The Government is leading a cross-government drive to defeat the spread of coronavirus (Covid-19) and has promised to keep the public informed every step of the way.
On Monday 4th January, the Prime Minister announced England would go into a national lockdown from Tuesday 5th January, with a review taking place in mid-February.
From Thursday you must stay at home, except for the following list of reasons:
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For education;
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For work, if you cannot work from home;
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For exercise and recreation outdoors, with your household, support bubble or on your own with one person from another household;
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For all medical reasons, appointments and to escape injury or harm;
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To shop for food and essentials;
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And to provide care for vulnerable people, or as a volunteer.
https://www.gov.uk/government/news/prime-minister-announces-national-lockdown
On Monday 22nd February, the Prime Minister laid out his roadmap to cautiously easing lockdown restrictions and getting life back to normal.
Step 1 will see all schoolchildren return to classrooms from 8th March, while people will be able to meet one other person outside socially.
From 29th March the Rule Of Six will return outdoors, and organised sporting activities can also begin to take place again.
For the full roadmap please follow this link: https://www.gov.uk/government/news/prime-minister-sets-out-roadmap-to-cautiously-ease-lockdown-restrictions
If yourself or anyone in your house has symptoms, including a fever or new persistent cough, then you all self-isolate for 10 days.
As a result of the Government’s medical advice surrounding the Coronavirus outbreak, my office staff will be working at home as much as possible.
The constituency office staff will be working on a rota basis so that at any one time there will only be one person in the office.
Please try and restrict contact to email. At this unique time, telephone conversations will be difficult and we will be our prioritising the urgent and essential cases that are raised by constituents. With that in mind, please be aware that, depending on the nature of your correspondence, it may not be possible to respond to your email so please check the online advice before getting in contact.
NHS Covid-19 App
The government is encouraging people to download the NHS COVID-19 app which will form a central part of NHS Test and Trace by contract tracing through low-energy Bluetooth, alerting users to transmission levels in their area, helping people check into venues and providing a symptom checker.
It is available for those over the age of 16, and will track your distance and time spent with other app users to alert you if someone you have been in close contact with tests positive for COVID-19.
The app users personal information and data will remain secure, as none of it is provided to the government or NHS. It does not hold personal information, and only requires the first half of your postcode to show local transmission rates. Frequent, random unique IDs are also regenerated for extra security.
Coronavirus Status Checker
The Government is encouraging people with coronavirus symptoms to use the new Coronavirus Status Checker which will help the NHS coordinate its response and build up additional data
Coronavirus Information Service
The UK Government has launched a GOV.UK Coronavirus Information service on WhatsApp.To use the free GOV.UK Coronavirus Information Service on WhatsApp, simply add 07860 064422 in your phone contacts and then message the word ‘hi’ in a WhatsApp message to get started.
Age UK
Age UK have also issued their own advice: https://www.ageuk.org.uk/information-advice/health-wellbeing/conditions-illnesses/coronavirus/ .
If you have any concerns about anything else, including welfare, care or housing, they can contact Age UK’s free advice line, 8am-7pm : 0800 055 6112.
Consular Hotline For British Citizens Abroad
If you are a British citizen living abroad and have any concerns, the hotline number is 02070081500.
Up To Date Guidance
The NHS and Government are constantly updating their guidance online. I recommend that all constituents keep up to date with the daily recommendations and follow the expert guidance.
- https://www.gov.uk/government/topical-events/coronavirus-covid-19-uk-government-response
- https://www.nhs.uk/conditions/coronavirus-covid-19/
The Latest Government Advice Will Appear Below: