Current UK Risk Level: HIGH
The risk to the UK has been raised to high (as of 13/03/2020).
As of 13 Mar, UK is in the âdelayâ phase of the governmentâs action plan to limit the spread of the virus.
Current UK Situation
- As of 9am on 27 April, 569,768 people have been tested, of whom 157,149 have tested positive. As of 5pm on 26 April, of those hospitalised in the UK who tested positive for coronavirus, 21,092 have died. Full details and latest numbers are available here.
- In Suffolk we have 936 confirmed cases. However, with routine community testing discontinued, these figures will not describe the full extent of cases locally. You can view the latest UK dashboard of cases by local authority here.
- Governmentâs daily press conference (27 April 2020) â informal transcript available here
- Sadly, deaths figures include 82 NHS colleagues and 16 colleagues who work in social care.
- Families of staff who die from coronavirus in the course of their essential frontline work will receive a £60,000 payment.
- 42% of oxygen supported beds in the NHS now lie empty (largely due to the 10 Nightingale Hospitals across the UK).
- Weâve changed forever the digital capability of the NHS. I think many people whoâve now used online GP consultations and online outpatient visits wonât ever go back
- Fewer people are coming to the NHS when they need to and the attendances have dropped by more than 50%. Our message is that the NHS is open. Help us to help you.
- Press conference slides with the latest data from COBR coronavirus fact file (transport use, new cases, hospital admissions, deaths) and datasets available here.
- View past press conferences on YouTube
- PM statement in Downing Street: 27 April 2020 – PM urged the nation not to lose patience with the lockdown. We are on the brink of achieving that first clear mission to prevent our national health service from being overwhelmed. We must also recognise the risk of a second spike. We defied so many predictions. We did not run out of ventilators or ICU beds. We did not allow our NHS to collapse.
- New guarantee on death in service benefits for frontline health and care staff during pandemic – The families of health and care workers on the frontline in England will benefit from a new life assurance scheme during the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic.
- BBC: Coronavirus immunity – Can you catch coronavirus again? Will it come back every winter? Will a vaccine work? Could immunity passports get some of us back to work? How do we manage the virus in the long-term?
- Paediatric Intensive Care Society Statement (for medical professionals) – a small rise in the number of cases of critically ill children presenting with an unusual clinical picture. Many of these children had tested positive for COVID-19, while some had not. The statement goes on to add âIf you are a parent, please be assured that serious illness as a result of COVID-19 still appears to be a very rare event in childrenâ and advises parents â to seek medical attention in the usual wayâ.
Suffolk
Coronavirus cases within care home settings: SCC will be reporting weekly on the number of suspected or confirmed cases within Suffolk care home settings, that Suffolk County Council has been made aware of. These are the number of providers affected as of 28/04/2020: IPSWICH AND EAST 43, WEST 12, WAVENEY 14. These are the number of cases as of 28/04/2020: IPSWICH AND EAST 209, WEST 78, WAVENEY 76. These figures are cumulative and are listed on area basis and will not include the details of any specific care homes. These figures include care homes, extra care housing and supported housing. As a notifiable disease, care homes are required to report any potential or confirmed cases of Coronavirus to Public Health England (PHE) in order that this can be captured as part of the national reporting processes and also for PHE to provide advice and guidance on infection control. Care providers are under no obligation to report suspected or confirmed cases to the county council.
Some town roads to close during the lockdown to help residents get their daily exercise at a safe distance: SCC is taking measures to temporarily close off roads in its towns to motorised vehicles to assist local people in taking their permitted daily exercise safely, whilst maintaining social distancing. The first road to close is along Ipswich between Waterfront between Custom House and Coprolite Street. The closure will be in place daily from Wednesday 29 April for a minimum of 21 days. After this time, the closure will be reviewed in line with the countryâs COVID-19 response. SCC is also looking at other locations and measures it can implement in built up areas in our county towns that will allow more people to carry out their daily exercise. This could include widening existing cycle lanes and footpaths, providing temporary footpaths and cycle lanes and changing traffic signal timings to reduce waiting times for pedestrians and cyclists. SCC will consider other road closures for the same purpose on a case by case basis.
Apprenticeship updates: The Department for Education, has provide guidance for apprentices, employers and training providers about changes to apprenticeships during coronavirus/COVID-19. For more information click here
New Job Portal: New Anglia LEP alongside key partners are working to support businesses during the Coronavirus/COVID-10 pandemic. A new jobs portal is being used by businesses to find staff for available roles as well by individuals to find companies which are hiring during this difficult time. To view roles or to advertise vacancies, please click here.
Business FAQâs: There are two helpful FAQ documents available that businesses can refer to. The first, the British Chambers of Commerce and the wider chamber network put together which covers the Coronavirus Job Retention Scheme, whilst the other by the British Business Bank covers many of the questions raised by business in relation the Coronavirus Business Interruption Loan Scheme. Both can be found on the Suffolk Chamber of Commerce website: Coronavirus Job Retention Scheme FAQ
Protections for companies and high-street shops: High street shops and other companies under strain will be protected from aggressive rent collection and asked to pay what they can during the coronavirus pandemic. The Government is to introduce temporary new measures to safeguard the UK high street against aggressive debt recovery actions during the coronavirus pandemic. Statutory demands and winding up petitions issued to commercial tenants to be temporarily voided and changes to be made to the use of Commercial Rent Arrears Recovery, building on measures already introduced in the Coronavirus Act. More details can be found here.
Microsoft teams webinar: On Thursday 30th April at 11.00am Community Action Suffolk are hosting a webinar to demonstrate how to use the Microsoft teams platform. This webinar will be delivered by Greenshoots Learning for Community Action Suffolk and is free of charge. For more information click here
Useful Websites (any new guidance is in RED)
The existing guidance is being updated extremely regularly so please check any guidance relevant to your area to ensure that you are accessing the most up to date version. We are not including in this table all the published material but some of the key guidance that would be relevant to Suffolk County Council and our partners.
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Title |
Who For |
Comments |
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NEW |
Coronavirus (COVID-19): guidance for social landlords on essential moves |
social housing landlords |
Non-statutory guidance to support social landlords with allocations and transfers during the coronavirus outbreak. |
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UPDATED |
social care |
Added new COVID-19: how to work safely in domiciliary care |
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UPDATED |
Financial support for businesses during coronavirus (COVID-19) |
businesses |
Added details of the Bounce Back Loan scheme. |
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UPDATED |
Coronavirus (COVID-19): information for farmers, landowners and rural businesses |
farmers, landowners and rural businesses |
Update includes: extension to BPS application deadline, CS/ES revenue claim deadline, and legacy woodland claim deadline; information about organic certificates; farm visits and inspections; farm advice support for CS MT applicants; details of Farming Help support; details of who we will contact during the outbreak for sending BPS and CS reminders; links to RDPE Growth programme and BCMS temporary changes to requesting cattle passport amendments. |
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1 |
General Public â this is the only site we should be promoting to the public for information |
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2 |
Main cover webpage for all government guidance for public & professionals alike |
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3 |
Main collection of guidance for anyone in any setting |
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4 |
Everyone |
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5 |
Everyone |
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6 |
Everyone |
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7 |
Mental health support and advice from: |
General public, staff and carers |
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8 |
Chronic disease self- care during COVID-19: |
General public |
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9 |
critical workers who are self-isolating |
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10 |
Coronavirus (COVID-19): guidance for children’s social care services |
local authorities and their partners |
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11 |
bereaved families, friends or next of kin |
Information to help bereaved families, friends or next of kin make important decisions. |
Local Resources:
Below are any local resources that would be relevant to Suffolk County Council and our partners.
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Title |
Who For |
Comments |
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New Anglia: Employment Opportunities in Key Sectors in Norfolk and Suffolk |
Individuals and Businesses wanting to know what employment opportunities are available in some of our key sectors |
The New Anglia LEP – alongside other partners including local authorities – have pulled together lists and links to key employment roles needed now as part of the response to the current crisis. |
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Everyone |
The website aims to help everyone understand the signs of neglect or abuse and what to do if they are worried about a child or an adult. |
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Businesses needing support  |
A one stop shop source of information for government support and guidance available to businesses including 121 business advice sources of business grants and loans. |
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Everyone |
This page contains links to a wealth of resources and support for your health and wellbeing. |
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Everyone |
Suffolk County Council coronavirus (COVID-19) information, including health advice, service changes, business support and schools guidance. |
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Everyone |
The website contains free resources, ideas, tips, useful links and positive stories to encourage people to stay active during these unprecedented times. The website and our social channels will be constantly updated. |
Global: WHO Situation Report â reports available here
- WHO RISK ASSESSMENT (Global Level) – Very High
- WHO Covid-19 Dashboard for professionals using near real time data. The number of confirmed cases reported by countries reflects national laboratory testing capacity and strategy, thus the interpretation of the number of cases reported should take this into account.
- The Global Outbreak Alert and Response Network (GOARN) has launched a GOARN COVID-19 Knowledge hub. The hub is designed as a central repository of quality public health information, guidance, tools and webinars which can be accessed freely at any point.
Situation in Numbers WHO SitRep 98, 27 April (new since last 24hrs)
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Location |
Confirmed |
Deaths |
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Globally |
2 878 196 confirmed (85 530) |
198 668 deaths (4982) |
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European Region |
1 359 380 confirmed (29 659) |
124 525 deaths (2307) |
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Regions of the Americas |
1 140 520 confirmed (45 674) |
58 492 deaths (2453) |
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Eastern Mediterranean Region |
165 933 confirmed (5347) |
6991 deaths (104) |
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Western Pacific Region |
144 121 confirmed (1482) |
5958 deaths (15) |
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South-East Asia |
46 060 confirmed (2214) |
1824 deaths (77) |
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African Region |
21 470 confirmed (1154) |
865 deaths (26) |