As we approach Easter, Cadbury’s has donated 13,000 Easter eggs to NHS workers around the University Hospitals of Derby and Burton, while chocolatiers in Belgium have donated around 10 million to the country’s care home residents and workers.
The NHS has launched a free mental health hotline to offer support to hundreds of thousands of health workers on the frontline in the fight against coronavirus. More than 1,500 volunteers have been trained to respond to calls or texts.
Scout volunteers are producing personal protective equipment for NHS staff using 3D printers. They’ve already supplied over 100 visors to local hospitals, doctors’ surgeries, and care homes in the South West.
Chancellor of the Exchequer, Rishi Sunak, led the daily briefing on Wednesday 8 April, reaffirmed that the Prime Minister is responding well to treatment and that he has been sitting up and bed and engaging positively with the clinical team.
Mr Sunak then went on to announce an additional funding package of £750 million, to boost the charity sector as it struggles to cope with the coronavirus. £60 million of this fund will be directed to Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland.
Angela McLean, deputy chief government scientific advisor, gave a brief analysis on the latest hospitalisation figures, confirming that the highest number of hospital beds used are in London, followed by the Midlands.
A moment of brevity and outright honesty soon followed, as when pressed on the possibility of a recession, Mr Sunak responded: “I can’t stand here and say I will save every single job and every single business. That’s just simply not possible.”
According to Mr Sunak, the status of the current lockdown will be addressed in a Cobra meeting, on the morning of 9 April. However, a government review on ending the lockdown will be based on data end evidence provided by the scientific community. This review will not be available until next week, meaning the lockdown measures are very unlikely to be lifted before then.
Then followed Professor Stephen Powis, national medical director for England, who gave a frank statement to the people of the United Kingdom.
“We are beginning to see the benefits, I believe (of following government measures), but the really critical thing, I believe, is that we have to continue following instructions. We have to continue following social distancing, because if we don’t the virus will start to spread again.”