Earlier this week, the Government was accused of misleading the public about the scale of the pandemic because it failed to include care home deaths in its daily briefings. Healthcare workers warned that deaths in care homes have been substantially underestimated by official figures.

The number of care home residents who have died of suspected coronavirus may have reached 7,500, according to the latest estimate, The Telegraph has learned.

By Gabriella Swerling, Social Affairs Editor 17 www.telegraph.co.uk

New data collated by Care England, the country’s largest representative body for care homes, suggests the number of deaths from Covid-19 is far higher than its previous estimate of 1,400 from earlier this week.

The number is also far in advance of the official figure from the Office for National Statistics (ONS), which has recorded 217 care home deaths from the virus up to April 3 – the most recent date for which official data is available. 

However, as the Government published its daily update on coronavirus hospital deaths on Friday, which showed a rise to 14,576, it emerged that the death toll in UK care homes is suspected to be much bigger than previously feared. 

Professor Martin Green, the chief executive of Care England, told The Telegraph that around 7,500 people may have died in care homes as a result of the virus. 

“Without testing, it is very difficult to give an absolute figure,” he said. “However, if we look at some of the death rates since April 1 and compare them with previous years’ rates, we estimate a figure of about 7,500 people may have died as a result of Covid-19.”

Care England, which represents around 3,800 homes and more than 50,000 residents, gathered data by “taking a sounding” from its homes.

Its estimate comes amid a growing row about the extent of the coronavirus crisis in care homes and the Government’s response, as data from Public Health England confirmed that the elderly have been hardest hit by the virus, with 69 per cent of those who have died aged over 70.

Earlier this week, the Government was accused of misleading the public about the scale of the pandemic because it failed to include care home deaths in its daily briefings. Healthcare workers warned that deaths in care homes have been substantially underestimated by official figures.

Charities said the new data “will send a chill down the spine of anyone with a loved one living in a care home” as they renewed calls for increased provision of personal protective equipment (PPE) to help keep residents and carers safe.

Earlier this week, a leaked letter from care home bosses accused Number 10 of a “shambolic” response to the sector’s crisis, with “paltry” and “haphazard” deliveries of PPE. 

Matt Hancock, the Health Secretary said during the daily Downing Street briefing on Thursday that only 15 per cent of care homes had been hit by Covid-19. He told the health and social care committee on Friday that data on the deaths of care home residents with coronavirus will be published “very shortly”.

His pledge came as care professionals claimed they have not seen £1.6 billion which Rishi Sunak, the Chancellor,  announced had been set aside for social care. The Local Government Association (LGA) warned that, without a “cast-iron funding pledge”, councils will be heading towards “financial failure”.

Responding to the Care England data, Caroline Abrahams, the charity director at Age UK, said: “This is a shocking and utterly heartbreaking estimate that will send a chill down the spine of anyone with a loved one living in a care home. 

“It emphasises just how crucial it is that the Government’s commitments on PPE and testing in care homes are implemented successfully and at speed.

“As we have feared for some time, what’s going on in care homes – not only here but in many other countries too – is a tragedy in the making. It’s too late to avert this entirely, but there’s still time to make a positive difference and save many lives, of staff as well as older people.

“Central and local government and  the care home sector must work together to make this happen. And later, possibly a lot later, we have to ensure this can never happen again.” 

A Department of Health and Social Care spokesman said: “Every death from this virus is a tragedy, and that is why we are working around the clock to give the social care sector the equipment and support they need to tackle this global pandemic.

“It is important that we have the best possible reliable data to know how many deaths there are, wherever they occur. In an important step forward, ONS are now providing a breakdown of deaths by place of occurrence.

“We are currently working with CQC and other organisations to understand how to best to provide up to date information about deaths in care homes and elsewhere.”

The coronavirus pandemic has scuppered plans to complete the next stage of a flood protection scheme for a community that gets ‘anxious every time it rains’.

Daniel Clark/LDRS www.midweekherald.co.uk

The first two phases of the flood alleviation scheme for Feniton were completed back in 2016, but numerous delays have since beset the project.

Phase 3, which requires an undertrack crossing of the Exeter to Waterloo rail line, was due to take place in May during a planned 52 hour weekend track closure.

But East Devon District Council has taken the proactive step to postpone non-essential construction work to reduce health risks to workers, local healthcare staff, and local residents as a result of the COVID-19 outbreak and as a result.

Cllr Geoff Jung, East Devon District Council’s portfolio holder for the environment, said: “I would stress that this is a temporary delay and that we are totally committed to completing the Feniton Flood scheme as well all the other flood and sea defence schemes that we have currently in hand.”

The decision will result in a delay for construction of phase 3 of the project, but a council spokesman said that they look forward to working with Network Rail to make sure everything is in place for the next possession window they can take to carry out the work.

They added: “Although clearly a delay for phase 3, the fourth and final phase was not due to begin until March 2021, so the overall delay to the scheme completion is minimal. The council’s project team will be working hard to ensure that both phase 3 and 4 can be delivered as soon as practically possible.”

Phase 4, the construction of the remaining culverted sections of the scheme, was set to follow in the summer of 2021, to enable sufficient time for further Government grants to be secured.

Cllr Susie Bond, who represents the Feniton ward, said that the news comes as no surprise, but is still sad and hard for residents to hear.

She added: “This is hugely disappointing, but not unexpected, news given the national emergency in which we find ourselves. We shall look forward to hearing more positive news once the crisis is over and we can work with Network Rail in finding a new possession window.”

Cllr Ben Ingham, the Leader of East Devon District Council, said: “It is a tremendous shame that we have to postpone this vital project for Feniton, especially in light of the hard work to get us this far. However, we cannot take high risks so there must be a delay. But we will be back.”

Cllr Peter Faithfull, Deputy Portfolio Holder for the Environment, added: “While it is extremely frustrating to have to make the decision to delay this work, the risk of flooding has to be placed second to the risk of COVID-19 for both the workers and the residents.”

When councillors in February backed the latest timetable for the works, Andrew Hancock, Service Lead for StreetScene, said: “This project will benefit more than 70 properties in Feniton as well as providing relief from the anxiety of the ever present flood risk.”

The original total project cost was £1.7m but as a result of the years of delays, the revised total project cost had risen to £3.7m.

Severe flooding hit Feniton back in 2008 left the village as “unpassable” and many residents were unable to leave their houses due to the river of floodwater running past their homes. There were also several landslides in the area.

The medieval St Andrew’s Church in Feniton Old Village was left under two feet of water, as were homes in the village centre.

Front gardens of houses were littered with flood-damaged white goods, furniture, books, a caravan and more.

The 4.8m fibreglass boat, the Nina May, is not much to look at but the boat holds nearly a fifth of all fishing rights for the South West of England. The last time Owl looked into it, the Carter company who own it made an operating profit of £2,628,000 in 2017. Based on these figures the Nina May fits the government criteria published yesterday, for the “catching sector” .  (Information on Greenpeace investigation here)

Government announces financial support for England’s fishing businesses

www.gov.uk

More than 1,000 fishing and aquaculture businesses in England will receive direct cash grants through a fisheries support scheme announced today by Environment Secretary George Eustice and Chief Secretary to the Treasury Steve Barclay.

In the latest step to protect businesses affected by coronavirus, plans unveiled today mean that up to £9 million will be available for grants to eligible fishing and aquaculture businesses.

A further £1 million will be made available to support projects to assist fishermen to sell their catch in their local communities. This money will help fishing businesses find new ways to market and sell their catch while traditional markets are restricted, not only supporting the sector but also the local communities that depend on the industry.

Because the majority of fish they catch is usually destined for export, the English fishing fleet which catches fish stocks such as hake, scallops and crab, has been hit by the closure of traditional export markets and the reduction in demand from the hospitality sector.

The support scheme – which will run for up to three months – takes action to meet the immediate needs of the industry by helping English fishing and aquaculture businesses with their fixed costs such as insurance, equipment hire and port costs.

The measures will support English industry, in particular smaller fisherman, during this challenging time and follow an unprecedented package of financial support already announced for small businesses.

The main features of the scheme are:

• For the catching sector, the fund will be open to under-24m vessel owners with fishing licences registered in England who recorded sales of £10,000 or more in 2019.
• Grants will be made to help cover fixed business costs. For the catching sector this will be calculated from the average business costs for the size of the vessel, as surveyed by the industry annually.
• Details of the eligibility criteria, including the criteria for the aquaculture sector and support for local projects, will be announced in due course by the Marine Management Organisation (MMO).
• The MMO will administer the fund, contacting eligible registered owners and licence holders directly in stages with details of how to apply, starting on Monday April 20 through to early May.
• Payments will be made for up to three months.

The Government is also exploring methods to reduce the regulatory burden on the fishing fleet. These measures will be agreed jointly by the fisheries administrations and announced in due course.

Ellie Kendall  www.somersetlive.co.uk 

Most of us who use the A303 west of Ilminster can share horror stories about being held up there.

Being stuck behind a tractor on Ham Hill, crawling along in first or second gear.

Waiting to pull out of the Eagle Tavern junction after a hard day’s work in Taunton.

Desperately trying to pass a lorry on the last bit of dual carriageway before you enter the Blackdown Hills.

If you find yourself in this situation, you could be forgiven for wondering why this road hasn’t been turned into a dual carriageway.

And with the coronavirus lockdown continuing for the foreseeable future, many of us will be pining for a clear run to Devon’s beaches or the Cornish coast for a much-needed break when this is all over.

But sadly, improvements to this part of the A303 won’t be happening any time soon – and here’s why…

What’s the road like at the moment?

If you head west from the Southfields roundabout – where the A303 joins the A358 – you’ll find the road alternating between single and dual carriageway, as it does on the Ilminster bypass.

But after the turning to Broadway, it’s single carriageway all the way through to the Devon border at Marsh.

Here the road briefly opens out to two lanes each way again, before shrinking back to one lane around some tight bends and a steep hill or two through the villages east of Honiton, where it joins the A30.

The A30 then opens out to a dual carriageway at Honiton and remains that way all the way through to Exeter.

How did we get to this point?

The government’s first road investment strategy (known as RIS1) was published by the Department for Transport back in February 2015.

It committed the delivery of a large number of transport schemes through Highways England, including improvements to three sections of the A303 and A358:

• A new A303 dual carriageway tunnel under Stonehenge
• Dualling the A303 between Ilchester and Sparkford
• Dualling the A358 between Ilminster and Taunton

Theresa May reaffirmed this when she was prime minister, telling Somerton and Frome MP David Warburton in January 2017 that her government was “committed to creating a dual carriageway on the A303 from the M3 to the M5”.

Since this announcement, progress has been made on all three schemes.

Both the Stonehenge tunnel and Sparkford schemes have gone through public consultation, detailed designs and a public inquiry each (which concluded in October and June 2019 respectively).

A final decision on the Sparkford scheme was due on December 12, but this was pushed back due to the general election being held on that date.

Decisions on both schemes have been further delayed by the coronavirus outbreak.

The A358 scheme is at a much earlier stage, with Highways England announcing its preferred route in June 2019.

What about the A303 west of Ilminster?

As things stand, the A358 dualling will remove the need for a dual carriageway west of the Southfields roundabout (as far as the government is concerned) – but it wasn’t always certain this would be the case.

A report for Highways England (then called the Highways Agency) back in 2015 looked at options for dualling three sections of the main road between Ilminster and Honiton:

• The A303 between Broadway and the Eagle Tavern pub
• The A303 between the Stopgate Cross junction (the B3170 towards Taunton) and Rawridge Hill (where the A303 meets the A30)
• The A30 between Rawridge Hill and Honiton

Devon County Council put forward detailed proposals in 2017 for dualling the A30 between Honiton and the junction with the A303 (also known as Devonshire Inn).

The route put forward would have bypassed the village of Monkton to the south, with the old A30 running alongside up to a new junction with the A303 and the A30 through to Chard via Yarcombe.

These proposals were submitted to the DfT in early-2017, but have not been taken forward to date.

Why hasn’t anything happened?

Notwithstanding the cost of these proposals – nearly £180M at 2015 prices – the scheme faced a fair amount of opposition from environmental and transport groups.

The Blackdown Hills is an area of outstanding natural beauty (AONB) – meaning it enjoys a similar level of legal protection as the UK’s national parks.

As such, it is difficult to carry out any large-scale development or infrastructure building here – such as a dual carriageway – without undermining the character of the area and the quality of life of the people living in it.

James MacColl, head of campaigns at the Campaign for Better Transport, was incredibly vocal in his opposition to the plans back in August 2016.

Speaking at the time, he said: “You cannot protect and enhance an AONB by building a road through it.

“New roads create new traffic, which the Blackdown Hills and nearby towns need like a hole in the head.

“What Devon County Council should be considering is how to get unnecessary trips off the road including through long term investment in local public transport.”

[Owl has a lot of experience on how development in an AONB can be justified by observing many years of EDDC decisions in the EasT Devon AONB. The small print let out clause in the NPPF can be found in paragraph 172:  Planning permission should be refused for major development other than in exceptional circumstances, and where it can be demonstrated that the development is in the public interest. Consideration of such applications should include an assessment of: a) the need for the development, including in terms of any national considerations, and the impact of permitting it, or refusing it, upon the local economy……]

Have any changes been made?

As part of RIS1, Highways England did undertake some smaller scale improvements to the A303 and A30 – changing little things here and there to make the existing route safer, rather than dualling small sections.

A spokesman said: “We committed in RIS1 to undertake smaller scale improvements in the Blackdown Hills.

“As part of this we undertook a safety study, which generated a safety scheme consisting of a number of minor improvements, including improved lining and signing between Marsh and Honiton.

“The signage, lining and resurfacing scheme encompassed work along various sections of the A30, including the removal of a shared third lane to the east of Honiton and improved signage at Rawridge Hill. The work was completed in March.”

On the Somerset site of the border, some minor changes were put in place at the Eagle Tavern junction – a busy staggered junction, frequently used by farm vehicles and traffic coming through the Blackdown Hills from Taunton to avoid the M5.

But Highways England has said it has no immediate plans to make further improvements to this junction.

Their spokesman said: “Regarding the Eagle Tavern junction, the speed limit has been lowered to 50mph in that location, with speed enforcement in place.

“We continually monitor collisions across the region and will always look to the provision of solutions where we can identify issues that highway improvements will have a positive effect.”

What happens next?

As part of the latest road investment strategy (RIS2), Highways England will erect additional signage on the A30 near Honiton later this year.

These will include signs at the junction between the A30 and A35 toward Axminster, and signs east of Honiton to discourage people during U-turns on the single carriageway sections.

In Somerset, a second round of public consultation on the A358 dualling is expected – though the dates won’t be announced until after the current lockdown period ends.

If the DfT grants permission to the Sparkford scheme, work could get under way later this year and be completed by the end of 2022.

The A358 scheme could be completed by 2024 if all goes well with the new consultation, the resulting public inquiry and the government giving the final nod.

Improvements to the Ilminster bypass – long seen as an accident black spot – could be brought forward as part of the next road investment strategy (RIS3) after 2025.

Yesterday, Matt Hancock said that contact tracing teams would be part of a strategy that included the use of a phone app to identify recent contacts and warn them that they might need to self-isolate.

Is he putting too much faith in  NHSX, a phone app to identify recent contacts and warn them that they might need to self-isolate, still being developed?

Experts widely report that 60% of the population would have to participate for such an app to be effective. 

Editorial  www.theguardian.com 

“If you ask me whether any Bluetooth contact tracing system deployed or under development, anywhere in the world, is ready to replace manual contact tracing [to deal with coronavirus], I will say … the answer is, no.” Those are not the words of a tech luddite but were posted by Jason Bay, head of digital services of the world’s most wired-up city state, Singapore. The island has seen only 10 deaths out of a population of 5.6 million and its response has been celebrated as a model approach to the virus. Singapore used large-scale testing of citizens and a digital app – TraceTogether – to track the spread of the Sars-Cov-2 infection.

But technology is no panacea to the crisis. With just 12% of Singaporeans using the app, Mr Bay correctly observes the quality of data analysis is only as good as the quality of the data provided. “False positives and false negatives have real-life (and death) consequences,” he writes. “We use TraceTogether to supplement (manual) contact tracing – not replace it.”

In the west the privacy challenges of smartphone apps are complex, and we must resist attempts to normalise any level of totalitarian surveillance. Yet the speed of the spread of the viral pathogen makes it difficult to see how such technology can be avoided. In such a system a person who develops symptoms and then, say, tests positive for Covid-19 lets his or her phone app know of their infection. This is then broadcast to every other app in the network which then searches their records to see if they have been close to the infected individual’s phone since the time of infection. For this to work in the UK an app must hold data temporarily and anonymously, be installed at users’ discretion, and have privacy at its core.

But this is only the first step. Until we develop a vaccine or a treatment, infections will have to be detected quickly, and infected individuals possibly quarantined. The bottom line is that to contain the epidemic and prevent another spike we will need an army of public health workers for ongoing testing and monitoring. How many would be needed? In Wuhan there were 81 public health officials for every 100,000 people. In New Zealand’s success story – just nine deaths in a country of 5 million people – the comparable figure was four. But those low staffing levels can be maintained because New Zealand had the outbreak under better control and the islands’ remoteness makes it easier to track visitors.

A study for Johns Hopkins university in the US suggests that with Covid-19 circulating widely for many weeks, and without sufficient levels of testing, a region might need 15-30 public health workers per 100,000 people to bring the crisis under control. In the UK that would mean a new coronavirus workforce of 10,000-20,000 people to work in a system that Conservative governments since 2010 have starved of cash. We cannot allow tech evangelism to obscure the need to start funding, finding and training workers so the country can be kept safe.

Councils in England have warned that the coronavirus crisis is pushing them to the brink of financial failure.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-politics-52331282

The Local Government Association (LGA) said without more funding some authorities would be forced to cut “vital” services.

Councils face increased costs from supporting vulnerable people, while income from fees and rates is falling.

The government said it was providing £1.6bn extra to help them “provide services” during the pandemic.

The LGA welcomed this, but said more money was needed and called for a “cast-iron commitment” to cover the costs of coronavirus-related work.

Analysis by Alex Forsyth, BBC Political Correspondent

Many councils were already under severe financial strain before the coronavirus crisis, particularly those responsible for social care.

Since 2010 many local authorities have had to cut services to balance the books. The crisis has resulted in extra pressure on services that support the most vulnerable: the elderly, disabled and homeless.

At the same time income from fees and charges has dried up, and there’s fear that council tax revenues may fall as people face financial hardship.

At the start of this crisis, council leaders said they largely felt reassured by government promises of support. Now – with so much demand on the Treasury – there’s scepticism about how much more funding will be forthcoming.

Local government, which often feels like a forgotten frontline service, wants to ensure its voice is heard among the calls for support. Hence this stark warning about the potential consequences for crucial services if it doesn’t get more cash.

The LGA says councils are spending more on helping disabled, older and homeless people through the crisis, but are no longer raising money from leisure and planning services, which have been suspended.

Richard Watts, chairman of the LGA’s resources board, said: “Additional funding is urgently needed to help councils get through this crisis, support the vulnerable and adapt to life once we defeat this virus, when our local services will be needed more than ever to help communities rebuild.

“It would be wrong and unacceptable if councils are then forced to make further cutbacks to the very services that will have helped the nation through this crisis and the key workers who are producing heroics on the front line see their jobs placed at risk.”

The government has announced councils will be able to defer £2.6bn in business rate payments owed to central government.

A Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government spokesperson said: “We’ve already provided £1.6bn of additional funding and have announced new measures to help ease immediate cash flow pressures faced by councils in England.”