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 ‘delay’ phase of the government’s action plan to limit the spread of the virus.

 

Current UK Situation

• As of 9am on 5 April 2020, 195,524 people have been tested, of which 47,806 were confirmed positive. As of 5pm on 4 April 2020, of those hospitalised in the UK who tested positive for coronavirus, 4,934 have died (this only includes deaths in hospital). The figures for test results and for deaths are compiled from different sources, which is why the figures for deaths are reported from an earlier point in time than the figures for test results. Latest numbers can be viewed here.
• In Suffolk we have 231 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.
• Government’s daily press conference (5 April 2020) – no transcript available yet
  • The answer to how long the Social distancing measures will last depend entirely on how much people follow the rules on social distancing. The more people follow the rules, the faster we will all be through this. There is no imminent change to the social distancing rules, but further steps cannot be ruled out, especially if (the minority of) people do not follow or bend the rules so far.
  • A new Coronavirus Status Checker was launched this weekend which asks those who have symptoms to share their experience. Please do so here: https://www.nhs.uk/coronavirus-status-checker
  • 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.
• Transport Secretary: continue to follow government guidelines on travel despite warm weather – with warm weather people may feel tempted to head out more, but please stick to government guidance. You are saving lives by staying at home.
• Foreign & Commonwealth Office steps up plans to bring home Britons stranded overseas – The government increases efforts to bring home travellers stranded abroad by coronavirus (COVID-19) with extra flights and 10 more airlines joining its scheme.
• UK medicines and medical devices regulator investigating 14 cases of fake or unlicensed COVID-19 medical products – An increasing number of bogus medical products being sold through unauthorised websites claiming to treat or prevent COVID-19
• World’s largest trial of potential coronavirus treatments rolled out across the UK – Definitive results on whether the treatments are safe and effective are expected within months from the Randomised Evaluation of COVID-19 Therapy (RECOVERY) trial. If positive, they could potentially benefit hundreds of thousands of people worldwide. Patients with COVID-19 are being offered the opportunity to participate in this trial. If they agree, they will be randomly allocated to standard of care alone, or standard of care plus 1 of 3 additional treatments
• How GCSEs, AS & A levels will be awarded in summer 2020 – Ofqual sets out details for schools, colleges, students, parents & carers on how GCSEs and A levels will be awarded following the cancellation of this year’s exams.
• NHS England have published background and FAQs on ‘CARING FOR PEOPLE AT HIGHEST CLINICAL RISK DURING COVID-19’:
  • Background and FAQs for Clinicians
  • Background and FAQs for patients
• BBC: Prime Minister Boris Johnson was admitted to hospital on Sunday night, 10 days after testing positive for coronavirus. Officials insist the PM remains in charge of the government.
• BBC: the Queen delivered a televised message to the nation, thanking people for following government rules to stay at home and praising those “coming together to help others”.
• BBC: How do you care for someone at home? – video of BBC’s Laura Foster explaining measures you should take when caring for someone who has it.

 

 

Suffolk

 

• Bus Service Support Grant: Many of the county’s bus routes are operating on reduced timetables. Following the announcement on Friday, we are expecting details in the next few days on how the Department for Transport is planning to use the £167 million made available to support bus operators to keep essential routes going. Further details on the DfT announcement can be found here

 

• SCC rent deferrals: Suffolk County Council owns and lets a range of properties and land to tenants throughout the county which are used in a number of ways including the provision of care and education. The authority has identified 87 of its most vulnerable tenants, which encompasses 123 properties. We have been in touch with each tenant to ask if there is anything we can to support them at this difficult time. We believe these tenants should be given the opportunity to arrange deferral of their rent and charges for three months, should they wish to do so. This would give them a degree of financial support for a short period of time as the impacts of coronavirus on business continue.

 

• Parking enforcement: SCC is working with district and borough colleagues to keep roads safe for emergency vehicles and key workers, in readiness for the move of statutory parking enforcement powers this week. Parking management in Suffolk will move from the police to local councils from today (6 April) – it has been in operation in Ipswich since 2005 – with the aim of driving down unlawful parking. However, in light of the current COVID-19 situation, councils will be taking a common-sense view and focussing on tackling obstructive and dangerous parking to ensure emergency, care, delivery, refuse and highways services can get around safely at this challenging time. As part of the national response to the pandemic; advice from the British Parking Association and the Local Government Association is that parking enforcement is an important public service that keeps roads safe and ensures access to goods and services. This is vitally important, particularly for key workers, as Suffolk’s councils strive to continue providing essential services to their residents.
• Suffolk’s Citizens Advice Bureau: Since 23 March CAB has helped more than 1,500 people. The biggest area of calls are work-related. To get advice check out the website Citizensadvice.org.uk or telephone Suffolk Adviceline on 0300 330 1151

 

Useful Websites (any new guidance is in RED)

The existing guidance is being updated extremely regularly (and in some cases daily) so please check any guidance relevant to your area to ensure that you are accessing the most up to date version. I will only be able to highlight new published and some other key published guidance in this bulletin.

	Title	Who For	Comments
NEW	Coronavirus (COVID-19): guidance for children’s social care services	local authorities and their partners	Advice about coronavirus (COVID-19) for local authorities and their partners to help support and protect vulnerable children.
NEW	COVID-19 health, care and volunteer workers parking pass and concessions	NHS workers, social care workers and NHS Volunteer Responders	This guidance describes the terms of use around the government’s free council car parking scheme for NHS workers, social care workers and NHS Volunteer Responders.
UPDATED	COVID-19: guidance for employees, employers and businesses	employees, employers and businesses	Added guidance on use of face masks in the community, which emphasises that there is very little evidence of widespread benefit from the use of face masks outside of the clinical or care settings. Therefore, PHE does not advise masks in public places and for those working in supermarkets, waste collection, schools and similar settings. Also added details about the Coronavirus Large Business Interruption Loan Scheme.
UPDATED	Coronavirus (COVID-19): business support grant funding – guidance for businesses	businesses	Updated with information about State Aid
UPDATED	Coronavirus (COVID-19): business support grant funding – guidance for local authorities	local authorities	Updated with information about State Aid
UPDATED	Coronavirus (COVID-19): guidance	Main collection of guidance for anyone in any setting – for non-clinical settings – for health professionals	Updated ‘COVID-19: guidance for health professionals’ regarding ‘management of exposed healthcare workers and patients in hospital settings’.
UPDATED	Coronavirus (COVID-19): guidance for schools and other educational settings	staff, parents and carers, pupils and students.	Updated ‘Coronavirus (COVID-19): cancellation of GCSEs, AS and A levels in 2020’ to reflect new guidance from Ofqual. Updated ‘Coronavirus (COVID-19): school closures’ with information about safeguarding and information about workforce and critical workers. Updated ‘Coronavirus (COVID-19): maintaining further education provision’
1	NHS – COVID-19 go-to page	General Public – this is the only site we should be promoting to the public for information
2	GOV.UK – COVID-19 homepage	Main cover webpage for all government guidance for public & professionals alike
3	Full guidance on staying at home and away from others	Everyone	The single most important action we can all take, in fighting coronavirus, is to stay at home in order to protect the NHS and save lives.
4	COVID-19: guidance for households with possible coronavirus infection	households with possible infection
5	Coronavirus outbreak FAQs: what you can and can’t do	Everyone
6	Coronavirus: How to help safely	Everyone
7	COVID-19: guidance on social distancing and for vulnerable people	Everyone
8	COVID-19: guidance on shielding and protecting people defined on medical grounds as extremely vulnerable	All adults and children who should be shielded and their family, friends, and carers
9	PHE Health Matters	Post on General FAQs that include a section to submit questions at the bottom of the page.
10	PHE Campaign Resource Centre	Range of comms resources that can be used
11	COVID-19: guidance for the public on mental health and wellbeing	Everyone
12	COVID-19: guidance on supporting children and young people’s mental health and wellbeing	parents and carers on looking after children or young people
13	Mental health support and advice from: WHO mentalhealth.org.uk Ipswich & East CCG Living Life To The Full NHS Practitioner Wellbeing	General public, staff and carers
14	Chronic disease self- care during COVID-19: Asthma Diabetes	General public
15	COVID-19: cleaning of non-healthcare settings	non-healthcare settings
16	Coronavirus (COVID-19): guidance for local government	Local councils
17	COVID-19 essential travel guidance	Public
18	COVID-19: guidance for care of the deceased	people required to manage bodies of deceased persons
19	Further businesses and premises to close	businesses
20	COVID-19: infection prevention and control	health and care systems and providers	updated guidance from Public Health England on PPE, including: Table 1 – Recommended PPE for healthcare workers by secondary care clinical context Table 2 – Recommended PPE for primary, outpatient, and community care Table 3 – Recommended PPE for ambulance, paramedics, first responders and pharmacists Table 4 – Additional considerations for COVID-19
21	COVID-19: personal protective equipment use for non-aerosol generating procedures	health and care professionals	Added updated PPE video.
22	Coronavirus (COVID-19): admission and care of people in care homes	care homes, local health protection teams, local authorities, clinical commissioning groups (CCGs) and registered providers	How to protect care home residents and staff during the coronavirus outbreak.

 

 

Global – WHO Situation Report

• WHO RISK ASSESSMENT (Global Level) – Very High
• WHO Covid-19 Dashboard for professionals using near real time data.
• As China emerges from a 2 month containment phase and moves into the mitigation stage, its experience is helping countries currently at the start of the COVID-19 cycle to plan their responses better.

 

Situation in Numbers WHO SitRep 76, 5 April (new since last 24hrs)

Location	Confirmed	Deaths
Globally	1 133 758 confirmed (82061)	62 784 deaths (5798)
Western Pacific Region	111 396 confirmed (1034)	3838 deaths (29)
European Region	621 407 confirmed (38266)	46 416 deaths (4082)
South-East Asia	7816 confirmed (1288)	302 deaths (35)
Eastern Mediterranean Region	70 293 confirmed (4328)	3794 deaths (201)
Regions of the Americas	315 714 confirmed (36171)	8187 deaths (1385)
African Region	6420 confirmed (974)	236 deaths (66)