BBC Radio Stoke

A group of beauty students in Leek are sharing daily home care tips to help those who might be struggling from working at home.

The hair and beauty students at Leek and Buxton College are posting daily home care tips on their Facebook page.

These pictures show how quiet the roads are now restrictions on movement have been placed on the country.

Image source, Getty Images

Image source, Getty Images

The Gravelly Hill interchange, commonly known as Spaghetti Junction, normally carries over 200,000 vehicles a day.

Aldi, Morrisons, Waitrose and Asda ease limits on how many of some individual items people can buy.

Registered paramedics in the region are being asked to return to work to help deal with the coronavirus outbreak.

West Midlands Ambulance Service is asking any who may have retired in the last two years, any who are working privately, or who may have been on a career break, to get in touch.

WMAS has already recruited a number of former staff and is promoting hundreds of medical students to help as well.

Government plans to raise cash from markets in April have been trebled in order to support the economy.

Construction company Interserve has said it has been briefed to begin work on a temporary hospital near Birmingham.

The Nightingale Hospital at the National Exhibition Centre will have a capacity for 5,000 beds, and is set to open in mid-April.

Harold Pearsall, who was 97, had tested positive for Covid-19 while in hospital.

Teachers in Birmingham have sung their school song 'I Can' to pupils to help them through these "unprecedented" times.

Helen Ridley, head of Grendon Primary School in Kings Heath, said the lyrics of the song written five years ago by pupils was one of "hope, resilience and positivity".

Image source, Grendon Primary School

The song, which has been posted on the school's website , externaland YouTube , externalbegins with the words 'When the sky is grey we can find a way".

Ms Ridley said they wanted to reach out to pupils. "We thought about letters, we thought about websites and them somebody played the school song and we thought 'those are the words we need to be saying.

"It is a reminder we are a community and we are still together even if school isn't open," she said.

Hotels, hostels or shelters have been found for 46 rough sleepers from across Herefordshire and Worcestershire.

Last week, the government wrote to every local authority urging them to have every homeless person off the streets by the weekend.

Some councils, including Worcester, Wychavon and Malvern Hills say they've been unable to put every homeless person into temporary accommodation, though they say offers of shelter have been made.

Residents shouild stop lighting fires in their gardens during the coronavirus lockdown, a fire service has said.

In the last seven days firefighters attended more than 30 intentionally lit fires in gardens and almost the same amount again of accidental small fires.

The fire service said these fires were often in back gardens, which started small and then got out of hand. It says the number of reports is rising daily.

An Oswestry brewer is using his whiskey still to make hand sanitizer and is hoping to deliver his first batch to the county's hospitals today.

Shane Parr from Stonehouse brewery and distillery responded to a request from local health bosses who asked manufacturers to help them increase their supplies for staff.

Image source, Getty Images

Mr Parr said said they were getting three of four calls a day for his product, but would try to prioritise the closest hospitals and those most in need.

And he said his biggest problem was finding enough plastic dispenser containers.

Local Democracy Reporting Service
George Makin

The Mayor of Sandwell is returning to medicine to help out during the coronavirus outbreak.

Image source, Sandwell Council

Dr Ann Jaron, councillor for the Abbey ward, has joined 20,000 former NHS workers who have volunteered to return the health frontline during the current emergency.

Speaking to the Local Democracy Reporting Service, she said she will go wherever she is sent which could include the temporary 500-bed hospital which is to be built at the National Exhibition Centre.

A former GP at the Sherwood House medial practice near Bearwood and a local councillor for 20 years, she said she had intended to return work part-time but the present emergency had brought forward her decision.

Denying her move was courageous given the risk of infection, she said: “I been a doctor nearly 40 years so it’s what I am used too, so I don’t think its particularly courageous."

Local Democracy Reporting Service
Tom Davis

Refuse collections in Coventry could be disrupted due to staffing levels, the council’s head of waste has said.

The service is currently operating as normal, the council said.

However some disruption is expected with sickness levels “a little higher than usual”, a spokesman for the authority told the Local Democracy Reporting Service.

Some members of staff have also been self-isolating due to Covid-19.

Residents are also being urged to double-bag waste such as used tissues or cleaning cloths to help prevent the spread of Covid-19.

Lenders are cutting back on loans, unless borrowers have a huge deposit or plenty of equity.

Plans to put the giant Knife Angel statue on display in Wolverhampton have been put on hold.

The sculpture, made by artist Alfie Bradley at the British Ironworks Centre near Oswestry, is made up of more than 100,000 knives collected by police forces around the country and stands 26ft (8m) tall.

It was made to raise awareness of knife crime and last year visited cities including Birmingham, Coventry, Hull and Liverpool.

It is currently on display in Telford, but councillor Jasbir Jaspal, the City of Wolverhampton Council's Cabinet Member for Public Health and Wellbeing, said: "Clearly, it was not going to be possible to bring the Knife Angel to Wolverhampton as planned this month given the current national emergency and the social distancing measures which individuals and families are required to follow at this present time."

A racecourse has made its grounds open to dog walkers and excercise takers.

But Uttoxeter racecourse said it may have to review the decision to allow dog walkers and residents to exercise on its grounds if the facilities are abused.

Dogs need to be kept on leads at all times and "under no circumstances must dogs be allowed on the racing surface," said executive director David MacDonald.

"You should not be driving any distance to walk your dog. The advice from government is to exercise locally," he added.

"It's vital that our facilities are not abused otherwise this situation might have to be reviewed."

"Social pressure from others" will be key in persuading the UK to stay at home, a study suggests.

BBC Shropshire

A Ludlow GP who was told told her services were no longer required at the towns' hospital, has been allowed to return to work.

Dr Catherine Beanland had raised concerns about its readiness to deal with coronavirus and started wearing her own protective equipment, because she wasn't happy with the equipment supplied.

She said the Shropshire Community Health NHS Trust complained and asked her to leave the Dinham Ward, because her protective clothing was making others anxious.

A joint statement has now been released by the trust and Portcullis Surgery, where Dr Beanland works.

It said "Both Portcullis Surgery and Shropshire Community Health recognise that the safety of patients and staff is of paramount importance, and the effective use of Personal Protective Equipment is central to that."

And it went on to say Dr Beanland and another doctor, "have now been reassured and confirm that they are confident in the way the Trust is implementing these guidelines at Ludlow Hospital".

She will now return to work there.

Jess Mooney is delivering freshly baked goods for NHS staff working at Warwick Hospital.

Boxes include bagels, fresh pasta and doughnuts.

"I can only make so much so I'm just doing my bit to say thank you," she said.

Tens of thousands of Britons stranded abroad by the coronavirus pandemic will be flown home under a new arrangement between the government and UK airlines.

Image source, Getty Images

Two "lucky" tourists that had been stuck in Peru made it home on Monday.

Joe Brown, 26 , from London and his sister Millie, 18, from the West Midlands were stuck in Cusco, but have now landed back in the UK.

He said: "Luckily I managed to make it home with my sister.

"Still have some friends stuck in Peru though who weren’t so lucky unfortunately – one who’s stuck in Nazca who hasn’t had any help from the government yet."