COVID-19 NEWS BULLETIN 1st MAY 2020
Daily Press Breifing
UK Health Secretary Matt Hancock gave todays briefing. Top discussion points today from Mr Hancock were that, now that the UK is past the peak, government are looking at the restoration of NHS services, announcing today that fertility services will be restored.
Headlining news, after much speculation from the press over the last 24 hours as to if the testing target promised by the end of April would be hit, it was reported this afternoon that the UK carried out over 122,000 coronavirus tests in the last day of April. However, this figure includes tests which have been posted to recipients, but not yet carried out. Prof John Newton, coordinator of the UK coronavirus testing programme, stated this afternoon that limitless testing at the beginning of the outbreak would have made no difference to the decision to enter lockdown and acknowledged that there has been much comparison between the UK’s testing process compared to that of Germany. Professor Newton added that the progress with testing and the designing of the next phase of contact tracing, frees minister and scientific advisers to deliver the next steps and next strategy.
In other news, Ryanair bosses have said it could take up to six months to refund customers for cancelled flights as a result of the pandemic. The airline is in the process of making considerable cuts to its workforce following huge losses in the first quarter of the year but has promised that those customers wanting to be refunded, will be refunded.
Interestingly, reported today was that the University of Texas has been asked by US investigators to provide documentation of its relationship with the Wuhan Institute of Virology, which US officials are investigating as a possible source of the global outbreak.
More than 1,014,000 people known to have had the virus globally have recovered, according to John Hopkins University. But it remains unclear as to how many people who were not tested have also made a recovery Monday will see the opening of the new Coronavirus Bounce Back Loan for small and medium-sized enterprises. If you wanted to be up to date with the scheme ahead of Monday, the following link provides further information on this new loan scheme.
https://www.gov.uk/guidance/apply-for-a-coronavirus-bounce-back-loan
As the UK will shortly be entering its 7th week of lockdown, much has been written in the press of the importance of maintaining good health during the lockdown and the period of social distancing, including the subject of mental health issues. With the coronavirus outbreak affecting the way many of us live our lives, its normal that this may affect people’s mental wellbeing. With this in mind, here is a link to available support.
https://www.samaritans.org/how-we-can-help/
Should you have any concerns or questions, we are here for our clients and will happily arrange a telephone or video call appointment to provide guidance, please either call our practice mobile 07543 368 478 or email enquiries@money4dentists.com to arrange your appointment.
We are here to work through the current situation with you, so please do get in touch.