Newham Council is issuing regular e-bulletins to residents about what’s happening at the Council and in the borough, including the latest information about how we are responding to Covid-19.
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In response to the Government’s announcement this week about the country moving to a new Lockdown Britain phase, read more from Mayor Rokhsana Fiaz below:
As part of the measures announced by the Government this week, those working in construction and manufacturing are being ‘actively encouraged’ to go to work; but those who can work at home should continue doing so. If you can’t work at home, you’ll need to avoid public transport. And because we’ve made a commitment to improve air quality and address the climate emergency, we’re encouraging residents to walk or use a bicycle instead.
The Government has also announced a ‘five-tier’ alert system to rank the threat from Covid-19, where the threat level will be categorised on a scale of the most severe level 5 to 1. Currently we are on threat level 4, which means that a Covid-19 epidemic is in general circulation, transmission is high or rising exponentially. Assessments on the threat level will be made by a new ‘Joint Biosecurity Centre’, which will assess the number of cases and the reproduction rate number (or transmission rate) of the virus. Ordinarily referred as the ‘R’, it’s a measurement used by epidemiologists on the average rate of an infected person will pass the virus onto. According to the Government’s independent Scientific Advisory Group for Emergencies (SAGE), the R rate is currently somewhere between 0.5 and 0.9 (meaning that someone with Covid-19 will infect less than one person, in contrast to the beginning of the epidemic, when the ‘R’ rate was between 2.7 and 3.0).
The Government has also published its ‘conditional’ pathway to an end of Covid-19 Lockdown in the UK: ‘Our Plan to Rebuild: the UK Government’s Covid-19 recovery strategy’. It sets out that this second phase is all about ‘smarter controls’; where people will need to continue with measures to minimise the spread of Covid-19 which will be in place for some time.
What’s clear is that it’s not straight forward, nor is it going to be easy; and as before the Government says it will be guided by the ‘scientific advice’ every step of the way.
At the moment, it has outlined that by 1st June ‘at the earliest’, the country might be in position to begin the phased re-opening of shops and primary schools ‘in stages’, with students facing exams next year getting ‘some time’ with their teachers. I know that parents and teachers in Newham are anxious about this, and so am I. That’s why I support the calls from teaching unions for there to be more safety measures in place before schools open.
By July, there may be scope to open ‘some’ of the hospitality industry, and other public places, but safety and social distancing will apply. All of this will be subject to the reproduction (the ‘R’) rate of the virus.
What is clear is that while some measures were eased on Wednesday – we are in week 8 of Lockdown Britain. So it’s important that everyone in Newham keeps up with the restrictions in place, because we can’t risk a second wave in our borough which could be disastrous for all Newham residents.
Over the past seven weeks, the Council has pulled out the all the stops to protect the most vulnerable in our care homes and in our communities, and keep the borough going during this really challenging time. At a Cabinet meeting held via zoom last night, we discussed a paper setting out all the things that the Council has been doing in response to the crisis locally. You can read the cabinet report ‘Covid-19 pandemic: report on the response of the London Borough of Newham.
The report tells the story of how 4,500 Newham Council workers over the past seven weeks (and more) have been driven by an unwavering commitment to Newham residents. They’ve protected our elderly and vulnerable residents living in care homes; supplied personal protective equipment; supported children with special educational needs; offered youth services through digital means; been there for families with youngsters through our early year centres and nurseries; collected bins and swept the streets; stopped retailers trading illegally; and worked with resident-led mutual aid groups, faith communities and the voluntary sector locally to feed the most vulnerable residents and families in our borough.
You can hear directly from Council officers about all the things we’ve put in place, by watching this powerful video from the Cabinet meeting.
As we progress through this new Covid-19 phase I remind myself of how all of us are in this together, as a united community. Your health and safety will remain our top priority - and as we work through Newham’s ‘recovery’, you’ll also be at the heart of shaping our plans. It will be underpinned by an explicit commitment to tackle poverty, inequality and climate emergency so that everyone in our community can benefit, and more details of how you can get involved will be announced soon.
In the meantime, please think carefully before you change your behaviour. If you can stay at home, you should. Avoid public transport by walking or cycling, and minimise using your car to stop pollution in the air.
You must continue to practise social distancing at all times and please follow the hygiene advice of washing your hands regularly and disinfecting surfaces that you use. Keep doing what you’ve been doing over these past seven weeks to protect yourself and others by staying at home. Let’s not risk a second wave of Covid-19 in Newham that could lead to more deaths.
Stay safe.
Best wishes,
Rokhsana Fiaz OBE
Mayor of Newham
Read more Covid-19 updates from Mayor Fiaz or follow her on Twitter @rokhsanafiaz