Coronavirus: NHS doctors ‘gagged’ over protective equipment shortages Exclusive: Staff on frontline of pandemic warned not to speak out about concerns over lack of protective gear
Frontline doctors have told The Independent they have been gagged from speaking out about shortages of protective equipment as they treat coronavirus patients – with some claiming managers have threatened their careers. Staff have been warned not to make any comments about shortages on social media, as well as avoiding talking to journalists, while NHS England has taken over the media operations for many NHS hospitals and staff. The Independent has seen a series of emails and messages warning staff not to speak to the media during the coronavirus outbreak.
One GP has been barred from working in a community hospital in Ludlow after making comments about the lack of equipment, while another in London said they were told to remove protective equipment they had purchased themselves.
Counter-terror chief warns police against 'overzealous' enforcing of COVID-19 lockdown Metropolitan Police assistant commissioner Neil Basu said officers should strive to maintain public confidence but pleaded with Brits to be patient in unprecedented times
Coronavirus: Tory minister claims you should only go food shopping 'once a week' Grant Shapps, the Transport Secretary, said people should 'try' to go out weekly - but his advice isn't in government guidance or the law
Today a picture of brave nurse wearing just a basic apron and gloves to protect herself from coronavirus amid a global shortage of protective equipment - when what staff should be wearing is all the kit on the right
How the two pictures compare Nurse 1 - She is seen only wearing an apron and gloves, putting her at risk of coming into contact with infectious airborne droplets from when a patient sneezes; Nurse 2 - She has a face mask, a plastic visor to protect the eyes, as well as gloves and an apron.
NHS mental health trust tells staff NOT to resuscitate patients because it does not have coronavirus PPE clothing as nurses across UK tell of heading to the frontline 'with no protection at all' Public Health England issued stricter guidance on protective equipment for NHS Tees, Esk and Wear Valleys Trust warn staff not to do CPR in coronaviris crisis The Royal College of Nursing says members are at risk because of lack of PPE Came as a brave NHS nurse was seen without vital kit amid worldwide shortages Medics at some hospitals have admitted to hiding equipment out of 'desperation' Coronavirus symptoms: what are they and should you see a doctor?
Coronavirus: The 13 major COVID-19 developments that happened on Tuesday
Shoppers queue to get into a Tesco as supermarkets implement social distancing. (Getty Images)
Here’s what you need to know on 31 March. This article was updated at 3pm Deaths: There has been a spike in the number of deaths reported, as officials begin including deaths in the community in the daily figures. Previously figures were only recording the number of people diagnosed with COVID-19 who died in hospitals in the UK. Read more here. The number of coronavirus deaths in the UK is now 1,808. It’s a jump of 393 from Monday’s death toll of 1,415: by far the biggest day-on-day increase since the first death on 5 March.
According to figures from each country’s health authority on Tuesday, a further 367 people died in England, with 13 in Scotland, seven in Wales and six in Northern Ireland. Read more here.
A 12-year-old Belgian girl has become the youngest known person in Europe to die after contracting coronavirus. Authorities in Belgium said the child was by far the youngest among the country's more than 700 victims. Read more here.
Police:
One of Britain’s most senior police officers has urged the public not to judge officers too harshly in their policing of coronavirus lockdown measures amid growing criticism of the force’s responses. Metropolitan Police assistant commissioner Neil Basu says officers should strive to preserve the public’s confidence through persuasion and education, rather than automatic enforcement, after allegations of “over-zealous” policing of social distancing regulations. Read more here.
Policy:
Women in England can now have at-home abortions after the rules were relaxed during the coronavirus outbreak. After initially saying women would be unable to terminate an early pregnancy until the pandemic has passed, officials are now allowing two pills to be taken at home “on a temporary basis”. Read more here.
NHS:
NHS doctors, nurses and paramedics will have their work visas automatically extended for a year free of charge so they can “focus on fighting coronavirus”. The measure announced by the home secretary Priti Patel will apply to about 2,800 medical staff whose permits expire before 1 October. Read more here.
Science:
A study recently published in Nature highlighted the fact that COVID-19 is definitely not man-made, and is the product of natural evolution. But ScienceAlert reports it also suggests a scenario where the virus has been circulating undetected for some time, possibly years. Read more here.
Shopping:
Tesco has ramped up its home delivery and Click & Collect services after a surge in demand in the face of the coronavirus pandemic. It comes as it’s revealed a record £10.8bn ($13bn) was spent on groceries in the UK in March, as fears about the spread of novel coronavirus and a possible lockdown drove people to stock up. Read more here.
Coronavirus: UK death toll rises by 393 to 1,808 in biggest daily increase – including 19-year-old with no health issues
A 19-year-old with no underlying health conditions was among 393 people to die from coronavirus as the UK’s death toll rose to 1,808. It marks a jump of 393 from Monday’s death toll of 1,415, by far the biggest day-on-day increase so far. The previous highest was 260 on Saturday. According to figures issued on Tuesday by each country’s health authority, a further 367 people died in England, with 13 in Scotland, seven in Wales and six in Northern Ireland. Overall, there have been 1,651 deaths in England, 69 in Wales, 60 in Scotland and 28 in Northern Ireland.
British households told to prepare for blackouts as coronavirus lockdown goes on
British households have been told to prepare for blackouts by keeping torches and warm clothes handy as the coronavirus lockdown continues. Energy firms have suspended all non-essential work as they brace for a potential shortage in engineers caused by staff sickness and self-isolation. The National Grid has sought to reassure the British public it can cope with the surge in demand as people stay indoors and work from home during the outbreak. However UK Power Networks, which provides electricity to the southeast and east of England, including London, has written to vulnerable customers with advice on what to do if there is a power cut. In a letter to those on the firm’s priority services register, seen by The Daily Telegraph, UK Power Networks gives customers guidance on how to stay warm, keep medicines and food as cold as possible and how to make sure they can call for help. Customers are advised to keep a “torch handy” as well as “a hat, gloves and blanket” and to trap heat inside their property by closing curtains and doors to any unused rooms.
Grant Shapps slapped down after saying Brits should 'only shop once a week'
The government has been forced to clarify a statement by transport secretary Grant Shapps who said people should only go food shopping once a week during the coronavirus lockdown. Mr Shapps told people to "try and shop just once a week – just do the essentials, not everything else" in a message which has now been discredited by the government. No10 confirmed Grant Shapps went beyond official guidance and said it does not exist either in official government guidance or in the law. Government guidance says to go shopping for essentials "as infrequently as possible" but does not set a limit on the number of visits.
Also reported in The Times is the death of Thomas Harvey, an NHS worker who was 57 and had seven children. He apparently picked up the virus while treating a patient at a hospital in Ilford in Essex.
The Times reveals that just five weeks ago the coronavirus was judged by the government's scientific advisers to pose only a "moderate risk" to Britain.
The Guardian carries a warning that the coronavirus is pushing Britain's care homes towards breaking point. One charity says there are cases - or suspected cases - at half its 220 homes and that one in 10 staff is off sick or self-isolating.
Revealed: UK firm is selling coronavirus testing kits to EIGHTY countries because labs here 'can't cope' - while NHS swabbing stations stand deserted in Britain Health Secretary Matt Hancock has intervened to end the embarrassing situation as testing turns into a fiasco Large testing centre at Chessington World of Adventures in south-west London was operational from Friday But yesterday no NHS workers were seen heading in for testing, despite Government promising action Tests were designed to detect which health workers are fit to return to the frontline amid the Covid-19 crisis Coronavirus symptoms: what are they and should you see a doctor?
A British firm producing millions of pounds worth of coronavirus tests is selling most of them abroad because the UK doesn’t have enough laboratories to use them - as ministers were today accused of losing their grip on the crisis. Novacyt has made £17.8million selling its testing equipment to more than 80 countries via its Southampton-based subsidiary Primerdesign. But only £1million worth has been sold to the UK, raising questions about why Britain is not buying more at a time when there are global shortages of tests. It came as a huge NHS coronavirus swabbing site stood deserted yesterday despite the urgent need for more patients and medics to be examined. Pictures surfaced showing a testing site for NHS staff in Chessington, south-west London, as the UK's coronavirus death rate doubled - while one at Ikea in Wembley was also quiet. Hospitals have today been ordered to use any spare lab space to test self-isolating NHS staff for coronavirus as a record-breaking 381 coronavirus deaths were announced in the UK, taking the total to 1,789 fatalities.
Nearly a FIFTH of UK firms could shut within four weeks: Up to a million small to medium companies face ruin because banks are 'refusing to give them government-backed loans'
Many bosses said banks had refused them an emergency loan for not meeting the criteria while others could not get through on the phone or were told the money would take weeks to arrive. Research published today suggests that between 800,000 and a million businesses could be forced to shut their doors because they can no longer cover rent, salaries or payments to suppliers. Chancellor Rishi Sunak (top left) announced last month that 'any good business in financial difficulty' that needed cash to pay rent, salaries or suppliers would be able to take out a Coronavirus Business Interruption Loan under attractive terms. However, businesses can only get the money if they cannot borrow in a normal way, such as guaranteeing the loans against the value of a property. Mark Fuller, (right, with Katie Price) who owns popular celebrity haunt Karma Sanctum in Soho, (bottom right) said the arrangement requires borrowers to pay interest after six months and give a guarantee they will be able to pay the money back.
Boris Johnson's official photographer is diagnosed with coronavirus - having failed to isolate when the PM tested positive, visiting the new NHS Nightingale hospital and mixing with civil servants
Andrew Parsons reportedly failed to isolate after Boris Johnson's diagnosis and went on to visit the temporary NHS Nightingale hospital at the ExCeL centre in East London.
"Outrage", "chaos", "shambles", "fiasco" - just some of the words used to describe the government's efforts to test NHS workers in England for coronavirus. Alongside photos of another doctor and a hospital worker who've died of the disease, the Daily Mirror says the number of official checks so far covers just 0.16% of NHS staff. Despite Prime Minister Boris Johnson's pledge to boost numbers, the paper says Downing Street is "failing the test". The Daily Telegraph is among the most critical. Under the headline "Questions without answers", the paper says the government is unable to say why the UK is lagging behind other nations on testing, why so few NHS workers have been tested, or when new antibody tests will be ready. Ministers are now under increasing pressure, the paper says, to explain why Britain - one of the world's leading scientific nations - is "struggling to match its European neighbour, Germany". For the Daily Mail, the fact that just 2,000 frontline workers have been formally checked so far is the "latest shocking example" of what it calls the UK's "testing scandal". It is a statistic, the paper says, which "humbles ministers". The Times agrees that the government's plans are "in chaos", reporting that Mr Johnson has now been forced to "shift strategy" amid mounting criticism.
Photos on the front of several papers show an empty drive-through testing site for NHS workers in Surrey, where some frontline staff were turned away on Wednesday because they didn't have appointments. The Times says some hospitals have resorted to brewing their own chemicals and asking vets for supplies so they can check their own staff. A government source tells the paper the goal is to expand testing through an appeal to private companies, similar to an earlier call for manufacturers to make more ventilators.
Coronavirus: Nearly one million apply for universal credit in fortnight amid pandemic Almost 950,000 new claims since 16 March – up from around 100,000 in a normal two-week period
We've officially entered stage four of the government's plan to dodge coronavirus testing – Alok Sharma If you can't make the question go away, you can at least make the people stop listening to the answer
The government has a Four-Stage Plan for dealing with the fact that it has no answer to the question about why it is carrying out hundreds of thousands fewer coronavirus tests than comparable countries. Obfuscate. Sidestep. Ignore. All came and went in the space of barely a week and now, already, here we are at Stage Four: Alok Sharma. As the government’s advisors have stressed on many occasions, this is a fluid process. The end of one stage will already feel like the beginning of the next, and it is certainly true that Ignore and Alok Sharma are very difficult to distinguish.
Unfortunately for the government, the 5pm 10 Downing Street press conference has become something of a focal point in the daily life of the nation
Unfortunate in the sense that all the nation can see is the government being asked the same question about coronavirus testing over and over again, and the government failing to provide an answer, every single time, day after day.
Listen to the latest episode of The Independent Coronavirus Podcast Clearly, it doesn’t have an answer. It can’t make the question go away, so what it hopes it can do is make the people go away, and what better way to convince them that, really, there’s nothing to see here, than to send for a man that could quite easily remain unseen if you got in a lift with him.
If you’ve never heard of Alok Sharma then don’t worry, neither has he. According to Wikipedia, he is the Secretary of State for Business, and therefore one of the most senior members of the government – but don’t forget, anyone can edit that, and there are a lot of very bored people stuck at home right now.
Just like yesterday and just like tomorrow, the kitchen based talking heads came and went (special mention to ITV’s Robert Peston, who had stuck a large sign above the door to his kitchen with his own name stencilled across it. Sadly, its final letter was obscured throughout by the top of his right ear, prompting those who with only a passing interest in television news to wonder whether this really was the time for a human interest story about the man with the world’s largest pesto cupboard).
Again they asked: why can’t we manage to carry out even a seventh of the number of coronavirus tests as Germany. Again there came no answer. Again we are “ramping up” the testing. Again things are going to improve “in the coming days”, even though the days that were coming three days ago have now come, they’re right here, we’re living in them, and nothing has changed.
For now, the unseasonably freezing April weather has confined the nation’s journalists to their kitchens as they ask this question. No one knows how long this will go on for, but it surely will not be long before the guy from Channel 4 News or the Guardian or wherever is just glancing up from the barbecue, taking a sip of lager and saying, “Same as yesterday mate. Why no testing?” Still, having been deployed for his instant forgettability, Mr Sharma made the rookie mistake of saying something actually memorable.
“You made reference to Germany,” Mr Sharma told the ninth questioner to make reference to Germany. “We of course look to see what we can learn throughout this process.”
That, to be fair, is at least new. Once upon a time, the “learning opportunity” line was the sole preserve of England managers, trying to justify why they had picked a fourth string side for some meaningless international friendly. It has evolved more recently, and can now be used, for example, by online self-parody act Jameela Jamil, to express gratitude to all of those people who recently told her that the reason she hadn’t learnt about the 2003 Iraq War “in history class at school” was because it hadn’t happened yet.
And of course, the opportunity “to learn” was what drew Prince Andrew to spend those long six days, personally breaking up with Jeffrey Epstein in his New York apartment. Do any of these come close to the new reality, that a mushrooming epidemic and its exponential death toll is in fact a chance for the government “to learn” from other countries? Probably not. But then, we must take our learning opportunities where we find them, even if, for most of us, it is limited to learning who Alok Sharma is, even if you’ve forgotten again after an hour. Still, that’s the point, isn’t it? Same time tomorrow, after all.
Germany 100,000... Britain 8,000: Disgracefully, that's how many tests each country does a day. The reason for the difference? Efficient Teutonic planning and a ruthless determination to work together, writes ROBERT HARDMAN
ROBERT HARDMAN: The disparity remains astonishing. Here are two nations of comparable size. Both have a long and proud history of medical excellence, both are home to international pharmaceutical giants and both are facing an identical biological threat. Yet their situations are so very different. And if there is one aspect of the coronavirus crisis that sets Britain and Germany apart more than any other, it is in the field of testing. Whereas Britain (bottom right, a testing site at Chessington World of Adventures) is struggling to carry out 50,000 tests in a week, Germany (top left: a military airplane equipped with an intensive care unit in Cologne and bottom left: a coronavirus drive-in test site in Hanover) sometimes does twice as many in a day.
PIERS MORGAN: Britain's heroic NHS lions are being led by dismal government donkeys - it's time Boris Johnson overruled his woefully wrong 'experts' and used some common **** sense to GET TESTING DONE!
PIERS MORGAN: Britain is a country of heroic NHS lions led by dangerously incompetent donkeys - and many thousands of people are going to die as a result, including many trying to save them.
Comments
Coronavirus news – live: UK police ‘may have gone too far’ in enforcing lockdown, minister admits, and WHO condemns Britain’s lack of testing
https://www.independent.co.uk/news/health/coronavirus-update-live-news-uk-cases-map-symptoms-death-covid-19-a9436996.html
Exclusive: Staff on frontline of pandemic warned not to speak out about concerns over lack of protective gear
Frontline doctors have told The Independent they have been gagged from speaking out about shortages of protective equipment as they treat coronavirus patients – with some claiming managers have threatened their careers.
Staff have been warned not to make any comments about shortages on social media, as well as avoiding talking to journalists, while NHS England has taken over the media operations for many NHS hospitals and staff.
The Independent has seen a series of emails and messages warning staff not to speak to the media during the coronavirus outbreak.
One GP has been barred from working in a community hospital in Ludlow after making comments about the lack of equipment, while another in London said they were told to remove protective equipment they had purchased themselves.
https://www.independent.co.uk/news/health/coronavirus-nhs-uk-doctors-gagged-england-a9433171.html
Counter-terror chief warns police against 'overzealous' enforcing of COVID-19 lockdown
Metropolitan Police assistant commissioner Neil Basu said officers should strive to maintain public confidence but pleaded with Brits to be patient in unprecedented times
https://www.mirror.co.uk/news/uk-news/counter-terror-chief-warns-police-21783924
Coronavirus: Tory minister claims you should only go food shopping 'once a week'
Grant Shapps, the Transport Secretary, said people should 'try' to go out weekly - but his advice isn't in government guidance or the law
https://www.mirror.co.uk/news/politics/coronavirus-tory-minister-claims-you-21784563
Today a picture of brave nurse wearing just a basic apron and gloves to protect herself from coronavirus amid a global shortage of protective equipment - when what staff should be wearing is all the kit on the right
How the two pictures compare
Nurse 1 - She is seen only wearing an apron and gloves, putting her at risk of coming into contact with infectious airborne droplets from when a patient sneezes;
Nurse 2 - She has a face mask, a plastic visor to protect the eyes, as well as gloves and an apron.
NHS mental health trust tells staff NOT to resuscitate patients because it does not have coronavirus PPE clothing as nurses across UK tell of heading to the frontline 'with no protection at all'
Public Health England issued stricter guidance on protective equipment for NHS
Tees, Esk and Wear Valleys Trust warn staff not to do CPR in coronaviris crisis
The Royal College of Nursing says members are at risk because of lack of PPE
Came as a brave NHS nurse was seen without vital kit amid worldwide shortages
Medics at some hospitals have admitted to hiding equipment out of 'desperation'
Coronavirus symptoms: what are they and should you see a doctor?
https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-8166533/NHS-medics-wear-PPE-gear-3ft-corona-patient.html
Shoppers queue to get into a Tesco as supermarkets implement social distancing. (Getty Images)
Here’s what you need to know on 31 March. This article was updated at 3pm
Deaths: There has been a spike in the number of deaths reported, as officials begin including deaths in the community in the daily figures. Previously figures were only recording the number of people diagnosed with COVID-19 who died in hospitals in the UK. Read more here.
The number of coronavirus deaths in the UK is now 1,808. It’s a jump of 393 from Monday’s death toll of 1,415: by far the biggest day-on-day increase since the first death on 5 March.
According to figures from each country’s health authority on Tuesday, a further 367 people died in England, with 13 in Scotland, seven in Wales and six in Northern Ireland. Read more here.
A 12-year-old Belgian girl has become the youngest known person in Europe to die after contracting coronavirus. Authorities in Belgium said the child was by far the youngest among the country's more than 700 victims. Read more here.
Police:
One of Britain’s most senior police officers has urged the public not to judge officers too harshly in their policing of coronavirus lockdown measures amid growing criticism of the force’s responses. Metropolitan Police assistant commissioner Neil Basu says officers should strive to preserve the public’s confidence through persuasion and education, rather than automatic enforcement, after allegations of “over-zealous” policing of social distancing regulations. Read more here.
Policy:
Women in England can now have at-home abortions after the rules were relaxed during the coronavirus outbreak. After initially saying women would be unable to terminate an early pregnancy until the pandemic has passed, officials are now allowing two pills to be taken at home “on a temporary basis”. Read more here.
NHS:
NHS doctors, nurses and paramedics will have their work visas automatically extended for a year free of charge so they can “focus on fighting coronavirus”. The measure announced by the home secretary Priti Patel will apply to about 2,800 medical staff whose permits expire before 1 October. Read more here.
Science:
A study recently published in Nature highlighted the fact that COVID-19 is definitely not man-made, and is the product of natural evolution. But ScienceAlert reports it also suggests a scenario where the virus has been circulating undetected for some time, possibly years. Read more here.
Shopping:
Tesco has ramped up its home delivery and Click & Collect services after a surge in demand in the face of the coronavirus pandemic. It comes as it’s revealed a record £10.8bn ($13bn) was spent on groceries in the UK in March, as fears about the spread of novel coronavirus and a possible lockdown drove people to stock up. Read more here.
https://uk.yahoo.com/news/main-coronavirus-developments-31-march-140243230.html
A 19-year-old with no underlying health conditions was among 393 people to die from coronavirus as the UK’s death toll rose to 1,808.
It marks a jump of 393 from Monday’s death toll of 1,415, by far the biggest day-on-day increase so far. The previous highest was 260 on Saturday.
According to figures issued on Tuesday by each country’s health authority, a further 367 people died in England, with 13 in Scotland, seven in Wales and six in Northern Ireland.
Overall, there have been 1,651 deaths in England, 69 in Wales, 60 in Scotland and 28 in Northern Ireland.
https://uk.yahoo.com/news/coronavirus-latest-uk-death-toll-135045764.html
British households have been told to prepare for blackouts by keeping torches and warm clothes handy as the coronavirus lockdown continues.
Energy firms have suspended all non-essential work as they brace for a potential shortage in engineers caused by staff sickness and self-isolation.
The National Grid has sought to reassure the British public it can cope with the surge in demand as people stay indoors and work from home during the outbreak.
However UK Power Networks, which provides electricity to the southeast and east of England, including London, has written to vulnerable customers with advice on what to do if there is a power cut.
In a letter to those on the firm’s priority services register, seen by The Daily Telegraph, UK Power Networks gives customers guidance on how to stay warm, keep medicines and food as cold as possible and how to make sure they can call for help.
Customers are advised to keep a “torch handy” as well as “a hat, gloves and blanket” and to trap heat inside their property by closing curtains and doors to any unused rooms.
https://uk.yahoo.com/news/british-households-told-prepare-blackouts-103208831.html
The government has been forced to clarify a statement by transport secretary Grant Shapps who said people should only go food shopping once a week during the coronavirus lockdown.
Mr Shapps told people to "try and shop just once a week – just do the essentials, not everything else" in a message which has now been discredited by the government.
No10 confirmed Grant Shapps went beyond official guidance and said it does not exist either in official government guidance or in the law.
Government guidance says to go shopping for essentials "as infrequently as possible" but does not set a limit on the number of visits.
https://uk.yahoo.com/news/coronavirus-grant-shapps-shop-once-week-142207957.html
Also reported in The Times is the death of Thomas Harvey, an NHS worker who was 57 and had seven children. He apparently picked up the virus while treating a patient at a hospital in Ilford in Essex.
The Times reveals that just five weeks ago the coronavirus was judged by the government's scientific advisers to pose only a "moderate risk" to Britain.
The Guardian carries a warning that the coronavirus is pushing Britain's care homes towards breaking point. One charity says there are cases - or suspected cases - at half its 220 homes and that one in 10 staff is off sick or self-isolating.
Health Secretary Matt Hancock has intervened to end the embarrassing situation as testing turns into a fiasco
Large testing centre at Chessington World of Adventures in south-west London was operational from Friday
But yesterday no NHS workers were seen heading in for testing, despite Government promising action
Tests were designed to detect which health workers are fit to return to the frontline amid the Covid-19 crisis
Coronavirus symptoms: what are they and should you see a doctor?
A British firm producing millions of pounds worth of coronavirus tests is selling most of them abroad because the UK doesn’t have enough laboratories to use them - as ministers were today accused of losing their grip on the crisis.
Novacyt has made £17.8million selling its testing equipment to more than 80 countries via its Southampton-based subsidiary Primerdesign. But only £1million worth has been sold to the UK, raising questions about why Britain is not buying more at a time when there are global shortages of tests.
It came as a huge NHS coronavirus swabbing site stood deserted yesterday despite the urgent need for more patients and medics to be examined. Pictures surfaced showing a testing site for NHS staff in Chessington, south-west London, as the UK's coronavirus death rate doubled - while one at Ikea in Wembley was also quiet.
Hospitals have today been ordered to use any spare lab space to test self-isolating NHS staff for coronavirus as a record-breaking 381 coronavirus deaths were announced in the UK, taking the total to 1,789 fatalities.
https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-8173237/Where-testing-Huge-NHS-coronavirus-swabbing-site-stands-DESERTED.html
Many bosses said banks had refused them an emergency loan for not meeting the criteria while others could not get through on the phone or were told the money would take weeks to arrive. Research published today suggests that between 800,000 and a million businesses could be forced to shut their doors because they can no longer cover rent, salaries or payments to suppliers. Chancellor Rishi Sunak (top left) announced last month that 'any good business in financial difficulty' that needed cash to pay rent, salaries or suppliers would be able to take out a Coronavirus Business Interruption Loan under attractive terms. However, businesses can only get the money if they cannot borrow in a normal way, such as guaranteeing the loans against the value of a property. Mark Fuller, (right, with Katie Price) who owns popular celebrity haunt Karma Sanctum in Soho, (bottom right) said the arrangement requires borrowers to pay interest after six months and give a guarantee they will be able to pay the money back.
https://www.dailymail.co.uk/home/index.html
Andrew Parsons reportedly failed to isolate after Boris Johnson's diagnosis and went on to visit the temporary NHS Nightingale hospital at the ExCeL centre in East London.
https://www.dailymail.co.uk/home/index.html
"Outrage", "chaos", "shambles", "fiasco" - just some of the words used to describe the government's efforts to test NHS workers in England for coronavirus.
Alongside photos of another doctor and a hospital worker who've died of the disease, the Daily Mirror says the number of official checks so far covers just 0.16% of NHS staff. Despite Prime Minister Boris Johnson's pledge to boost numbers, the paper says Downing Street is "failing the test".
The Daily Telegraph is among the most critical.
Under the headline "Questions without answers", the paper says the government is unable to say why the UK is lagging behind other nations on testing, why so few NHS workers have been tested, or when new antibody tests will be ready.
Ministers are now under increasing pressure, the paper says, to explain why Britain - one of the world's leading scientific nations - is "struggling to match its European neighbour, Germany".
For the Daily Mail, the fact that just 2,000 frontline workers have been formally checked so far is the "latest shocking example" of what it calls the UK's "testing scandal". It is a statistic, the paper says, which "humbles ministers".
The Times agrees that the government's plans are "in chaos", reporting that Mr Johnson has now been forced to "shift strategy" amid mounting criticism.
Photos on the front of several papers show an empty drive-through testing site for NHS workers in Surrey, where some frontline staff were turned away on Wednesday because they didn't have appointments.
The Times says some hospitals have resorted to brewing their own chemicals and asking vets for supplies so they can check their own staff.
A government source tells the paper the goal is to expand testing through an appeal to private companies, similar to an earlier call for manufacturers to make more ventilators.
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/blogs-the-papers-52130211
Almost 950,000 new claims since 16 March – up from around 100,000 in a normal two-week period
https://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/politics/coronavirus-uk-universal-credit-application-dwp-latest-a9441571.html
If you can't make the question go away, you can at least make the people stop listening to the answer
The government has a Four-Stage Plan for dealing with the fact that it has no answer to the question about why it is carrying out hundreds of thousands fewer coronavirus tests than comparable countries. Obfuscate. Sidestep. Ignore. All came and went in the space of barely a week and now, already, here we are at Stage Four: Alok Sharma.
As the government’s advisors have stressed on many occasions, this is a fluid process. The end of one stage will already feel like the beginning of the next, and it is certainly true that Ignore and Alok Sharma are very difficult to distinguish.
Unfortunately for the government, the 5pm 10 Downing Street press conference has become something of a focal point in the daily life of the nation
Unfortunate in the sense that all the nation can see is the government being asked the same question about coronavirus testing over and over again, and the government failing to provide an answer, every single time, day after day.
Listen to the latest episode of The Independent Coronavirus Podcast
Clearly, it doesn’t have an answer. It can’t make the question go away, so what it hopes it can do is make the people go away, and what better way to convince them that, really, there’s nothing to see here, than to send for a man that could quite easily remain unseen if you got in a lift with him.
If you’ve never heard of Alok Sharma then don’t worry, neither has he. According to Wikipedia, he is the Secretary of State for Business, and therefore one of the most senior members of the government – but don’t forget, anyone can edit that, and there are a lot of very bored people stuck at home right now.
Just like yesterday and just like tomorrow, the kitchen based talking heads came and went (special mention to ITV’s Robert Peston, who had stuck a large sign above the door to his kitchen with his own name stencilled across it. Sadly, its final letter was obscured throughout by the top of his right ear, prompting those who with only a passing interest in television news to wonder whether this really was the time for a human interest story about the man with the world’s largest pesto cupboard).
Again they asked: why can’t we manage to carry out even a seventh of the number of coronavirus tests as Germany. Again there came no answer. Again we are “ramping up” the testing. Again things are going to improve “in the coming days”, even though the days that were coming three days ago have now come, they’re right here, we’re living in them, and nothing has changed.
For now, the unseasonably freezing April weather has confined the nation’s journalists to their kitchens as they ask this question. No one knows how long this will go on for, but it surely will not be long before the guy from Channel 4 News or the Guardian or wherever is just glancing up from the barbecue, taking a sip of lager and saying, “Same as yesterday mate. Why no testing?”
Still, having been deployed for his instant forgettability, Mr Sharma made the rookie mistake of saying something actually memorable.
“You made reference to Germany,” Mr Sharma told the ninth questioner to make reference to Germany. “We of course look to see what we can learn throughout this process.”
That, to be fair, is at least new. Once upon a time, the “learning opportunity” line was the sole preserve of England managers, trying to justify why they had picked a fourth string side for some meaningless international friendly.
It has evolved more recently, and can now be used, for example, by online self-parody act Jameela Jamil, to express gratitude to all of those people who recently told her that the reason she hadn’t learnt about the 2003 Iraq War “in history class at school” was because it hadn’t happened yet.
And of course, the opportunity “to learn” was what drew Prince Andrew to spend those long six days, personally breaking up with Jeffrey Epstein in his New York apartment.
Do any of these come close to the new reality, that a mushrooming epidemic and its exponential death toll is in fact a chance for the government “to learn” from other countries? Probably not. But then, we must take our learning opportunities where we find them, even if, for most of us, it is limited to learning who Alok Sharma is, even if you’ve forgotten again after an hour.
Still, that’s the point, isn’t it? Same time tomorrow, after all.
https://www.independent.co.uk/voices/coronavirus-testing-alok-sharma-germany-prince-andrew-jameela-jamil-a9441241.html
ROBERT HARDMAN: The disparity remains astonishing. Here are two nations of comparable size. Both have a long and proud history of medical excellence, both are home to international pharmaceutical giants and both are facing an identical biological threat. Yet their situations are so very different. And if there is one aspect of the coronavirus crisis that sets Britain and Germany apart more than any other, it is in the field of testing. Whereas Britain (bottom right, a testing site at Chessington World of Adventures) is struggling to carry out 50,000 tests in a week, Germany (top left: a military airplane equipped with an intensive care unit in Cologne and bottom left: a coronavirus drive-in test site in Hanover) sometimes does twice as many in a day.
https://www.dailymail.co.uk/home/index.html
PIERS MORGAN: Britain is a country of heroic NHS lions led by dangerously incompetent donkeys - and many thousands of people are going to die as a result, including many trying to save them.
https://www.dailymail.co.uk/home/index.html