Good morning,
The following is an update from Downing Street:
- Since Sunday evening, the Prime Minister has been under the care of doctors at St Thomas’ Hospital, in London, after being admitted with persistent symptoms of coronavirus.
- Over the course of yesterday afternoon, the condition of the PM worsened, and, on the advice of his medical team, he was moved to the Intensive Care Unit at the hospital.
- The PM has asked Foreign Secretary Dominic Raab, who is the First Secretary of State, to deputise for him where necessary.
- The PM is receiving excellent care, and thanks all NHS staff for their hard work and dedication.
Hundreds of thousands of NHS Volunteer Responders will be able to report for duty today and start helping the NHS in its fight against coronavirus. But everyone has role to play to stay home, protect our NHS and save lives.
- When the NHS launched its call for 250,000 volunteers to support our response to coronavirus, over 750,000 people signed up in the first four days – showing once again the altruism and determination of the British people to stand shoulder to shoulder during difficult times.
- From today, our NHS Volunteer Responders will report for duty, delivering medicines to people in their homes, helping to ensure NHS supplies, equipment and patients are where they need to be, and making regular phone calls to people isolating at home, keeping morale high and reinforcing the need for people to continue to stay at home and reduce pressure on the NHS.
- The generosity of people offering to volunteer across the country has been remarkable, and as we face one of the greatest challenges our country has faced together, they will play a vital role supporting people in need and enabling our heroic NHS and social care staff to continue doing their outstanding work.
Stay at home
You must stay at home, only leaving 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 immediate household.
- Any medical need, to provide care or to help a vulnerable person.
- Travelling to and from work, but only where this absolutely cannot be done from home.
Protect the NHS
You must stay at home to protect the NHS:
- The NHS only has a limited number of doctors, nurses and specialist equipment.
- We are working around the clock to increase NHS capacity.
- The more people who get sick, the harder it is for the NHS to cope.
- We must slow the spread of the disease so that fewer people are sick at any one time.
Save lives
You must stay at home to protect the NHS and save lives. The police will have the powers to enforce the following restrictions:
- Dispersing gatherings of more than two people in public, excluding people you live with.
- Issuing fines to anyone who does not comply with these rules.
- Closing shops that are not essential, as well as playgrounds and places of worship.
Full guidance on staying at home can be found at www.gov.uk/coronavirus
You can find the most up to date medical advice at www.nhs.uk/coronavirus
You can find the answers to frequently asked questions about what you can do and can’t do during this pandemic here.
You can volunteer to become an NHS Volunteer Responder at https://www.goodsamapp.org/NHS