Sam Francis
BBC News, London

The coronavirus pandemic will make London "more unequal" a leading expert in infectious diseases has said.

Professor Sir Michael Marmot, director of the UCL Institute of Health Equity, told the BBC the lockdown is creating a "reverse Robin Hood effect" where poor people are becoming poorer.

In an interview Sir Michael said: "Social distancing isn’t bad if you can work from home.

"The evidence is very clear, the lower your income the less likely you are to be in that situation.

"If you are poor you’re more likely to be in more crowded accommodation, with less money. More likely to go out to work and be exposed to the virus in work. Or you could lose your job.

"What we see is people in poorer ares can expect to have about 12 years lower of healthy life than people living in affluent areas.

"Those conditions are becoming more unequal because of coronavirus."

Transport and police in London could come under great strain if restrictions are eased, a report warns.

About 20 people flee their homes as a blaze takes hold at a residential building in north London.

Images from 40 years ago, when six gunmen took over the Iranian embassy in Kensington.

The children were both found fatally injured at a house in east London on Sunday.

It could be a daily scramble for seats on many railway journeys, but now the country's trains have gone from booming passenger numbers to almost empty overnight.

On East Midlands Railway, which runs a key route from Sheffield to London, some services are averaging just six passengers.

But they are continuing to run to get key workers to their jobs.

Train manager Matt Dawson said sometimes it was a "very surreal" experience with little more than a handful of people travelling:

No more jostling for seats - coronavirus lockdown turns railway journeys into 'ghost' trains.

Local Democracy Reporting Service

The impact of coronavirus on Ealing Council could lead to a £52 million hit for 2020 to 2021, civic chiefs have revealed.

Calculations by the authority’s chief financial officer led to the multi-million-pound estimate being made due to scaled up spending to respond to the crisis, as well as a loss of income.

Council leader Julian Bell has written to the prime minister urging him not to “betray our communities” and go back on the government’s promise to reimburse councils for their Covid-19 response spending.

So far the government has allocated £1.6 billion of funding to local councils, Ealing has been granted £9m.

A further £1.6 billion has also been pledged but no confirmation has yet been given for a breakdown of the funding by council.

Cllr Bell said the authority is using its emergency reserves to tackle the pandemic.

Local Democracy Reporting Service

A mini army of 200 dedicated volunteers are stitching scrubs for frontline health workers in Croydon.

As the coronavirus crisis has gripped the NHS, many workers soon realised there was just not enough personal protective equipment (PPE), including scrubs.

Scrub Hub Croydon is currently working on an initial order of 125 scrubs for the 52 GP surgeries in Croydon.

A 200-strong team is busy cutting, stitching and delivering completed scrubs and fabric to their designated drop-off point.

Anna Winkler, one of the co-ordinators, usually works in costume for theatre and film but she is now volunteering full time on the project.

She said: “To make the scrubs, we use a poly-cotton fabric blend. Bed sheets also work very well as long as they aren’t see through.

“We have never done anything like this before, and we have learnt so much – from how big the borough of Croydon actually is, to using Google forms and spreadsheets, liaising with different fabric wholesalers and finding which YouTube tutorials are the best for showing how to make scrubs."

Image source, LDRS

The first delivery was dropped off on Friday and the group’s efforts have been appreciated by NHS staff in the borough.

Dr Gaj Sivadhas, chair of the Croydon GP Collaborative (CGPC) said: "The importance of PPE has been in the forefront to protect patients and healthcare workers.

“We in Croydon are still feeling the loss of our good friend, director of the CGPC and excellent GP, Dr Krish Arora, to Covid-19.

"It is an honour to his memory that so much is being done to support patients and frontline workers.”

Now the Croydon Scrub Hub is raising money to buy enough fabric and any cash left over at the end of the project will be donated to the NHS Charities Together, external.

Image source, Met Police

Police investigating the murder of an NHS worker seconds from his home have released an image of a stolen car used by the killers.

David Gomoh, 24, was killed in Freemasons Road, Newham, east London, just before 22:30 on Sunday by masked attackers.

Witnesses are being sought who saw a silver Dodge Caliber found abandoned minutes after the stabbing, half a mile away in Lincoln Road, Plaistow.

It had fake number plates and was seen being driven through a no entry sign from Cumberland Road.

The car, which was stolen in Dagenham on 16 April, was distinctive because it had a temporary wheel on the front passenger side.

Marketing graduate Mr Gomoh worked for the NHS, as does his mother Marian Gomoh, who is the labour ward matron at Newham University Hospital.

The family have been hit by a double tragedy after David's father, who had Covid-19, died on 7 April from a cardiac arrest.

Local Democracy Reporting Service

Image source, Wandsworth Council

As we sit at home through another week of lockdown, it’s important to take a moment to remember those unsung heroes who are keeping the country running at this difficult time.

Scott Forrester drives a bin lorry for Wandsworth Council, and says work at the moment is “very, very heavy” because people are producing so much rubbish at home.

He said: “I mostly get on the road by 0600 and today I would have normally finished by 13:30, but I didn’t actually get done until 15:30.

"People are leaving so much waste out at the moment – and that’s even without us taking the green waste which has had to be put on hold.

“It’s the busiest it’s ever been and it’s even twice as heavy than it is at Christmas. It’s because people are now in all the time and they are having three meals a day at home, while they might normally have been having just one.”

He says the support from the public has been “brilliant,” and that it’s “great to be appreciated.”

“A lot of people have left us thank you cards and chocolates over Easter in particular which has been really nice. It’s great that people are doing things they don’t necessarily need to do. Residents are also leaving notes on the bins and we now have a wall in our office covered with kids’ drawings – my favourite is one of a high five!”

He added: “We are key workers and have been called the ‘fourth emergency service’ and it’s nice that residents are on our side and are showing their thanks. We do feel valued and it’s brilliant seeing families coming out to wave at us – the children love the lorries.”

Winnie Agbonlahor

Chessington World of Adventures theme park in Greater London is among regional centres where millions of people will be able to get tested for coronavirus.

The Government has confirmed that 43 sites are now operational across the UK.

Other locations include Stansted and Gatwick Airports and Ikea stores in London.

The Government says that its aim is that most people should not need to drive more than 45 minutes to get to a test site.

The army is currently running 17 mobile testing centres which are travelling around the country, but the plan is to increase this to 70 by the end of the week, Mr Hancock said.

Workers can book themselves a test online or be referred by their employer, subject to Government criteria.

Packages of satellite test kits are also being sent directly to care homes across England to enable testing of symptomatic residents, the Department of Health has said.

Professor John Newton, director of public health improvement for Public Health England said he was confident the 100,000 daily test target set by Mr Hancock will be met by tomorrow.

House of Commons
Parliament

At the beginning of PMQs, Dominic Raab told MPs that 85 NHS workers and 23 social care workers had sadly died from coronavirus.

"My very deepest sympathies are with their family and friends at what is an incredibly difficult time, and we'll continue to do whatever it takes to support them," he said.

Local Democracy Reporting Service

Tributes have been paid to Greenwich councillor Christine Grice, after the authority announced her death following a battle with cancer.

Ms Grice, the ward member for Kidbrooke with Hornfair, passed away yesterday after falling ill earlier this month.

Council leader Dan Thorpe said he was “devastated” by the news and added he would “forever be grateful” for his colleague’s “kindness, support and friendship”.

“Christine was a force of nature and someone I’ve had the privilege of working alongside in her role as ward Councillor for Kidbrooke with Hornfair, and also in her Cabinet Member role dedicated to Finance and Resources,” he said.

“She was a champion of improving people’s lives and a champion for equality.”

First elected in 2014, Cllr Grice had served on the authority’s cabinet as finance and resources member since 2018.

Across the chamber, Conservative leader Matt Hartley said those at Town Hall had “lost a friend”.

“The whole council is devastated by this news.

"Christine achieved so much in her life and was a wonderful person. She was always thinking of others.

"It was a privilege to know her, and all of our thoughts are with Christine’s family at this difficult time,” he said.

Details about the funeral will be confirmed by her family, including ways in which members of the Greenwich community can pay their respects.

A man has appeared in court accused of beating a 27-year-old man to death during the lockdown.

Romayne Husbands, 26, joined a virtual Old Bailey hearing from custody charged with the murder of John Jay, who was named by police earlier today.

The defendant allegedly attacked Mr Jay following an argument shortly after midday on Saturday in Hackney, north London.

Mr Jay was found unconscious in Trinity Close and taken to hospital where he died the next day.

A post-mortem examination found the cause of death to be head injuries.

During the Skype hearing today, Judge Nigel Lickley QC set a plea and case management hearing for 15 July.

No trial date was set due to the coronavirus restrictions.

The defendant, of Winchester Road, Highams Park, east London, was remanded into custody.

A campaign to raise money for people making face masks and visors for NHS workers has attracted more than £11,000 in donations.

The GoFundMe page which was set up on 6 April states the effort is needed to "protect our incredible healthcare staff as a stopgap measure during these shortages".

The organiser is based in Barnet.

The overall fundraising goal is £50,000.

Any leftover funds at the end of the shortage will be "donated to organisations such as the UK NHS Practitioner Health Programme dedicated to supporting the unique needs of health care professionals and their mental health, which will be of great importance in the coming months," according to the page.

Police in Wandsworth have organised a birthday surprise for a boy who turned seven while in isolation due to coronavirus.

Image source, MOD/PA Media

The UK government has pledged to do 100,000 coronavirus tests a day by the end of April.

It is managing just under 40,000 with two days to go.

Who can get tested?

Image source, Pamela Sharma

Thousands of British citizens, many of them elderly, are still stuck in India a month after the country went in to lockdown, the Foreign Office has admitted.

Some have been running out of medicine or have been scared to go outside amid reports of violence against foreigners.

Relatives and MPs have called for more urgency in getting people home, asking for more flights to be organised.

British authorities said they were working hard to get people back.

Pamela Sharma, 49, from London, left for the Punjab at the end of January with her parents.

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