
Glastonbury
Nationwide – From Saturday 4th April the new opening hours will be: Branches: Monday to Friday, 10am – 2pm – Call centres: Monday to Friday, 8am* – 5pm More Info
Somerset Waste cannot return for any missed recycling collections but will prioritise your collection on your next scheduled day. More Info
Paddington Farm Shop – Open Wed-Sat 9am-5pm. See the Facebook Page for regular updates on availability of produce.
National
- Returning to work at Westminster after having Covid-19, the health secretary, Matt Hancock, set a new goal of delivering 100,000 tests per day by the end of April. He also confirmed the ultimate goal is to roll out mass community testing as soon as possible, so that “anyone who needs a test shall have one”.
- Hancock also announced that £13.4bn historic NHS debt would be written off and £300m made available to community pharmacies to help services deliver what is needed to fight the pandemic.
- All British Airways staff are to be retained on 80% pay, with no redundancies, Unite the union announced. The move is expected to impact some 28,000 workers.
- The number of UK hospital deaths rose to 2,921 as a further 569 patients who tested positive for coronavirus lost their lives.
- The comedian Eddie Large, of the double act Little and Large, died at the age of 78 after contracting coronavirus, his son said.
- Campaigners called for more prisoners to be released as positive cases of Covid-19 among inmates in England and Wales rose to 73. The Howard League and the Prison Reform Trust warned that failure to act immediately could lead to significant loss of life.
- Nissan announced it’s 6,000 employees at its Sunderland plant will be furloughed as the site will remain shut throughout April.
- The government is considering the possibility of introducing “immunity certificates” for people who have had Covid-19 and become immune, but maintain that the science is not yet advanced enough.
- The first known death of a patient with coronavirus in England was before March, new figures from NHS England revealed. The data shows a total of six deaths occurred before 5 March, which is the date the public was first informed of a coronavirus-related hospital death in England.
International
- Global number of confirmed cases passes one million mark. At least one million people around the world have been infected since the outbreak began, according to figures collected by researchers from Johns Hopkins University.
- Worldwide death toll passes 50,000. The number of confirmed deaths has passed 50,000, according to the same researchers. Italy remains the country worst affected by the outbreak, with 13,915 deaths, followed by Spain, with 10,003 deaths. The US is now the third worst affected country, with 5,316 total deaths.
- Italy records 760 more deaths from coronavirus. Italy registered 760 more deaths from Covid-19 on Thursday; 33 more than Wednesday. A total of 13,915 people have now died from the virus in the country.
- US reveals 6.7 million applied for jobless benefits in a week. More than 6.65 million people have filed for unemployment benefits in the US last week, according to the latest official figures, highlighting the devastating economic impact of the Covid-19 pandemic on the American economy.
- Scottish death toll under-reported due to delays in reporting centrally. First Minister Nicola Sturgeon admitted that the number of deaths in Scotland had been underreported because of mistakes in notifying the government of new fatalities. Partly because of this, the number of Covid-19 deaths jumped 66% in one day, up by 50 to 126 fatalities.
- Germany sees 1.1 million applications for “immediate financial help”. Authorities in Germany have so far received 1.1million applications for help from self-employed and small businesses. €1bn (£875m) has already been paid to them and €1.8bn worth of payments have been approved.
- Agreement to let coronavirus-stricken liners dock nears. Officials in Fort Lauderdale have said an agreement to allow two coronavirus-stricken cruise liners, the Zaandam and the Rotterdam, to dock in Port Everglades should be reached “within a few hours” after Donald Trump intervened.
- Catalonia asks Spanish army for help. The pro-independence leader of Catalonia, the region of Spain hardest hit by the coronavirus after Madrid, has abandoned his government’s initial reluctance to seek help from the Spanish army, saying any assistance would be gratefully received.
- UN secretary general says recovery from crisis must lead to a better world. In a column for the Guardian, António Guterreshas called for a coordinated global response to the pandemic, but said it must lead to greater global resilience and solidarity.
National & International information from the Guardian