Sharing these newsletters
To share this newsletter on social media sites such as Facebook, please visit our COVID-19 Community Champions website www.milton-keynes.gov.uk/covid-champions where you will find links to this update and previous ones at the bottom of the page. Just copy and paste the link.
Read the MK COVID-19 Champions code of conduct here.
COVID-19 snapshot
 Click here to see and print the full COVID-19 snapshot as of 6th January 2021 (data reported up to 3rd January 2021).
 This graph shows the daily cases in MK and also the weekly rise in the cases per 100,000.
Stay at Home Q&A
 Q: Are all schools closed?
A: Schools are open only for vulnerable children and key workers’ children. All other students are to take part in learning at home.
Q: Can I go back to University?
A: Only if you are studying a course which is for future key workers i.e. a medical course. Otherwise HE provision will remain online until mid-February.
Q: Can we still exercise outside?
A: Yes, but only once a day and should be as close to home as possible.
Q: Can we meet anyone outside of our household, support bubble or childcare bubble?
A: We can meet one person for exercise (not socialising) outside, in our local area.
Q: Can you meet different people outside on different days?
A: You can meet a different person on a different day, but remember, the fewer people we mix with, the safer we are.
Always maintain the social distance of 2 metres.
Read the full GOV guidance here.
Rapid testing for frontline key workers in MK
Milton Keynes Council, in partnership with the Department of Health and Social Care, is piloting testing for key workers to help understand and drive down transmission rates.
Around one in three people who are infected with Covid-19 have no symptoms and could be spreading the disease without knowing it. Testing to identify frontline key workers showing no symptoms will mean finding positive cases more quickly, which helps break chains of transmission.
Milton Keynes has received a batch of 22,000 lateral flow tests for its new pilot, which will initially test local workers from within the police, fire services and frontline council staff including those in social care. Partners at the NHS and care homes are already tested in a separate scheme.
Lateral flow tests are a new kind of technology that can be used to test a higher proportion of asymptomatic people and do not require a laboratory to process the test. Extensive clinical evaluation from Public Health England and the University of Oxford show lateral flow tests do not detect all positive cases, but they can be helpful as part of these kind of programmes to identify asymptomatic people quickly.
The Council is working with partners to make arrangements for asymptomatic employees to be tested at a convenient time, and by invitation only. Other local key workers and residents are asked not to contact the Council for an appointment. If the pilot works as planned, it will be rolled out more widely.
No key workers with symptoms will be tested as part of this pilot. Instead, anyone with one or more of these symptoms – a high temperature, a new, continuous cough, or a loss or change to sense of smell or taste – should book a test at nhs.uk/coronavirus or by calling 119.
Milton Keynes has test centres in Central Milton Keynes and Bletchley that are open 7 days a week, and a test centre in Newport Pagnell open Wednesdays and Fridays.
Lateral Flow tests
The lateral flow test uses a swab of the nose and throat to detect whether someone has COVID-19 and gives the result in less than an hour.
The swab is put into a tube and mixed with a liquid called an ‘extraction solution.’ Drops of this liquid are dropped into the hole at the top of the device onto a paper strip. As the liquid is soaked into the paper is moves up the device and comes into contact with a strip of COVID-19 antibodies, if there are COVID-19 antigen (virus cells) in the liquid then this causes a colour to be created which shows in the result window. To ensure that the liquid is moving through the paper a second ‘control’ strip also shows up.
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Vaccination roll out in MK
There are currently two local vaccination centres in Milton Keynes, in Water Eaton and Westcroft. Plans are underway to open more in the weeks ahead.
MK University Hospital continues to offer the vaccine to people aged over 75, and so far they have vaccinated 7,000 MK residents. The details are here.
Priority is being given to providing the first dose, as recommended by the Joint Committee on Vaccination and Immunisation. This is intended to protect the greatest number of at risk people overall in the shortest possible time.
For both vaccines, data provided to the Medicines and Healthcare Products Regulatory Agency shows there is considerable protection after a single dose, at least in the short term. For both vaccines the second dose completes the course and is likely to be important for longer term protection.
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How the AstraZeneca vaccine is made
Professor Sarah Gilbert, Vaccinologist, Oxford University.
“It is made by using another virus called an adenovirus, and what we’ve done is taken some of its genes out, to make it very safe, so it can’t cause disease itself anymore.
Instead of the adenovirus own genes, we’ve put in the gene that encodes the spike protein from the coronavirus, this is the protein that’s on the surface of the virus. The ones that stick out from the little ball of the virus. So, this goes inside the genome of the adenovirus and when we vaccinate somebody the adenovirus will infect cells in their arm at the vaccination site and make some of that spike protein and that’s what induces an immune response.
But the adenovirus is very safe to use because it can’t make any more copies of itself, it can’t spread through the body, so it doesn’t itself cause any problems.
What we’re trying to do with any vaccine is to trick the immune system into thinking there is a serious infection here that the immune system needs to respond to.”
Q: How effective is this vaccine?
A: 22 days after the first dose there is 70% protection. The second dose completes the course and offers longer term protection. Even after the first dose, we must continue with HANDS * SPACE* FACE guidance
Q: Is the vaccine effective for people aged over 65 years?
A: So far there is a small amount of data for this age group, however the data that is available shows that it is effective.
Q: When will teachers get the vaccine?
A: Teachers who are 50 years+ are in Phase 1 (so are in the highest priority key worker group.)
Q: There was evidence that half the dose was more effective, why has that changed?
A: The trials used several different models and it was found that the improvement was due to having a longer period between the first and second dose and not because a half dose had been given.
Q: Will the vaccine work against the new variant?
A: There is no data to suggest that the new variant can evade the vaccine, but studies are on-going, and this will be confirmed in the coming days or weeks.
Q: Can you mix vaccines i.e. have the Pfizer-BioNTech as the first dose and the AstraZeneca as the second dose?
A: No, mixing the vaccines is not recommended as there is no data about this. Trials are on-going and this possibility will be reviewed.
Vaccine facts
- 739 GP surgeries and 206 hospitals are currently providing the vaccine.
- 3m people had received the vaccine by 6 January.
- Government targets are for 9 million people in initial priority groups (everyone aged over 70, frontline health and social care workers, people who are clinically extremely vulnerable, and care home residents) to have received their first dose by mid-February. This would mean that the NHS delivering at least 2m jabs a week from next week.
COVID-19 vaccination scam alert
Some people are receiving fraudulent calls and text messages offering the COVID-19 vaccination. In some cases, people are asked to press a number on their keypad or to send a text message to confirm they wish to receive the vaccine. Doing so is likely to result in a charge being applied to their phone bill.
In other cases, callers are offering the vaccine for a fee or asking for bank details.
- Don’t click on links or attachments in unexpected texts, emails or instant messages.
- Challenge every request for your personal details.
- It doesn’t matter what they say or what they know about you, don’t respond to unexpected phone calls. Hang up, then verify their claims via a trusted method (such as the usual website or official phone number).
The vaccine is only available from the NHS and the NHS will contact you when it is your turn. At present, appointments are being offered to priority groups.
The NHS will:
- NEVER ask you to press a button on your keypad or send a text asking you to confirm you want the vaccine.
- NEVER ask for payment for the vaccine or for your bank details.
If you believe you have been the victim of fraud or identity theft, you should report this directly to Action Fraud either online at www.actionfraud.police.uk or via phone 0300 123 2040. Where the victim is vulnerable, call 101.
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Food Bank Xtra vacancies
Food Bank Xtra has immediate vacancies for public-facing volunteers at a new food collection centre in Central Milton Keynes.
The vacancies are for slots on Monday - Friday between 2pm-4.30pm and require a commitment of at least one afternoon per week until at least April 2021.
A number of different roles are available, some of which involve moderately heavy lifting and standing for a long period. Limited seated roles are also available.
If you are interested please fill in this expression of interest by 5pm on Wednesday 13 January 2021.
Looking after your mental health
The Mental Health Foundation have information and resources on how to look after your mental health during the coronavirus outbreak. See here.
- Loneliness during the pandemic
- Mental health tips
- Working during the pandemic
- Parenting, and talking to your children about coronavirus
- Finance, housing and unemployment worries
- Coping with change, loss and bereavement
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Useful links
See the latest Government guidance here gov.uk/coronavirus.
Find COVID-19 Information from the NHS: www.nhs.uk/conditions/coronavirus-covid-19/
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To share this newsletter on social media sites such as Facebook, please visit our COVID-19 Community Champions website www.milton-keynes.gov.uk/covid-champions where you will find links to this update and previous ones at the bottom of the page. Just copy and paste the link.
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