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 6 April, 208,837 people have been tested, of whom 51,608 confirmed positive. As of 5pm on 5 April, of those hospitalised in the UK who tested positive for coronavirus, 5,373 have died. 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 243 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.
• Foreign Secretary’s statement on coronavirus (COVID-19): 6 April 2020
  • The Foreign and Commonwealth Office (FCO) is working with other governments and the airlines to bring home as many stranded British nationals as possible, prioritising most vulnerable citizens. On commercial flights over 200,000 UK nationals have come back to the UK from Spain, 13,000 from Egypt, 8,000 from Indonesia and on charted flights from 7 different countries more than 2,000 British nationals have been bought to the UK.
  • The slides and datasets to accompany coronavirus press conference: 6 April 2020 are available here

• Coronavirus (COVID-19): letter to councils about local authority meetings and postponement of elections– Letter from the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government to local authority chief executives explaining two sets of regulations made under the Coronavirus Act 2020. The first set of regulations enables all local authority meetings before 7 May 2021 to be held remotely and removes the requirement for the annual meeting this year. The second set postpones until 6 May 2021 local by-elections and other polls, either scheduled or which would otherwise arise before that date.

• Coronavirus (COVID-19): letter to pharmacists from Jo Churchill-The Minister for Prevention, Public Health and Primary Care thanks pharmacy teams for their work and says what the government has done so far to support community pharmacy.
• Coronavirus (COVID-19): scaling up testing programmes–The government has now released the full paper online detailing steps on how it intends to scale up testing to 100,000 test a day from all five pillars of the strategy, across the UK by the end of this month.
• Prime Minister Boris Johnson was taken to intensive care last night as a precautionary measure, however as of Tuesday morning, Michael Gove has confirmed he has not been ventilated.

 

Suffolk

• PPE Update: SCC are providing a centralised cell for PPE in Suffolk – this system is in place to understand daily consumption rates of PPE for all non NHS areas. SCC have been collating information for CYP, ACS, districts and boroughs, police, fire and this is then fed into the stock and procurement system. SCC have established some good supply chains in place nationally and internationally sourced through the procurement team. Endeavour House, Ipswich, is the central base for all PPE delivery, storage, pack prep and distribution. This has been in place for two weeks and packs are being send out to front line services in Suffolk on a daily basis. SCC are also being supported by MoD military planners (stock control, logistics). The one off delivery from central govt will be used for priority areas of health, care and social care areas as directed. This will arrive in Suffolk on Tuesday and will bolster existing stock.

• SCC appeal: As announced last week SCC have launched an appeal for businesses in the county to donate any unused Personal Protective Equipment (PPE) to ensure our critical front-line staff working in care homes, children’s homes and people’s own homes can continue to give care and support to Suffolk’s most vulnerable residents. SCC are willing to purchase stocks if donating PPE is something businesses could not support and would be happy to discuss this with them. If businesses think they could help we ask that they contact PPE@suffolk.gov.uk with; their current PPE stock information (type and quantity), where they are located in Suffolk and a contact number.

 

• Communities update:  There have been more than 1900 to the phoneline for the most vulnerable in Suffolk. The freephone number is 0800 876 6926 and it is staffed 9am – 5pm, every day. Call handlers from across councils are reporting that people are anxious, isolated and worried however, there is also a great sense of personal resilience and community spirit.  There is a need for short-term food deliveries, which we can resolve swiftly, and a need for people requiring more information related to their own personal situations.

• Tribe Volunteer App: 30 volunteers have already been matched via this app and this will continue to increase with improved functionality of the app. SCC are working with a developer to improve it and get the most from it. This is not designed to stop any of the existing help and support already in neighbourhoods and people should continue to volunteer in their communities.

 

• Volunteer Shopper payments: SALC have published guidance on their website for volunteers and those in receipt of volunteer food deliveries on how best to arrange payment and how town and parish councils can help. For more information visit: https://www.salc.org.uk/homepage/volunteershopperpayments/. Community Action Suffolk have also published some really useful guidance; https://www.communityactionsuffolk.org.uk/wp-content/uploads/2020/03/Shopping-and-Handling-Money-for-Volunteers.pdf
• Support for family carers: Family carers across Suffolk are facing the additional challenge of continuing to provide much needed care for adults while the coronavirus pandemic continues. In Suffolk, good information and support for carers is more important than ever. Suffolk Family Carers, Dementia Together and a host of other Suffolk-based carer organisations are continuing to provide practical and emotional support. Suffolk Family Carers have been in contact with the many carers currently known to them, the focus of activity has rapidly been realigned to signposting carers to immediate support where needed and to address wellbeing issues. For more information Suffolk Family Carers are regularly updating their Covid-19 web pages found here: https://suffolkfamilycarers.org/covid-19/. Information can also be found on SCC’s website at;   https://www.suffolk.gov.uk/care-and-support-for-adults/caring-for-someone/family-carers-covid-19.

 

 

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
UPDATED	COVID-19: guidance for employees, employers and businesses	employees, employers and businesses	Added guidance on use of face masks in the community
UPDATED	MHRA guidance on Coronavirus (COVID-19)	industry	Added link to news story on MHRA investigating 14 cases of fake or unlicensed COVID-19 medical products
UPDATED	COVID-19: guidance for residential care, supported living and home care–	Care homes, local health protection teams, local authorities, clinical commissioning groups (CCGs) and registered providers	Added link to guidance on admission and care of people in care homes, and marked guidance on residential care provision as withdrawn, as guidance on admission and care of people in care homes has replaced it.
UPDATED	Coronavirus (COVID-19): guidance for apprentices, employers, training providers, end-point assessment organisations and external quality assurance providers	apprentices, employers and providers of apprenticeship training, assessment and external assurance	Updated with new information on continuing training and end point assessment for furloughed apprentices, and pausing new funding audits
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	Coronavirus (COVID-19): guidance	Main collection of guidance for anyone in any setting – for non-clinical settings – for health professionals
4	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.
5	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
6	COVID-19: personal protective equipment use for non-aerosol generating procedures	health and care professionals	Added updated PPE video.
7	Personal protective equipment (PPE): export control process	exporters	Information for economic operators who will temporarily need a licence to export PPE outside the EU, EFTA member states and certain other territories.
8	COVID-19: guidance for households with possible coronavirus infection	households with possible infection
9	Coronavirus outbreak FAQs: what you can and can’t do	Everyone
10	Coronavirus: How to help safely	Everyone
11	COVID-19: guidance on social distancing and for vulnerable people	Everyone
12	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
13	PHE Health Matters	Post on General FAQs that include a section to submit questions at the bottom of the page.
14	PHE Campaign Resource Centre	Range of comms resources that can be used
15	COVID-19: guidance for the public on mental health and wellbeing	Everyone
16	COVID-19: guidance on supporting children and young people’s mental health and wellbeing	parents and carers on looking after children or young people
17	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
18	Chronic disease self- care during COVID-19: Asthma Diabetes	General public
19	COVID-19: cleaning of non-healthcare settings	non-healthcare settings
20	Coronavirus (COVID-19): guidance for local government	Local councils
21	COVID-19 essential travel guidance	Public
22	COVID-19: guidance for care of the deceased	people required to manage bodies of deceased persons
23	Further businesses and premises to close	businesses
24	Coronavirus (COVID-19): changes to the Care Act 2014	local authorities	The guidance sets out how local authorities can use the new Care Act provisions, created under the Coronavirus Act 2020, to prioritise care and support for those who need it most. The provisions are temporary and should only be used when it is not possible for local authorities to comply with their duties under the Care Act 2014. This guidance must be read alongside the ethical framework for adult social care.
25	Coronavirus (COVID-19): business support grant funding – guidance for businesses	businesses
25	Business rates: expanded retail discount – guidance	businesses	Guidance updated to confirm that the government’s assessment that the expanded retail discount is not a state aid, and that local authorities should therefore award relief to all eligible properties.
26	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.
27	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.
28	Coronavirus (COVID-19): guidance for schools and other educational settings	staff, parents and carers, pupils and students.

 

 

Global – WHO Situation Report

• WHO RISK ASSESSMENT (Global Level) – Very High
• WHO Covid-19 Dashboard for professionals using near real time data.

 

Situation in Numbers WHO SitRep 77, 6 April (new since last 24hrs)

Location	Confirmed	Deaths
Globally	1 210 956 confirmed (77 200)	67 594 deaths (4810)
Western Pacific Region	112 522 confirmed (1126)	3861 deaths (23)
European Region	655 339 confirmed (33 932)	49 479 deaths (3063)
South-East Asia	8828 confirmed (1012)	344 deaths (42)
Eastern Mediterranean Region	74 347 confirmed (4054)	3976 deaths (182)
Regions of the Americas	352 592 confirmed (36 878)	9680 deaths (1493)
African Region	6616 confirmed (198)	243 deaths (7)