond
- Summary of local news
- Key national & international news
Requests and Offers from the Stroud Coronavirus Community Response team and beyond
- Sarah Phaedra Watson works at The Subscription Rooms and says they are “keen to hear about how people are really feeling right now, and how we can support our community better once the lockdown starts to ease.” They’ve launched a survey on how “to rebuild our community after the lockdown” – saying “There are just 22 questions, and it should take less than 10 minutes to complete”. Sarah adds: “We’ve included some questions that we hope will help independent businesses such as shops, bars, cafes, pubs and restaurants to understand how they can prepare for reopening (when it’s absolutely safe to do so, of course) – and we’ll share your (anonymous) answers with them too. Like the Sub Rooms we at SCCR hope the survey will help form a real understanding of local attitudes and what we can all do to support independent businesses and our community.
- Steve Lydon shared a piece from the Observer, which covers a letter to the paper from “Britain’s biggest trades unions” (Unison, Unite, the GMB and Usdaw – together with the Trades Union Congress) in which the unions state “that they will not recommend a return to work for their three million members until the government and employers agree a nationwide health and safety revolution as a result of the Covid-19 pandemic”
- A reminder that “The drive-through mobile testing unit for coronavirus is running until Monday, and is based at Oxstalls Tennis Centre in Gloucester. “People with symptoms including key workers, people living with them or over-65s can attend the site. The full list of who is eligible to attend is here.” Read more at: http://orlo.uk/mobile_testing_5tP5u
- We now have 4,304 members. Please invite your friends to grow this community. And please do introduce yourself and let us know anything you’d like to see in the group related to coronavirus
- Please take a look at the Group Purpose and Guidelines if you haven’t read them recently.
Local updates:
- “There have been no new reported deaths of patients who had tested positive for coronavirus in Gloucestershire in the past 24 hours. Public Health England said the total number of Covid-19 linked deaths remains at 208 in Gloucestershire – the same as on Saturday. Of those who have died, 179 were undergoing treatment at Gloucestershire Hospitals while 29 were being cared for through Gloucestershire Health and Care NHS Foundation Trust which runs community hospitals and mental health settings… ” (Gloucestershire Live) These numbers do not include people who die in care homes or at home.
- “The number of confirmed cases in Gloucestershire has risen by two to 1,327.” (Gloucestershire Live – see link above)
- Stroud News and Journal published the weekly diary entry from Leader of the District Council, Doina Cornell, who says among other things: “I don’t yet know what the recovery will look like, but a phrase that other councils and organisations are starting to use is ‘build back better’ and I look forward to a district-wide conversation how we make this happen. Although we stood down most non-essential business during the first phase of the emergency, we are now starting to re-engage with councillors and get online meetings again for urgent matters that need a public debate. On May 14 we’ll hold our first online full council meeting, the papers will be published on the council website.”
- Gloucestershire Live shared an article on how “Schools across Gloucestershire are finding imaginative and engaging ways to keep in touch with pupils (and parents) during lockdown”. They want to hear about more examples – see the linked article for details.
- A reminder that data was released by the government on Friday for the six local authority districts in the county of Gloucestershire. In Stroud there have been 192 confirmed cases of Covid 19, which equates to 161.3 cases per 100,000 people. This is the second-lowest rate per 100,000 people in the county, after the Forest of Dean (123.6 cases per 100,000 people). Gloucester has the highest number of cases (379), and a rate per 100,000 people approaching over twice as high the Forest of Dean rate (293.2)
- A reminder that the Stroud News and Journal published our letter about coronavirus misinformation.
National news:
- As of 9am 10 May, 219,183 people have tested positive for Covid-19 in the UK. This number is a proportion of those tested, and not everyone is currently eligible for testing. You can check eligibility and book a test via the gov.uk website.
- As of 5pm on 09 May, of those tested positive for coronavirus, across all settings, 31,855 have sadly died.(Department of Health and Social Care pinned tweet)
- 269 people died in the last 24-hours period, and 3,923 new cases of coronavirus were recorded yesterday. (Weekends generally show much lower numbers than weekdays due to reporting administration)
- “The Government has failed to hit its 100,000 daily coronavirus test target for the eighth day in a row.”
- The Sunday Telegraph reported that “Britain has been secretly flying tens of thousands of coronavirus tests to America as it struggles to lift the daily testing rate over 100,000 a day in the UK… The Department of Health admitted last night that 50,000 test samples were sent to the US last week as problems were reported in laboratories in the UK.”
- Prime Minister Boris Johnson made an “address to the nation on coronavirus: 10 May 2020” via gov.uk. In it, he stated “this is not the time simply to end the lockdown this week”. We cover some further details below under national news.
- The Prime Minister also said:
- “anyone who can’t work from home, for instance those in construction or manufacturing, should be actively encouraged to go to work.”
- “to ensure you are safe at work we have been working to establish new guidance for employers to make workplaces COVID-secure.”
- “you should avoid public transport if at all possible – because we must and will maintain social distancing, and capacity will therefore be limited.”
- “from this Wednesday, we want to encourage people to take more and even unlimited amounts of outdoor exercise. You can sit in the sun in your local park, you can drive to other destinations, you can even play sports but only with members of your own household. You must obey the rules on social distancing and to enforce those rules we will increase the fines for the small minority who break them.”
- “I am serving notice that it will soon be the time – with transmission significantly lower – to impose quarantine on people coming into this country by air.”
- “In step two – at the earliest by June 1 – after half term – we believe we may be in a position to begin the phased reopening of shops and to get primary pupils back into schools, in stages, beginning with reception, Year 1 and Year 6.”
- “Our ambition is that secondary pupils facing exams next year will get at least some time with their teachers before the holidays.”
- “And step three – at the earliest by July – and subject to all these conditions and further scientific advice; if and only if the numbers support it, we will hope to re-open at least some of the hospitality industry and other public places, provided they are safe and enforce social distancing.”
- Anticipating the first of the points covered above “Britain’s biggest trades unions have warned Boris Johnson that they will not recommend a return to work for their three million members until the government and employers agree a nationwide health and safety revolution as a result of the Covid-19 pandemic. In a letter to the Observer, leaders of the “big four” – Unison, Unite, the GMB and Usdaw – together with the Trades Union Congress, say many of their members have already lost their lives “transporting people and goods, protecting the public and caring for the vulnerable”.
International developments:
- Confirmed cases of the virus passed 4 million yesterday and continue to rise (4,081,970), and the number people who have died is over 281,000 (281,399).
- The UK is now the country with the third highest number of confirmed cases – having passed Italy (219,070)
- There are now five countries with over 200,000 confirmed cases, as Russia (209,688) has ramped up testing. The other countries are: the USA (1.32 million), Spain (223,578), UK (220,449) and Italy (219,070). There are a further six countries with between 100,000 and 200,000 confirmed cases, and eighteen between 20,000 and 100,000.
- The UK is now the country where the second highest number of people have died (31,930), higher than the current number in Italy (30,569), with the USA (79,058) being the place where the most people who have died (via Johns Hopkins University tracker)
- “New coronavirus infections rose again in Germany at the end of last week, a few days after leaders loosened social restrictions… [the country’s] Robert Koch Institute for disease control said in a daily bulletin on Sunday the number of people each carrier was infecting in the country – known as the reproduction rate, or R – had risen to 1.1.”
- “China reported 14 new confirmed coronavirus cases on Saturday, the highest number since 28 April, including the first in five weeks in the city of Wuhan, where the outbreak was first detected late last year.”
- France “plans to begin easing its tough seven-week lockdown from Monday”
- “South Korea also warned of a resurgence of Covid-19 on Sunday as infections rebounded to a one-month high as restrictions were starting to be eased”
- “Spain logged its lowest single-day death toll in almost two months as around half of the country prepares to move into the next phase of its lockdown de-escalation plan on Monday.”
- “Djibouti, the tiny Horn of Africa nation with the highest number of coronavirus cases on the continent per capita [“though its testing has also outpaced many of its neighbours”], reversed plans to begin lifting lockdown measures this week, saying it was premature.”
Notes
Please remember we have a (growing) list of resources to support your emotional and mental health during this time on our website. The following numbers may be useful:
- Samaritans: 116 123
- Domestic Violence Hotline: 0808 2000 247
- Mind: 0300 123 3393
- Age UK: 0800 169 6565
- Childline: 0800 1111.
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