Action taken by the UK government to help Britain through the COVID-19 pandemic includes:
Protecting the NHS so that it is there for people when they need it…
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- From just 2,000 tests per day in March Britain now haa the capacity to conduct over 200,000 tests per day – with 139,659 tests on 21 June.
- Daily cases down from a peak of 5,195 on 14 April to 1,205 on 22 June 2020 (seven day rolling average)
- Daily deaths down from a peak of 943 on 14 April to 130 on 22 June 2020 (seven day rolling average)
- Ventilators up from 9,000 in March 2020 to 21,200 on 22 June 2020.
- Number of ventilator beds occupied down from a peak of 3,301 on 12 April 2020 to 330 on 19 June 2020.
- Over 1.94 billion items of PPE delivered since the start of the outbreak.
- 6 Nightingale hospitals created with a 7th due to open in Exeter this month.
- Hospital admissions down from 3,432 on 1 April 2020 to 380 on 19 June 2020 (England, Wales and NI).
- Over 1.3 million testing kits delivered to almost 9000 care homes.
- 99 per cent of GPs able to offer video consultations – up from 3 per cent before the crisis.
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Unprecedented action to support jobs and livelihoods with over £104 billion of support…
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- Jobs retention scheme has been used by over 1 million employers to protect 9.1 million people’s jobs at a value of £20.8 billion
- Self-employed income support scheme has been used by over 2.6 million to the value of £7.6 billion.
- The safety net is working – with an extra 2.3 million people getting the help they need through Universal Credit (since 12 March)
- Over 49,200 loans have now gone out through the Coronavirus Business Interruption Loan Scheme for SMEs providing £10.11 billion worth of finance.
- 279 loans have been approved for the Coronavirus Large Business Interruption Loan Scheme for large firms providing £1.77 billion worth of financing.
- Over 860,000 Bounce Back Loans have been approved worth over £26.3 billion.
- Over 844,000 firms have benefitted from over £10.3 billion of business grants through the Small Business Grant Fund and the Retail, Hospitality and Leisure Grant Fund.
- Around 350,000 properties will pay no business rates in 2020-21 – saving them almost £10 billion because of business rate relief.
- Over 250,000 VAT payments deferred by businesses to the value of £17.3 billion.
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Supporting those who need it most…
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- Around 660,000 children are attending an educational setting – including 284,000 children of critical workers.
- £164 million worth of free school meal vouchers have been redeemed.
- Over 3 million food boxes have been distributed to those who are shielded.
- 15,000 people have been housed in emergency accommodation.
- Almost 590,000 NHS Volunteer Responders have had their ID verified and can now receive tasks.
- More than 348,000 tasks have been completed by NHS Volunteers.
- Helped to repatriate 38,000 people by charter and 1.3 million via commercial routes.
- Contributed £1.65 billion to GAVI, the vaccine alliance.
- 2 of the world’s leading coronavirus vaccine programmes.
- The first country in the world to have a successful clinical trial.
- Contributing £764 million to the international effort to fight coronavirus.
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Comments
It didn't have to be this way.
On deaths per had of population, which is a far more meaningful measure, Britain is not - at this time - the worst hit country in Europe. However, I would point out that David Spiegelhalter, professor of the understanding or risk at Cambridge who knows far about this than you or I, when asked whether the UK’s outbreak will prove to be the worst in Europe, replied,
“Ask me in December.”
Given the density of and demographics of the UK population, the fact that the most open cities in the world have been worst hit (e.g. London, New York, Brussels) we were always likely to take serious damage from this bug.
"It didn't have to be this way?"
No, I don't suggest the UK government has got everything right but if they were remotely as incompetent as the harshest critics make out it would have been far, far worse.