Coronavirus: Evening update as employment falls and extra holiday floated
- Published
Here are five things you need to know about the coronavirus outbreak this Tuesday evening. We'll have another update on Wednesday morning.
1. Bleak figures on UK unemployment
The prospect of a swift recovery for the economy is not obvious, the chancellor has said, after figures showed a the number of people claiming benefits in the UK rose to 2.1 million in April. Seven charts here explain the state of the shrinking UK jobs market, its impact on young people, different regions and more. A further 545 people have died in hospitals, care homes and the UK's wider community after testing positive for coronavirus, according to figures released on Tuesday.
2. Care home questions
The government's response has been criticised after figures suggested more than 11,600 people have died from coronavirus in care homes across the UK since the start of the outbreak. At the UK government's daily briefing, cabinet minister George Eustice rejected the assertion that the government had made mistakes over its handling of care homes during the crisis. Meanwhile, BBC Radio 4's File on 4 has found care homes in England were working without some useful data as they planned for the pandemic. Public Health England counted more than 4,500 Covid-19 outbreaks in care homes before it issued its findings at the end of April. Sweden has also seen problems in care homes, with residents accounting for nearly half of the nation's deaths linked to Covid-19. The BBC's Maddy Savage looks at what is going wrong.
Most Swedish victims of the virus have been over 70 years old
3. Patients plot route to recovery
Amid the struggles, there are some life-affirming stories of people who have started to recover from coronavirus, including this Essex nurse who has been able to leave intensive care after 45 days. And this dad, who had coronavirus, pneumonia, sepsis, heart failure and two strokes but achieved his goal of being at home to celebrate his son's second birthday.
Omar Taylor was determined to make it home from hospital to celebrate with his son
4. Extra bank holiday on cards
The UK government is considering introducing an extra bank holiday, possibly for October. The UK's tourism agency Visit Britain put forward the idea as people have had to write off the benefits of two May bank holidays under coronavirus restrictions. As summer approaches, we look at when you might be able to take a holiday. And we fact check Ryanair boss Michael O'Leary's claim that if everyone wore face masks on planes and public transport, it would ''eliminate the risk of spreading Covid-19 by about 98.5%''.
5. Missing school dinners? You're not alone
Of the many things children are missing about their education, perhaps surprisingly, one of them is school dinners. Eight-year-old Arthur was longing for his favourite - mince and dumplings. After his dad's subpar effort at recreating the dish, he emailed the school cook so that he could make his own.
Coronavirus: Children get school dinner recipe to make their own
And don't forget...
You can find more information, advice and guides on our coronavirus page.
If you are worried you might have coronavirus but are not sure of the specific symptoms, watch our explainer here.
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