Liverpool City Region COVID-19 Updates - 2020-07-29

Southport Reporter - You local online newspaper for Merseyside and the Liverpool City Region.

   
  .Sign up to get our FREE email news bulletins.  

   
 

Liverpool City Region COVID-19 Updates
... & Important Emergency Notices ...

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.


This page last updated on 29 July 2020


Sefton Gets 1st Covid-19 Local Testing Sites

THE 1st ever dedicated walk through Covid-19 testing sites in Cheshire and Merseyside are to be deployed in Sefton. The semi permanent sites, known as Local Testing Sites (LTS), are being created in both Bootle and Southport, with the 1st of these set to go live on Friday, 31 July 2020, in Bootle, Merseyside.

LTS are designed to supplement existing testing routes such as Regional and Mobile Testing Units. They are the 1st to offer bespoke walk through appointments; to improve access for the whole community, especially those who do not have access to a car or should not be using public transport because they have symptoms.

Unlike Mobile Testing Units, which are often deployed for around four days, the LTS will be open for several months to ensure that accessible testing is continually available to people within their communities. Each LTS will have between four and eight testing bays which can each test up to three people an hour.

The sites are being set up at Southport Town Hall and Bootle Town Hall, and users will be asked to self swab when attending. The LTS will operate by appointment only which can be booked at:- NHS.UK/Coronavirus or by calling:- 119.

Leader of Sefton Council, Cllr Ian Maher, said:- “We have been working very closely with colleagues in the NHS in Cheshire and Merseyside and the Department for Health and Social Care to ensure that we have the most accessible testing facilities for the people of Sefton, when and where they need them. I am delighted that we have been able to secure the first ever LTS facilities in Cheshire and Merseyside and that people will have even greater access to testing should people feel unwell. We have a fairly unique borough, which is both long and narrow, so being able to secure an LTS for both Southport and Bootle is a really good result. We will continue to work closely to ensure that all of the testing availability is used in the best possible way to help keep Sefton safe as we look to support the recovery of our area and the local economy.”

Regional Testing Director for Cheshire and Merseyside, Terry Whalley, said:- “This additional capacity is great for Sefton and the whole of Cheshire and Merseyside. Having two semi-permanent LTS’s in Sefton means that we will be able to use other testing facilities more flexibly and be able to deploy them in a more targeted way in the future. This will help the Director of Public Health, and other professionals have a greater say in how testing is used and deployed locally. Having this extra capacity, more permanently, means that we can respond and react in a much more targeted way with other testing resources, should we see local outbreaks or other urgent needs. Such decisions can now be made in the knowledge that there are testing sites in both Bootle and Southport to rely on day to day. We will carefully study the use of these new sites in Sefton as we look to roll out further testing capability across Cheshire and Merseyside in our bid to continue protecting lives and livelihoods.”

More information on visiting a Local Testing Site is available in this YouTube video:-


MP praises protestors after bid to frack near Formby is withdrawn

SEFTON Central MP Bill Esterson said the government must now ban fracking outright after energy company Aurora withdrew its application to frack near Formby. Mr Esterson has consistently opposed the plans for fracking because of the climate crisis and because of concerns about the impact on the local environment and on residents nearby. Mr Esterson said only an outright ban would do as Aurora made clear its plans to lobby the Government to end the moratorium on fracking, which has been in place since 2019. Mr Esterson praised campaigners and local residents for their work in blocking Aurora’s plans. He also praised Sefton Council’s Labour Group, who opposed fracking, in Sefton’s local plan, and in several motions passed at Council meetings. Other non political groups also formed to fight the company also formed and put pressure on them at abandon plans to frack near Formby.

Mr Esterson said:- "This is great news for the residents of Formby and Sefton more broadly. I cannot praise enough the determination of the campaigners whose quiet dedication has been vindicated. This is a victory for honest politics over vested interests. It is also a victory for my constituents in Formby who were very concerned by their experiences of the test drilling at Altcar Moss, by the earthquakes at Preston New Road and the implications for the town. Labour has consistently warned about the dangers of fracking and led the way in its policy of opposition to Fracking. Banning fracking is National Labour policy because we recognise the need to stop using fossil fuels. Credit to Labour run Sefton Council too who have also clearly opposed this all the way. Fracking produces gas for burning, which produces carbon dioxide, one of the main greenhouse gases and contributors to global warming. Aurora say they will lobby the Government to end the moratorium on fracking. The Government must ignore the lobbying and turn the moratorium into a permanent ban. Otherwise the Prime Minister’s promises about net zero carbon are worthless. The Conservative and Liberal Democrat Coalition have tried to push this agenda and tried to leverage Local Authorities into pursuing this against local residents' opposition. Labour believes in Green energy and a transformation of our energy supply to one that is renewable and sustainable. Unlike our opponents, we mean it."


LGA respond to cultural funding announcement

RESPONDING to the UK Government’s ₤500 million funding scheme to kickstart film and television production struggling to secure insurance for COVID-19 related costs, Cllr Gerald Vernon Jackson, Chair of the Local Government Association’s Culture, Tourism and Sport Board, said:- “This emergency support for our cultural and creative sectors is positive and a vote of confidence in their contribution to society, our economy, and our standing in the world. We need to ensure that this funding gets to those places most at risk of losing their cultural organisations; sometimes the only ones in that area. Councils are uniquely placed to understand the needs of their communities. It is therefore disappointing that Councils have been overlooked and have not been offered a place on the Culture Recovery Board. We urge the Board to recognise this and extend an invitation for Councils to participate on the Board and we look forward to working closely with all partners to ensure the UK’s culture industry thrives.”


Total UK cases COVID-19 cases - update for Liverpool City Region and surroundings

THE total number of UK Coronavirus (COVID-19) infections that have been laboratory confirmed, within the UK, has risen by 763 cases and the total number now stand at 301,455, that includes tests carried out by commercial partners which are not included in the 4 National totals.

Daily number of COVID-19 associated UK fatalities added to the total, was sadly reported to be 83 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 45,961.

In England, there are a total of 259,722 confirmed cases. North West - total of 45,684 confirmed cases. The number of laboratory confirmed cases within the following Local Authorities, in and around the Liverpool City Region are as follows:-

► Liverpool, 2,530 confirmed cases.

► Sefton, 1,565 confirmed cases.

► Wirral, 2,061 confirmed cases.

► St. Helens, 1,203 confirmed cases

► Halton, 699 confirmed cases.

► Blackpool, 1,043 confirmed cases.

Blackburn with Darwen, 1,340 confirmed cases.
.   Under local lockdown warning
    Numbers up by 12 cases.

► Bolton, 1,966 confirmed cases.

► Bury, 1,334 confirmed cases.

► Cheshire West and Chester, 2,033 confirmed cases.

► Cheshire East, 2,236 confirmed cases.

► Lancashire, 7,058 confirmed cases.

► Manchester, 3,206 confirmed cases.

Oldham, 2,073 confirmed cases.
   
Under new local lockdown measures!
   Numbers up by 17 cases.

► Rochdale, 1,847 confirmed cases.

► Stockport, 1,716 confirmed cases.

► Tameside, 1,591 confirmed cases.

► Trafford, 1,401 confirmed cases.

► Wigan, 2,172 confirmed cases.

An urgent warning has also been issued to residents in Pendle...


Previous 24hr Data


PLEASE ALSO SEE OUR WEEKLY EDITION...
Published weekly, as normal...
Click
here to see it!
 


 External links are selected and reviewed when the page is published. However we are not responsible for the content of external websites and links might change. If you find a problem, please report it to us.


 

 

Please support local businesses like:-
The Kings Plaice 

Our live webcams...

This is a live image that reloads every 30 seconds.

An Image from our Southport Webcam above. To see it live, please click on image.


See the view live webcamera images of the road outside our studio/newsroom in the hart of Southport.

An Image from our Southport Webcam above. To see it live, please click on image.

 

Please support local businesses like:-

 


Click on to find out why the moon changes phases.  
This is the current phase of the moon. For more lunar related information, please click on here.

Disability Confident - Committed

 

Find out whats on in and around Merseyside!



This is just 1 of the events on our event calendar, click on
here to see lots more!

This online newspaper and information service is regulated by IMPRESS, the UK Press Regulator.

This online newspaper and information service is regulated by IMPRESS the independent monitor for the UK's press.

This is our process:-
Complaints
Policy - Complaints Procedure - Whistle Blowing Policy

Contact us:-

(+44)
  08443244195

Calls will cost 7p per minute, plus your telephone company's access charge.
Calls to this number may be recorded for security, broadcast, training and record keeping.

Click on to see our Twitter Feed.   Click on to see our Facebook Page.   This website is licence to carry news from Vamphire.com and UK Press Photography. Click on to see our Twitter Feed.


Our News Room Office Address

Southport and Mersey Reporter, 4a Post Office Ave,
Southport, Merseyside, PR9 0US, UK

 
 
Tracking & Cookie Usage Policy - Terms & Conditions
 
 
  - Southport Reporter® is the Registered Trade Mark of Patrick Trollope.