Liverpool City Region COVID-19 Updates

YOU can get daily major and interesting news updates for the Liverpool City Region on our free email news service, via signing up on:- Formby Reporter. If you have any updates to send in or any views on the posts on here, please email us to:- News24@SouthportReporter.Com.

LGA have responded to Ombudsman Social adult social care complaints review

RESPONDING to the 2019/20 annual review of social care complaints by the Local Government and Social Care Ombudsman, Cllr Ian Hudspeth, Chairman of the Local Government Association�s Community Wellbeing Board, said:- "Councils and the care providers they commission have been working hard, especially during the pandemic, to support those who use and work in adult social care. This is despite continued funding and demand pressures, which existed prior to the Coronavirus outbreak. It is good that providers continue to work with the Ombudsman in its investigations, to make improvements to their services. Any future reforms of adult social care must apply the lessons learned from Coronavirus, as well as address the issues of fairness in how we pay for these vital services. These include people who fund their own care. Social care needs parity of esteem with the NHS, backed up by a genuine, long term and sustainable funding settlement, which Councils have been calling for long before the current crisis. Cross party talks on the future of adult social care must start as soon as possible.�

Letter to Editor:- "sPark It Liverpool"

"MY name is Paul and I'm Network Coordinator for Transition Liverpool. We are a local voluntary organisation who are working to support independent businesses, community organisations and creatives in the City Region. I am currently working on sPark It Liverpool, a very exciting project which will come to the City in 2021. sPark It will provide the opportunity for 30 independent businesses and community organisations to create imaginative, playful installations on the streets of the City, promoting their work and celebrating the vibrant culture of our Region. We have already been awarded ₤3300 from the Mayor of Liverpool's Inclusive Growth Fund, and we are reaching out to ask if you could help to ensure our crowd funder is successful so that we can make this happen. We have the support of the local community, City Councillors, Culture Liverpool and some major partners. We have already confirmed 15 community exhibitors including:-

► Yellow House (Young People's Charity) will be recreating a Van Gogh painting in real life.

► Lister Steps (Community and Family Support) will build a Library of Minds, to collect the memories of people who pass by Give Poetry a Chance will have a pop up stage, showcasing the best verse in Liverpool.

► We have many more partners who are creating installations around:- food, farming, beekeeping, environment, music and performance.

► We have a group of architects giving their time pro-bono to design the installations, and the potential to take this event to many different areas of the City Region over 2021.

► sPark It will help to support our local economy in the Covid recovery period, will give us reasons to celebrate, and will also help to create conversations around the kind of world we want to live in.

For further information please visit:- Spacehive.com/SparkItLiverpool and TransitionLiverpool.Org."

**Government full of "incompetents and chancers," says MP in debate on bill breaching international law**

A Merseyside MP accused the Government of being:- "a bunch of incompetents and chances� in a House of Commons debate on the bill that potentially breaks international law. Sefton Central MP Bill Esterson said he could not back the Government's Internal Market Bill as it threatened peace in Northern Ireland and would lead to:- "a serious lack of trust and credibility."

The Bill, which Northern Ireland Secretary Brandon Lewis last week admitted breached international law:- "in a specific and limited way," passed its 2nd reading in the Commons after Conservative MPs were whipped to back it.

Mr Esterson told the Commons in the debate ahead of the vote:- "The Labour party stands for the rule of law. We stand for the international rules based system. We stand for peace in Northern Ireland and the settlement that has lasted for 22 years, and we stand for keeping promises to the British people, which then go on to be enshrined in British law. That prompts the question; what do Conservative MPs stand for anymore if they are prepared to break promises on all three of those areas? Why is what they are promising different now from what they promised in a General Election an oven ready deal, a deal that was the easiest in human history? What changed? What went so wrong? Why are they shouting for more time and saying that they did not have enough time then when they were telling us then that that was all the time they needed and that they did not need to spend any longer scrutinising the legislation, which suddenly they find to have flaws? There is a serious lack of trust and credibility, as we can see around the world and across these islands, as a result of the behaviour of this Government, supported by far too many of their Back Benchers so far this evening. We heard a Cabinet Minister say at the Dispatch Box last week, in a breathtaking, brazen way, that it was okay to break international law in a 'specific and limited way.' It is breaking the law, whether it is in a specific and limited way or not, and that is the reality. The withdrawal agreement, of which the Northern Ireland protocol is part, is part of the answer to guaranteeing the peace that has been so sacrosanct for the last 22 years. The Government are in denial. They are pretending that it is the opposite. They are pretending that what they said last year was the way of defending the peace is no longer true, and it simply does not stack up. What of state aid? Today we hear of a deal being done with Japan that is good news, but with a completely different state aid regime from the one that the Government say they want with the EU. They cannot operate 2 different state aid regimes. It will not work. When is the penny going to drop for them? As for standards, the Bill undermines farmers. It undermines our animal welfare standards. It undermines the devolution settlement and it lacks the scrutiny, just as the Trade Bill did before and continues to do so, too, with this Bill. Ministers will be able to act as they want. This is a bunch of incompetents and chances at their worst, and they need to think again."

Testing fiasco puts lives at risk, says MP

MP Bill Esterson has accused the Government of incompetence over the Covid test shortage. The MP for Sefton Central has been contacted by a number of constituents who had been unable to get a test locally despite having symptoms. 1 was offered 150 mile round trip to Doncaster for a test. Mr Esterson said the Government had had all summer to prepare for a surge in demand for tests, and failure to have an effective system in place was unacceptable. Mr Esterson said:-"With the return of children to Schools and more people going back to the workplace, it was inevitable that there would be an increase in demand for Covid tests. Why has the government not prepared properly for this? They have been found asleep at the wheel again. This increasing prevalence of Covid19 is deeply worrying and the best way to control the virus is to test and isolate. How can we do that if tests are not available? At the start of summer my Labour colleagues and I warned Ministers that an effective test, trace and isolate regime was needed ahead of the autumn. Rather than following our advice Ministers have created a fiasco in testing and contact tracing. What is needed is an effective locally led test, trace and isolate service to drive infections down and keep people safe."

Bill Esterson said 1 constituent's daughter contacted 111 for advice at 12.30pm, on Saturday. 12 September 2020, and at 9pm was advised to be tested as it was likely to be Covid. She was told by the government system that there were no tests available, at Southport or Bootle. Mr Esterson said:- "She even contacted the Department for Health and Social Care and they told her there was no testing capacity anywhere. She was just told to keep trying. Meanwhile, her children are off school and she can't go to work."

Another constituent was told by the NHS 111 service, that her asthmatic son had suspected coronavirus. He had been ill since Saturday. 12 September 2020, but by Monday, had still been unable to get a test. On Tuesday he was offered a test in Doncaster, 73 miles from home. Mr Esterson said:- "This has impacted on the whole family as they all now all have to self isolate for 14 days through lack of test availability, affecting the children�s education as well, even though they may not have the virus. They weren�t able to get a home testing kit either. The Government has to get a grip of this."

Another constituent told Mr Esterson there were no tests locally and no home testing kits available. He was offered a test in Burnley, an 80 mile round trip. Mr Esterson said:- "If people are not tested, they don't know if it is safe to go to the workplace or to School. But it's more than that. Contact tracing depends on being able to get tests quickly. Unless testing happens quickly, it will leave many people unaware that they may be infected and will only add to the spread of the virus, which is already doubly every week. The Conservatives� incompetence risks holding Britain back from defeating the virus. The failure to put an effective testing regime in place is unacceptable and puts lives at risk."

Total UK cases COVID19 cases in and around Liverpool City Region

THE total number of UK Coronavirus (COVID-19) infections that have been laboratory confirmed, within the UK, has risen by:- 3,105 cases and the total number now stand at:- 374,228, that includes tests carried out by commercial partners which are not included in the 4 National totals.

The number of COVID-19 associated UK fatalities added to the total, was sadly reported to be:- 9 according to the Department of Health. The total number of deaths of people who have had a positive test result confirmed by a Public Health or NHS laboratory is:- 41,637.

The number of COVID-19 patients currently in UK Hospitals:- 972. The current number of COVID-19 patients currently in mechanical ventilation beds in UK Hospitals:- 106. Daily number of COVID-19 patients admitted to UK Hospitals:- 141.

In England, there are a total of:- 323,029 confirmed cases. North West - total of:- 62,086 confirmed cases.

The number of laboratory confirmed cases within the Liverpool City Region are as follows:-

Area and number of confirmed cases:-

Risen by:-

► Liverpool, 3,592 confirmed cases.

► Halton, 841 860 confirmed cases.

► Knowsley, 1,295 confirmed cases.

► Sefton, 1,935 confirmed cases.

► St. Helens, 1,515 confirmed cases

► Wirral, 2,697 confirmed cases.

Colour Key:-

1 to 10

11 to 20

21 to 30

31 to 40

41 to 50

51 to100

100 over

The number of laboratory confirmed cases within Local Authorities around the Liverpool City Region are as follows:-

► Blackburn with Darwen, 2,128 confirmed cases.
► Blackpool, 1,173 confirmed cases.
► Bolton, 3,383 confirmed cases.
► Bury, 1,882 confirmed cases.
► Cheshire East, 2,574 confirmed cases.
► Cheshire West and Chester, 2,314 confirmed cases.
► Lancashire, 6,240 confirmed cases.
► Manchester, 5,118 confirmed cases.
► Oldham, 3,372 confirmed cases.
► Preston, 1,685 confirmed cases.
► Rochdale, 2,608 confirmed cases.
► Salford, 2,240 confirmed cases.
► Stockport, 2,210 confirmed cases.
► Tameside, 2,323 confirmed cases.
► Trafford, 1,881 confirmed cases.
► Warrington, 1,743 confirmed cases.
► Wigan, 2,587 confirmed cases.

Daily reported Covid19 deaths are now measured across the UK as deaths that occurred within 28 days of the 1st laboratory confirmed positive Covid19 test.

Daily and cumulative numbers of COVID19 patients admitted to Hospital. Data are not updated every day by all 4 nations and the figures are not comparable as Wales include suspected COVID19 patients while the other nations include only confirmed cases.