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 24 February 2021 (data reported up to 21 February 2021).
Vaccine update
 East of England - 25 February
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Region of Residence
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1st dose
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2nd dose
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Cumulative Total Doses to Date
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Total – England
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13,817,914
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500,201
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14,318,115
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East of England
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1,655,435
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61,436
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1,716,871
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A new vaccine target was announced this week: All adults in the UK will be offered their first dose of a coronavirus vaccine by the end of July.
Meet our 600th Champion – Lena Barnes
Lena moved to Milton Keynes 43 years ago and set up her dance school as a way of connecting with her community in Bletchley. She was the first black dance teacher in Milton Keynes and is still in touch with all her original students, many of whom are now parents themselves. Her daughter Samantha followed in Lena’s dance steps and set up Onpoint Dance Studio a highly successful and popular dance school and two of Lena’s four grandchildren are following sporting careers in ice hockey and football.
"I have had the coronavirus vaccine and I want to encourage people to have it. As a mother and grandmother I know that we need to get our communities back to normal, get the children back to school and be able to cuddle our families again.
My family is shielding a relative and by having the vaccine we are helping to protect him. I have lost two members of my family and a family friend to covid. Yet I know too many people who have decided against having the vaccine, I want to say please, think again, keep yourself and your families safe.
I love Milton Keynes, I want to help my community to be safe and I want to encourage as many people as possible to have the vaccine to protect themselves and protect their families."
A huge thank you to all our 600 Champions!
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Government sets out roadmap
Government has announced a roadmap to cautiously ease lockdown restrictions in England. It is subject to four conditions: the vaccine programme going to plan, evidence that vaccines are reducing deaths and serious illness, that infection rates do not rise and risk a surge in hospital admissions, and that new variants do not change the situation.
The plan is to lift restrictions across the whole of England at the same time. There will be a minimum of five weeks between each step: four weeks for the scientific data to reflect the changes in restrictions and to be analysed, followed by one week’s advance notice of the restrictions that will be eased.
The expected (but not guaranteed) plan is:
8 March
- All schools and colleges will open, with rapid testing for teachers and secondary school pupils
- University students on practical courses can return
- People can meet one other person outside socially, not just for exercise
- Care home residents can receive one regular, named visitor
- Childcare and children’s supervised activities can resume
- The guideline to stay home will remain, and there should be no household mixing indoors
29 March
- The official order to stay home ends but people will be encouraged to stay local and to work from home where possible
- Up to six people, or two households can meet in parks and private gardens
- Tennis and basketball courts and other outdoor sports facilities can reopen and people can take part in formally organised outdoor sports
- Overseas travel will remain banned
No earlier than 12 April
- Non-essential shops, personal care businesses, public buildings and most outdoor attractions can re-open
- Gyms, swimming pools and indoor leisure facilities will also re-open for use by people on their own or with their household
- Restaurants, pubs and other hospitality venues can serve seated customers outdoors
- Self-contained holiday accommodation and campsites can open for one household
- Funerals can have up to 30 attendees and weddings, receptions and wakes can have up to 15
- No indoor mixing between households
No earlier than 17 May
- Outdoors, most social contact rules will be lifted (though gatherings of over 30 people will remain illegal)
- Outdoor performances can re-open
- Indoors, the rule of six or two households will apply
- Indoor hospitality and entertainment venues and hotels will reopen
- Outdoor adult group sports and exercise classes will reopen
- Larger performances and sporting events in indoor and outdoor venues will be allowed, with strict capacity limits
- Up to 30 people will be able to go to weddings, receptions and wakes, and other events such as bar mitzvahs and christenings will be allowed
No meetings of more than 30 people.
No earlier than 21 June
- It’s hoped all legal limits on social contact can be removed
- Nightclubs may be reopened, and restrictions on large events and performances may be lifted
- Limits may be removed on numbers allowed at weddings and other life events
As we move through each step in the roadmap we need to continue to protect ourselves and others. Follow hands, face and space. Isolate and seek a test if you have symptoms. Seek a free rapid test once a week if you are unable to work from home, or if you are an informal carer (see council website for details). Please tell friends and family how important it is to be vaccinated.
COVID-19 vaccine: how do I make the right decision for me?
Local medical experts are here to help. Join in the discussion live on Sunday 28th February at 4pm.
You may feel you’ve not had the opportunity to have meaningful conversations about COVID-19, ask questions and increase your knowledge of how we protect ourselves, our children, our loved ones and our community now and in the future. The World Health Organisation recently listed vaccine hesitancy, where people with access to vaccines delay or refuse vaccination, as one of the top 10 biggest threats to global health.
On the Couch with Fols is a space to have open, honest and non-judgemental conversations with a team of experts who will be answering your deep questions whether you have had the vaccination or not - or are planning to or not.
Organised by Fola Komolafe MBE DL, the session will touch on areas including behaviour/side effects after vaccination, different types of vaccines, residual impacts of covid symptoms, children and vaccines and the next generation of covid vaccines.
Register at www.folakomolafe.com/onthecouch
Guests include:
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Professor Gurch Randhawa is Professor of Diversity in Public Health and Director of the Institute for Health Research at the University of Bedfordshire. On COVID19 matters, Gurch has written pieces for the Guardian, British Medical Journal and made numerous media appearances to discuss issues about the inequalities of the pandemic and the importance of taking a public health approach to managing COVID19.
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Dr Simisola Alabiis GP, Clinical Director and Regional Lead for Population Health. She leads on vaccine strategy and deployment for Titan Primary Care Network and is founder of Vine Health- promoting wellness in the black community.
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Dr Omotayo Kufejiis an enthusiastic and innovative GP partner at Newport Pagnell Medical Centre, which is the largest practice in Milton Keynes. He is also a board member of the NHS Confederation Primary Care Network (PCN) Board.
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Dr Poonam Kapila is currently the Clinical lead for Microbiology service and leads the infection control team at Milton Keynes University Hospital. She achieved a fellowship of the Royal College of Pathologists and has been working in the speciality of Microbiology for more than 15 years.
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Dr Dayo Kukuis a practising GP at Flitwick surgery in Bedfordshire and the Respiratory Clinical Lead for Bedfordshire, Luton and Milton Keynes ( BLMK) CCG. She is the Chair of BEDOC, a primary medical services provider.
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New Futures
Would you like to help young people and adults whose employment has been affected by COVID-19?
MK College, in a project funded by MK Council, are looking for enthusiastic and positive people who have experience in their own career, and who are willing to give up their time to support and encourage people as they return to the workplace.
Full training is given with a Level 2 qualification.
Interested? Please use this form to express interest: Mentor Expression of Interest.
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Free wellbeing webinars from MIND MK
MIND MK is offering free wellbeing webinars via Zoom for people who feel lonely and want to learn some tools and techniques to support their own wellbeing.
By attending a one of these sessions you will be able to:
- Recognise common factors and symptoms of loneliness, and the link between stress and loneliness
- Identify coping mechanisms and develop skills including maintaining emotional balance and mindfulness
Dates:
Wednesday 17 March 10.00am – 11.30am
Monday 22 March 10.00am – 11.30am
MIND MK are also offering sessions on other topics:
Five ways to wellbeing - Wednesday 3 March 9.00am – 11.30am
Support for sleep Tuesday - March 3.00pm – 4.30pm
Mindfulness relaxation - Tuesday 23 March 6.00pm – 7.30pm
If you would like to attend one of these free webinars please email your contact details and selected date to training@mind-blmk.org.uk or call 0788 1248 780.
Other useful mental health contacts
- Milton Keynes Talking Therapies 01908 725099
- Mind BLMK 0300 330 0648
- YiS Young People’s Mental Health (for young people aged 11-21) 01908 604700
- Samaritans 116 123 (for emergency support)
Reporting concerns
One of the ways you can help is by reporting serious concerns about workplaces and other facilities where social distancing and other measures aren’t being followed. Intelligence like this can help us to track and control virus transmission.
Please tell us when the breach of restrictions took place, and a full address of the site if known. Your details will not be shared with the person or place you are telling us about.
You can write to us at COVIDconcern@milton-keynes.gov.uk.
We may not reply to all messages but we will read them all, and they’ll be used to gather intelligence so we can take action where needed.
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/
To print and share this, please click "view it as a web page" at the top of this bulletin. This will take you to a web page with the option to print this off at the top.
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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Let us know how we can improve: COVIDChampions@Milton-Keynes.gov.uk
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