Health Secretary Matt Hancock has announced that the families of NHS and social care staff who die of coronavirus in the course of their “essential frontline work” will receive a £60,000 payment.
During the government’s daily coronavirus press conference today Monday 27 April 2020, the health secretary revealed that of the 21,092 people, who had died of coronavirus in UK hospitals, 82 were NHS colleagues and 16 worked in social care. “I feel a deep personal sense of duty that we must care for their loved ones,” he said.
Mr Hancock, announcing the new “life assurance scheme”, admitted, “nothing replaces the loss of a loved one” but said the government wanted to do “everything that we can” to support families dealing with bereavement.
Mr Hancock added that the Government was looking at other frontline professions who did not have access to a life assurance scheme.
“As a Government, we are looking closely at other professions that work on the front line against coronavirus, who also do not have access to such schemes, to see where this may be required.”
Mr Hancock said the government is still aiming to conduct 250,000 tests a day, including antibody tests – despite still being well off its target for 100,000 tests a day by the end of April.
On Sunday there were just 37,024 tests carried out with just days to go before the deadline. It is thought however that the number of tests carried out each day will dramatically increase day to day as essential workers book appointments for tests, after the government expanded eligibility to them last week. “We want testing to continue to increase,” Mr Hancock said.
“As you will know, the Prime Minister set a goal of 250,000 some time ago – especially for when the antibody tests come on stream. “But, so far, there isn’t one of those that is clinically valid.”
Mr Hancock added: “It is important to note that we have already gone past the number of tests, per day, for instance, that they carry out in South Korea. “We are approaching the levels that Germany undertakes.”
Matt Hancock also announced that some NHS services that had been paused due to the coronavirus outbreak would be restored from Tuesday.
He said: “As the number of hospitalisations from coronavirus begins to fall, I can announce that, starting tomorrow, we will begin the restoration of other NHS services, starting with the most urgent, like cancer care and mental health support.
“The exact pace of the restoration will be determined by local circumstances on the ground, according to local need and according to the amount of coronavirus cases that that hospital is having to deal with.”
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