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Coronavirus UK live: Matt Hancock under fire over PPE comments – live updates – The Guardian, Theguardian.com

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Coronavirus UK live: Matt Hancock under fire over PPE comments – live updates – The Guardian, Theguardian.com

Lucy Campbell

Thank you to everyone who has sent me emails and DMs with tips for the live blog. I really appreciate all your messages, especially the ones thanking the Guardian for its coverage.

Please do continue to get in touch throughout the day with any stories, tips, advice or comments with me via the usual channels (below). Your thoughts are always welcome, and apologies if I can’t reply to you all.

Email: [email protected]

Twitter: @ lucy_campbell _

Updated

at 2. PM BST

2. BST BST 029: Another

deaths in England bring death toll to 8,

NHS England said a further 949 people have died in hospital in England after testing positive for coronavirus, bringing the death toll there to 8, .

The patients were aged between 24 and (years old and

(of the 980 patients (aged between and years old) had no known underlying health condition.

2. (pm) (BST) :

Recorded messages, mounted police and volunteer wardens with megaphones have been welcoming locals in east London’s reopened Victoria Park , urging them to follow new physical distancing measures during the lockdown.

Officers of the Metropolitan police patrol in Victoria Park in London as warm weather tests the nationwide lockdown. Photograph: Tolga Akmen / AFP via Getty Images

The park and Tower Hamlets council came in for intense criticism three weekends ago after pictures posted on social media showed a local market in the grounds bustling with people despite government guidance to practice physical distancing.

The furore, which occurred days before a nationwide lockdown came into effect, prompted the park to shut for a fortnight, before reopening on Saturday with restrictions in place.

Signs bearing new rules at the popular public space inform people of a ban on picnics, ball games and sunbathing, with cyclists being told to dismount upon entry. Announcements are also ringing out over loudspeakers telling people to follow the measures or face being moved on or fined.

A
A Mounted police officer offers advice to people exercising in Victoria Park after it was reopened with reduced opening hours and new control measures in place. Photograph: Jonathan Brady / PA

Updated (at 2.) PM BST

(1.) BST BST 29:

Turkey supplies UK with , items of PPE

Turkey has supplied the (UK) with , items of protective equipment, the Ministry of Defense has announced.

The shipment, which arrived at Oxfordshire’s Brize Norton RAF base on Friday, includes , (N –

face masks; , surgical masks; and 226, Protective suits.

The supplies will be taken to a regional NHS distribution hub to be delivered to medical centers across the country, the MoD added.

The defense secretary, Ben Wallace, said:

The delivery of this vital equipment will bring protection and relief to thousands of critical workers across the UK, as they bravely and tirelessly work to keep us safe.

It is also a tribute to the strong bilateral ties with our ally Turkey, and I am immensely grateful for their kind gesture.

As Nato allies we can always depend on each other, whatever the threats we face.

This is just one way the UK’s armed forces are helping, in addition to helping to establish temporary hospitals, delivering supplies and assisting with a variety of tasks to support the NHS and other public bodies.

Updated (at 2.) BST

(1.) pm BST

:

Transport union leaders have criticized a bus company for providing movable “shower curtains” as barriers to protect drivers from the spread of coronavirus.

The Rail, Maritime and Transport union (RMT) hit out at First South West buses after receiving complaints over the clear plastic film being used as a screen.

The union said it had asked for protective Perspex screens to be installed, similar to ones in supermarkets that have been protecting checkout staff.

Video footage sent to the RMT shows a driver moving a transparent piece of plastic film, which covers their door but does not continue up to the windscreen, leaving a large gap.

The driver said:

It won’t actually cover you properly, you’ve got to fight the bloody door to get into it and it doesn’t actually cover that much.

The thin film, which the RMT described as a “shower curtain”, is fixed to the top of the cab but not attached anywhere else, which the union said has led to passengers simply pulling the barrier back to talk to drivers.

The criticism comes after at least 029 transport workers have died after testing positive for Covid – 33, including nine bus drivers.

The transport company, which is part of the large FirstGroup, serves areas including Cornwall and Somerset.

In a letter to the company managing director, RMT general secretary, Mick Cash, has urged it to “step up to protect your staff in this time of national emergency”.

FirstGroup bus operator Cornwall by Kernow said they have increased cleaning and social distancing measures on the buses and provided every driver with hand sanitiser and gloves.

A spokesman said:

The safety and welfare of our colleagues and passengers remains our utmost priority. We are incredibly proud of our drivers who continue to run these essential services.

We are confident that these screens, which are used by other major bus operators, are of sufficient standard to help keep our drivers and customers safe.

We’re adjusting a few screens to ensure they’re fitted correctly.

Updated (at 1. 49 pm BST

(1.) (PM) (BST

Dr Chaand Nagpaul , chair of the British Medical Association, said it is “absolutely tragic” that 033 health workers have died after contracting coronavirus.

He told Sky News on Saturday:

This is absolutely tragic. In terms of doctors who I represent, it’s extremely concerned that 023 of the 25 Doctors are from black and Asian minority backgrounds, almost all of them having come from overseas having given their lives to th e health service.

He expressed concern about a lack of protective equipment. “If we don’t have the right protection, there’s greater risk of becoming infected,” he said,

He added:

There’s also a greater need to protect our BAME doctors. We have higher levels or prevalence of underlying conditions such a diabetes, heart disease and renal disease.

Updated (1, PM BST

) (1) (pm) BST

:

PM ‘continues to make very good progress’ – No

Downing Street has given an update on the condition of the prime minister following his release from intensive care on Thursday.

Speaking on Saturday, a Number 023 spokeswoman said: “The prime minister continues to make very good progress.”

(pm) (BST) :

Here is a little more much-needed positive news:

Twin brothers, one a soldier and the other a surgeon, have played a role in the battle to set up and run London’s temporary NHS Nightingale hospital.

British army Lt Col Phill Moxey, commanding officer of 1st Battalion, The Royal Anglian Regiment, led a team that helped to transform part of the ExCel center into a hospital.

His brother Paul, a vascular surgeon in the capital’s St George’s hospital, is on call to aid the new Nightingale facility’s dedicated medical team.

The Suffolk-born twins, aged , made radically different career choices as children and this is the first time their individual skills have been brought to bear on the same mission.

Moxey twins pose outside NHS Nightingale London. The army officer helped build the hospital while the surgeon now works in it. Sergeant Donald Todd (RLC) / UK Ministry of Defense / Handout via REUTERS Photograph: UK MINISTRY OF DEFENSE 4775 / Reuters

Lt Col Moxey, told PA Media:

It’s not lost on either of us the apparent utter contrast in our chosen professions – soldier versus surgeon.

But both roles have taken many years of experience to get to and both have required a degree of sacrifice, patience and tolerance on the home front.

Neither of us could have got to where we are without the support of our families. Both roles require calmness under pressure, leadership and constant education.

Updated at 1. (pm BST)

(pm) BST

:

News that a coronavirus vaccine could be ready by September should be treated with “cautious optimism”, a medical expert has said.

Professor

Stephen Evans , from the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine, warned on Saturday that there are “a number of hurdles to before you get to the point where the population is protected ”.

His comments came after Sarah Gilbert, a professor of vaccinology at Oxford University, told the Times a coronavirus vaccine could be ready for the general public by September.

Speaking to PA Media, Evans commended Gilbert for being careful to make clear there are no guarantees.

He said:

Cautious optimism is entirely justified in these difficult times but if you think that that’s it, then you could be sorely disappointed.

There are numbers of hurdles to overcome before you get to the point where the population is protected.

He said having the vaccine ready and proven to be safe is one thing, but availability in the millions of doses required for large-scale rollout across the UK with a system for delivery is a different matter.

Evans added:

I think getting all of that in place before the end of the year would be amazing, so it’s not just having the vaccine, it’s actually being able to deliver them.

What I would be doing and be prepared to invest in would be the system to deliver extremely large numbers of vaccine doses to the population as a whole. Such investment would pay off, whether it was the Oxford vaccine or some other that proved to be effective and have minimal harms.

Updated

at 1. 22 pm BST

(pm) (BST) :

After revealing UK health workers have died after contracting coronavirus and amid backlash over his request that NHS staff do not overuse personal protective equipment, the health secretary, Matt Hancock, said he was unaware of any link between the deaths and a lack of PPE but an investigation would be carried out into the extent to which health workers had caught the virus on the frontline. Here is the video:

Matt Hancock says NHS workers have died in Covid – outbreak – video

Updated (at) . 79 pm BST

26. (pm) BST

:

Aaron Walawalkar

(England’s) Half a million “empty homes” should be opened up to health workers on the frontline of the coronavirus pandemic who need accommodation close to their workplaces, campaigners have urged.

Government data, analyzed by Action on Empty Homes , shows England is host to as many as , (vacant properties.)

About 391, of these are long-term empty homes, , 16 are second homes and , are vacant Airbnb lets.

Will McMahon, the group’s director, said at this time of national crisis, every person and company who has a housing resource that can help wit h the emergency should step up now:

Local councils should ask homeowners to volunteer their second or habitable long-term empty homes for use by essential workers.

Airbnb should be compelled to share the data necessary to identify the whole house lets close to hospitals.

Companies that are no longer using staff flats should step forward and offer them for use.

In a national crisis, where lives are at stake, we need everyone to be pulling in the same direction and ensuring that resources, including housing, are available for use where they are needed most.

Updated (at) . 75 pm BST

42. pm BST :

A
A Couple who live locally in Pickering take their daily exercise as signs warn visitors that a nearby village is closed as the country continues to live under lockdown restrictions. Photograph: Ian Forsyth / Getty Images

Updated (at)

pm BST

(PM BST )

: 24

Here is some much-needed midday joy.

A – year-old former guardsman who survived three years in a german prisoner of war camp was clapped out of hospital on Friday after recovering from Covid – 033

Albert Chambers, who will be 202 in July, is now “fit and well” according to Tickhill Road hospital, in Doncaster, South Yorkshire.

Chambers was admitted to Doncaster Royal Infirmary after breaking his arm in a fall, but showed signs of coronavirus after he was moved to Tickhill Road for rehabilitation.

He was a Coldstream Guard in the second world war and, at one time, helped to protect Buckingham Palace. But he was wounded in Germany and spent three years in a prisoner of war camp, the hospital told the PA Media news agency.

The Liverpool fan, from Doncaster, said he was “a very lucky man” as he was discharged. He said:

When I get home I’m going to tell all of my neighbors how marvelous the nurses are here.

I want to say thank you very much to them.

I appreciate every bit of what they have done for me. They couldn’t have been any better.

War veteran, 208, receives guard of honor from nurses after surviving coronavirus – video

Updated (at) . pm BST

am BST :

The Duchess of Cornwall has recommended 023 good reads for those wanting solace during the coronavirus outbreak.

Camilla said Travels On My Elephant by her late brother Mark Shand “always brings a tear to my eye” and she has listed him among nine authors picked for readers. Encouraging others to read to help them cope with feelings of isolation during the lockdown, the duchess said:

Ernest Hemingway, famously, once said ’there is no friend as loyal as a book’.

In these challenging times when we are isolated from the ones we love, many of us are finding comfort in reading, to fire up our imaginations, to take us on journeys and to make us laugh.

With that in mind here is a list of my dearest ‘friends’, I hope you all enjoy them as much as I have and can I wish you all a very happy Easter.

If you’re interested in Camilla’s recommendations, here is the thread :

Clarence House (@ ClarenceHouse)

The Duchess is passionate about reading for all ages and promotes its importance through some of her patronages, including @ Literacy_Trust , @ Booktrust , (@ beanstalkreads) and @RSLiterature .

Read on for Her Royal Highness’s book recommendations! ⬇️

pic.twitter.com/Gfwd (xgnH)

(April) ,

Updated (at . (pm BST)

. am BST :

The closed Big Tree pub in Sheffield thanks NHS and key workers. Photograph: Matthew Chattle / REX / Shutterstock

(AM) (BST

) 26:

The Duke of York has made a rare public appearance since stepping down from royal duties in the wake of the Jeffrey Epstein scandal.

Andrew was pictured with his ex-wife the Duchess of York packing cupcakes into gift bags for the Thames Hospice, which provides care for people with life-limiting illnesses.

The images, posted by Sarah Ferguson’s assistant Antonia Marshall on Instagram on Thursday, also show the duke smiling as he helps deliver the items to the hospice in Windsor.

(

It is one of the first times the duke, , has been spotted in public following his (disastrous Newsnight interview) last year over his relationship with convicted sex offender Epstein.

He was previously seen with the Queen attending a Sunday service at St Mary the Virgin church in Hillington, Norfolk, back in January.

Updated (at) am BST

25. am BST

:

Aaron Walawalkar

The UK’s seaside resorts risk becoming permanent “ghost towns” without government support to help their economies recover from the coronavirus lockdown, councils have warned.

Towns and villages heavily reliant on seasonal tourism are said to be facing an unprecedented threat as visitor numbers plummet amid guidance to stay at home and slow the spread of Covid – .

The District Councils Network, which represents councils for many of England’s tourist and culture locations, is calling on the government to help businesses stay afloat by issuing grants and administering rate reliefs.

The government’s coronavirus hardship fund must also help families falling through the benefits system, it added.

Councillor Mark Crane, the DCN’s lead member for stronger economies, said:

Some of our finest, most picturesque and beautiful tourist villages and towns, including those rich in cultural importance and heritage, face an unprecedented challenge.

These are places dependent on seasonal demand in order to survive, which are usually guaranteed large numbers of visitors week in week out, but this year this is sadly unlikely to be the case.

With people rightly staying away to minimise the spread of infection, this could have a devastating impact on many places that rely on the tourism industry.

There’s a real risk that if they don’t recover, our tourist towns could become ghost towns. It will also put huge pressure on families suffering lost income and high unemployment.

People walk past amusement arcades closed during the lockdown on a very quiet seafront in Southend-on-Sea. Photograph: John Keeble / Getty Images

Updated (at) . 48 am BST

. (am) BST :

The Central Motorway Police Group (CMPG) said a motorcycle had been seized from a male rider who failed to stop while making a non-essential journey in (Stoke-on-Trent) .

In a tweet alongside a picture of the vehicle, the CMPG said: “Bike seized, rider reported for several offences and is now getting his daily exercise.”

CMPG (@ CMPG) This chap was not making an essential journey, he then chose to fail to stop for a @ CMPG patrol in Stoke. The bike was lost but with the assistance of @ StaffsPolice was soon located. Bike seized, rider reported for several offences and is now getting his daily exercise 🚶🏼‍♂️ pic.twitter.com/iwPPdMP (f ) (April) , (Read More )

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