Confirmed cases of coronavirus in Salford have risen to 362, up by 17 from the previous day's 345. Manchester now has 694 cases, Stockport 491, Bolton 400, Trafford 382, Oldham now has 359, Wigan 320, Tameside 285, Rochdale 271 and Bury 253. Three more deaths have been sadly reported by Salford Royal Hospital.*
Meanwhile Mary Bousted and Kevin Courtney, the joint general secretaries of teachers' union, National Education Union, have written to the Prime Minister concerning speculation "seemingly being stimulated by unnamed Government ministers" that schools are soon to be re-opened.
Given the increased risks associated with this, they have asked for the Government's modelling of "the increased number of cases and mortalities among children, their parents, carers and extended families, and their teachers and support staff, as a result of the re-opening of schools".
Any notions of 'social distancing' within re-opened schools is written off as 'foolhardy' by the NEU leaders, while they ask about "concrete plans to establish regular testing of children and staff, availability of appropriate PPE and enhanced levels of cleaning", all of which "are currently experiencing severe difficulties".
The union also argues that before schools are re-opened it is "essential" to have in place extensive testing, contact tracing and quarantine in society as a whole. It also makes the Government aware of the strategies in place in South Korea, "where there is a clear policy of testing, contact tracing and continued school closures"...
"We have written to you as representatives of staff who in the event of schools re-opening would be asked to accept an increased risk for themselves and the children they teach" they conclude "You will appreciate that our attitude to the issue of reopening is dependent on the answers to the questions above...."
As part of the strategy to control the pandemic, companies are racing to develop new antibody tests, and one of them, YorkTest Laboratories, is appealing directly to the public for positive COVID-19 blood samples. The company states that it has made a breakthrough in its development of a COVID-19 IgG antibody test...
"It's important that our test is accurate and can distinguish between those individuals that definitely have had the virus, and those that haven't" explains Dr Gill Hart, Scientific Director at YorkTest Laboratories "We need more samples confirmed positive and negative using the swab test for completion of the development.
"We also need to demonstrate that the test is reproducible and is able to detect the low levels of antibodies that are present at the start of the infection" she adds.
The company, which aims to collaborate with the Government, NHS and other private companies, already has an established home-to-laboratory finger-prick blood collection kit, enabling people to safely and responsibly take a tiny blood sample at home.
"Once the antibody test has been developed and validated, we could potentially support many individuals, including healthcare workers and businesses with a means to determine whether or not they have been exposed to COVID-19" Dr Gill says "Our laboratory and team of lab technicians have the capacity to be able to provide over 100,000 COVID-19 antibody tests per week.
"We are also working on an IgM antibody test, which when performed alongside the IgG antibody test, may provide even more information about that person's phase of recovery from the coronavirus" she adds.
For more information or to provide a positive tested COVID-19 blood sample to help in the fight against coronavirus, please contact YorkTest at client.support@yorktest.com or call 01904 410 410. Also see the website www.yorktest.com/coronavirus/
* The figures don't include the sad death of 99 year old Salford man and ex pro footballer, Cyril Lawrence, who passed away at Royal Bolton Hospital - click here for details
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