COVID-19 Coronavirus

The Roadmap steps

Government publishes four-step roadmap to ease restrictions across England and provide a route back to a more normal way of life

Each step to be assessed against four tests before restrictions ease, starting with the return of schools on 8 March

Prime Minister is clear that the decision on each stage will be based on data not dates, and government will move cautiously to keep infection rates under control

Step 1: 

8 March

• Schools and colleges are open for all students. Practical Higher Education Courses.
• Recreation or exercise outdoors with household or one other person. No household mixing indoors.
• Wraparound childcare.
• Stay at home.
• Funerals (30), wakes and weddings (6)

29 March

• Rule of 6 or two households outdoors. No household mixing indoors.
• Outdoor sport and leisure facilities.
• Organised outdoor sport allowed (children and adults).
• Minimise travel. No holidays.
• Outdoor parent & child groups (up to 15 parents).

Step 2
At least five weeks after Step 1, no earlier than 12 April.

• Indoor leisure (including gyms) open for use individually or within household groups.
• Rule of 6 or two households outdoors. No household mixing indoors.
• Outdoor attractions such as zoos, theme parks and drive-in cinemas.
• Libraries and community centres.
• Personal care premises.
• All retail.
• Outdoor hospitality.
• All children’s activities, indoor parent & child groups (up to 15 parents).
• Domestic overnight stays (household only).
• Self-contained accommodation (household only).
• Funerals (30), wakes, weddings and receptions (15).
• Minimise travel. No international holidays.
• Event pilots begin.

Step 3
At least five weeks after Step 2, no earlier than 17 May.

• Indoor entertainment and attractions.
• 30 person limit outdoors. Rule of 6 or two households (subject to review).
• Domestic overnight stays.
• Organised indoor adult sport.
• Most significant life events (30).
• Remaining outdoor entertainment (including performances).
• Remaining accommodation.
• Some large events (expect for pilots) - capacity limits apply.
  • Indoor events: 1,000 or 50%.
  • Outdoor other events: 4,000 or 50%.
  • Outdoor seated events: 10,000 or 25%.
• International travel - subject to review.

Step 4
At least five weeks after Step 3, no earlier than 21 June. By Step 4, the Government hopes to be able to introduce the following (subject to review):

• No legal limits on social contact
• Nightclubs.
• Larger events.
• No legal limit on life events.

Prime Minister's lockdown message to the nation

'YOU MUST STAY AT HOME'

Residents must stay at home to protect our NHS and save lives.

The UK government has said it will pay the wages of employees unable to work due to the coronavirus pandemic, in a move aimed at protecting people's jobs.

It will pay 80% of salary for staff who are kept on by their employer, covering wages of up to £2,500 a month.

Also said police will:

• Stop all gatherings of more than two people in public – excluding people you live with
• Stop all social events, including weddings, baptisms and other ceremonies, but excluding funerals.
• Parks will remain open for exercise, but gatherings will be dispersed.

That is why people will only be allowed to leave their home for the following very limited purposes:

• Shopping for basic necessities, as infrequently as possible
• One form of exercise a day - for example a run, walk, or cycle - alone or with members of your household;
• Any medical need, to provide care or to help a vulnerable person
• Travelling to and from work, but only where this is absolutely necessary and cannot be done from home.

Advice for everyone from the NHS

-Coronavirus (COVID-19)

https://www.nhs.uk/conditions/coronavirus-covid-19/?gclid=EAIaIQobChMIkbPVxPDB6AIVDbTtCh0emgkoEAAYASAAEgJxjfD_BwE

https://www.gov.uk/coronavirus

Key Workers

Health and social care

This includes but is not limited to doctors, nurses, midwives, paramedics, social workers, care workers, and other frontline health and social care staff including volunteers; the support and specialist staff required to maintain the UK’s health and social care sector; those working as part of the health and social care supply chain, including producers and distributors of medicines and medical and personal protective equipment.

Education and childcare

This includes childcare, support and teaching staff, social workers and those specialist education professionals who must remain active during the COVID-19 response to deliver this approach.

Key public services

This includes those essential to the running of the justice system, religious staff, charities and workers delivering key frontline services, those responsible for the management of the deceased, and journalists and broadcasters who are providing public service broadcasting.

Local and national government

This only includes those administrative occupations essential to the effective delivery of the COVID-19 response, or delivering essential public services, such as the payment of benefits, including in government agencies.

Food and other necessary goods

This includes those involved in food production, processing, distribution, sale and delivery, as well as those essential to the provision of other key goods (for example hygienic and veterinary medicines).

Public safety and national security

This includes police and support staff, Ministry of Defence civilians, contractor and armed forces personnel (those critical to the delivery of key defence and national security outputs and essential to the response to the COVID-19 pandemic), fire and rescue service employees (including support staff), National Crime Agency staff, those maintaining border security, prison and probation staff and other national security roles, including those overseas.

Transport

This includes those who will keep the air, water, road and rail passenger and freight transport modes operating during the COVID-19 response, including those working on transport systems through which supply chains pass.

Big THANK YOU to all key workers that are on the front line to help others in need, plus thank you to the people staying at home to help stop the spread of COVID-19. 

Number of cases and deaths

As of 9am on 2 April 2020, 163,194 people have been tested, of which 33,718 were confirmed positive.

As of 5pm on 1 April 2020, of those hospitalised in the UK who tested positive for coronavirus, 2,921 have died.

Data on UK positive and negative tests and data on deaths is updated on this page daily at 2pm or shortly after. The figures for test results and for deaths are compiled from different sources. This is why the figures for deaths are reported from an earlier point in time than the figures for test results.

Notes on deaths figures

The figures on deaths relate in almost all cases to patients who have died in hospital and who have tested positive for COVID-19. Slight differences in reporting in devolved administrations may mean that they include a small number of deaths outside hospital. The figures are compiled from validated data provided by NHS England and Improvement, Health Protection Scotland, Public Health Wales and the Public Health Agency (Northern Ireland).

These figures do not include deaths outside hospital, such as those in care homes, except as indicated above. This approach allows us to compile deaths data on a daily basis using up-to-date figures. The data includes confirmed cases reported as at 5pm the previous day. The amount of time between occurrence of death and reporting in these figures may vary slightly and, in some cases, could be a few days, so figures at 5pm may not include all deaths for that day.

In addition to these figures, the Office for National Statistics (ONS) publishes weekly counts of deaths in which COVID-19 was mentioned on the death certificate. This publication is issued every Tuesday, starting on 31 March. It includes cases outside hospital and also some cases where COVID-19 is suspected but no test has taken place. ONS data will initially cover England and Wales only and will report on deaths registered up to 11 days before publication, so up to 20 March for their first release.

Material published by Public Health England

Public Health England update a daily dashboard later the same day, to show trends in UK data on positive tests and deaths and to provide confirmed cases in each local authority and NHS region in England.

Risk level

The risk to the UK has been raised to high.

Coronavirus outbreak

The UK’s response to the coronavirus outbreak has placed significant restrictions on our lives, we have seen the following legislative changes:

The Coronavirus Act 2020 received Royal Assent on 25 March 2020. From an employment law perspective, the key measures are as follows:

Statutory sick pay (SSP):

SSP will be payable from the first day of absence for an employee whose incapacity for work is related to coronavirus. This applies to any period of incapacity for work related to the coronavirus on or after 13 March 2020.

HMRC has been given the power to refund an employer’s payment of SSP in the above circumstances. HMRC will draft Regulations setting out the detail of this in due course.

The Chancellor announced on 17 March 2020 that funding would be available for employers who have less than 250 to recover two weeks’ SSP per each eligible employee.

Emergency volunteering leave:

Emergency volunteering leave is a new concept allowing workers to leave their primary job and temporarily volunteer in the health or care sector. The following is of note for employers:

Workers are entitled to be absent from work on leave for the period specified in an emergency volunteering certificate (EVC), issued by an appropriate authority.

To qualify for this leave, no later than three working days before the first day of the leave period, the worker must notify their employer in writing of their intention to be absent from work and provide their employer with a copy of the EVC.

Workers can take only one period of leave in each volunteering period. The period of leave set out in the EVC must be either two, three or four consecutive weeks and must begin and end in the same “volunteering period” (i.e. an initial 16 week period, beginning on the date that the relevant section and schedule of the 2020 Act come into force, but further periods can be set thereafter).

Employers are not entitled to refuse a request for this leave, unless they have less than ten employees.

Employers are not required to pay workers their normal wages or salary during this period of leave.

That said, workers absent on this leave have the following rights: to benefit from their terms and conditions that would have applied had they not been absent (except in relation to pay), to return to the job that they did before the leave on no less favourable terms and conditions and to protection from detriment and dismissal for having taken the leave.

Carry forward of annual leave

On 27 March 2020, the Government has confirmed that existing regulations will be amended so that workers can carry forward up to four weeks of annual leave to the next two holiday years, where they have been prevented from taking the leave due to coronavirus.

Clean hands protect against infection

Protect yourself

• Clean your hands regularly.
• Wash your hands with soap and water and dry them thoroughly.
• Use alcohol-based hand rub if you don’t have immediate access to soap and water.
• Stay safe.

Order of Prime Minister Boris Johnson

 All non-essential shops to close immediately

23rd March 2020

Non-essential shops will be closed immediately as the government imposes tougher controls to try and fight the coronavirus.

Monday night's announcement came as the number of UK deaths from coronavirus hit 335, while there were 6,650 confirmed cases.

The shutdown will include clothing and electronic stores, other premises including libraries, playgrounds and outdoor gyms also places of worship. However, shops which sell essential items, such as supermarkets and pharmacies, will remain open.

Prime Minister Boris Johnson said the measures would cause disruption but save lives.

The damage that this disruption is doing and will do to people's lives, to their businesses and to their jobs.

"And that's why we have produced a huge and unprecedented programme of support both for workers and for business."

Examples of Retailers that will be allowed to stay open include:

• Supermarkets and other food shops
• Pharmacies
• Petrol stations
• Newsagents
• Laundrettes and dry cleaners
• Pet shops
• Post Offices
• Banks

Retailers will still be able to take online orders and deliver items to your home.

"Any retailers that remain open will be following the very latest government public health guidance to ensure they do everything they can to ensure the safety of customers and staff."

Guidance for schools, childcare providers, colleges and local authorities in England on maintaining educational provision

As a country, we all need to do what we can to reduce the spread of the COVID-19 virus.

That is why the government has given clear guidanceon self-isolation, household isolation and social distancing, and the most recent scientific advice on how to further limit the spread of COVID-19 is clear. If children can stay safely at home, they should, to limit the chance of the virus spreading.

That is why the government has asked parents to keep their children at home, wherever possible, and asked schools to remain open only for those children who absolutely need to attend.

It is important to underline that schools, all childcare settings (including early years settings, childminders and providers of childcare for school-age children), colleges and other educational establishments, remain safe places for children. But the fewer children making the journey to school, and the fewer children in educational settings, the lower the risk that the virus can spread and infect vulnerable individuals in wider society.

Schools, and all childcare providers, are therefore being asked to continue to provide care for a limited number of children - children who are vulnerable, and children whose parents are critical to the Covid-19 response and cannot be safely cared for at home.

Vulnerable children include children who are supported by social care, those with safeguarding and welfare needs, including child in need plans, on child protection plans, ‘looked after’ children, young carers, disabled children and those with education, health and care plans.

We know that schools will also want to support other children facing social difficulties, and we will support head teachers to do so.

Parents whose work is critical to the COVID-19 response include those who work in health and social care and in other key sectors outlined below. Many parents working in these sectors may be able to ensure their child is kept at home. And every child who can be safely cared for at home should be.

Please, therefore, follow these key principles:

If it is at all possible for children to be at home, then they should be.

If a child needs specialist support, is vulnerable or has a parent who is a critical worker, then educational provision will be available for them.

Parents should not rely for childcare upon those who are advised to be in the stringent social distancing category such as grandparents, friends, or family members with underlying conditions.

Parents should also do everything they can to ensure children are not mixing socially in a way which can continue to spread the virus. They should observe the same social distancing principles as adults.

Residential special schools, boarding schools and special settings continue to care for children wherever possible.

If your work is critical to the COVID-19 response, or you work in one of the critical sectors listed below, and you cannot keep your child safe at home then your children will be prioritised for education provision:

Health and social care

This includes but is not limited to doctors, nurses, midwives, paramedics, social workers, care workers, and other frontline health and social care staff including volunteers; the support and specialist staff required to maintain the UK’s health and social care sector; those working as part of the health and social care supply chain, including producers and distributers of medicines and medical and personal protective equipment.

Education and childcare

This includes childcare, support and teaching staff, social workers and those specialist education professionals who must remain active during the COVID-19 response to deliver this approach.

Key public services

This includes those essential to the running of the justice system, religious staff, charities and workers delivering key frontline services, those responsible for the management of the deceased, and journalists and broadcasters who are providing public service broadcasting.

Local and national government

This only includes those administrative occupations essential to the effective delivery of the COVID-19 response, or delivering essential public services, such as the payment of benefits, including in government agencies and arm’s length bodies.

Food and other necessary goods

This includes those involved in food production, processing, distribution, sale and delivery, as well as those essential to the provision of other key goods (for example hygienic and veterinary medicines).

Public safety and national security

This includes police and support staff, Ministry of Defence civilians, contractor and armed forces personnel (those critical to the delivery of key defence and national security outputs and essential to the response to the COVID-19 pandemic), fire and rescue service employees (including support staff), National Crime Agency staff, those maintaining border security, prison and probation staff and other national security roles, including those overseas.

Transport

This includes those who will keep the air, water, road and rail passenger and freight transport modes operating during the COVID-19 response, including those working on transport systems through which supply chains pass.

Utilities, communication and financial services

This includes staff needed for essential financial services provision (including but not limited to workers in banks, building societies and financial market infrastructure), the oil, gas, electricity and water sectors (including sewerage), information technology and data infrastructure sector and primary industry supplies to continue during the COVID-19 response, as well as key staff working in the civil nuclear, chemicals, telecommunications (including but not limited to network operations, field engineering, call centre staff, IT and data infrastructure, 999 and 111 critical services), postal services and delivery, payments providers and waste disposal sectors.

If workers think they fall within the critical categories above, they should confirm with their employer that, based on their business continuity arrangements, their specific role is necessary for the continuation of this essential public service.

If your school is closed, then please contact your local authority, who will seek to redirect you to a local school in your area that your child, or children, can attend.

We are grateful for the work of teachers and workers in educational settings for continuing to provide for the children of the other critical workers of our country. It is an essential part of our national effort to combat this disease.

Prime Minister Boris Johnson made a statement 16th March 2020 on COVID-19

Good afternoon everybody, thank you very much for coming. I wanted to bring everyone up to date with the national fight back against the new coronavirus and the decisions that we’ve just taken in COBR for the whole of the UK.