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 28 April 2021 (data reported up to 25 April 2021).
How does MK compare to our Public Health group of Local Authorities? Find out here.
People aged 42 and over can now get the vaccine
Are you aged 42 or over, or will you turn 42 before 1 July 2021?
You can book appointments online for larger vaccination centres or pharmacies now or you can wait to be invited to go to a local NHS service.
Book your appointment here.
Vaccines give better protection than expected
Mary Ramsay, head of immunisation at Public Health England, has reported that the COVID-19 vaccines are much more effective than previously thought, with more protection than most flu vaccines.
The latest data on vaccine effectiveness from Public Health England suggests that both the Pfizer/BioNTech and Oxford/AstraZeneca vaccines cut transmission by half.
This means that the vaccines not only prevent people from catching COVID-19, but if they do catch it, it is less severe and they are less likely to infect someone else.
Booster vaccines for the Autumn
Plans are in place to provide a booster vaccine in the Autumn. This will sustain immunity and also protect against new variants. 60 million more Pfizer doses have been ordered and AstraZeneca are working on a new version to tackle variants.
A study will be launched in June to see whether it is necessary to use the same vaccine someone had for their first two jabs for their booster. By then many more of us will have had the vaccine and volunteers will be invited and randomised to different kinds of booster. This will then show which combination gives you the best boost.
Dr Peter English, consultant in communicable disease control, says, “Many vaccines work better if a different vaccine is used for boosting, for example, the hepatitis B vaccine where some patients respond poorly to vaccination but they respond better when a different booster is given. This is called heterologous boosting.”
It looks likely that annual vaccines will be necessary, particularly for the elderly and vulnerable people.
Rapid tests are now available for everyone
Around one in three people who are infected with COVID-19 have no symptoms and could be spreading the disease without knowing it. Regular testing is important to help find more of these cases, so people can isolate and break the chain of transmission.
By post
You can now register to receive lateral flow tests. Test kits are free and arrive in a couple of days.
Register here: www.gov.uk/order-coronavirus-rapid-lateral-flow-tests.
If you have symptoms you need to have a PCR test which you can book here: www.gov.uk/get-coronavirus-test.
Collect
You can collect up to 14 free lateral flow home tests from the Central MK Library, 555 Silbury Boulevard MK9 3HL. No need to book, show ID or register - just ask a member of staff. Bletchley library also provides home tests from 2.30pm.
Other collection sites can be found here: https://maps.test-and-trace.nhs.uk/
On site tests
You can visit our Central MK Library for a free on site test. No need to book. Results will be sent to you within around 45 minutes.
The test centre is open weekdays from 9.30am to 4.30pm, and stays open later on Thursdays until 7pm.
Please note: No-one with symptoms can be tested at this site. 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.
NHS app will be used as a COVID passport
This summer a ‘traffic light’ system will be used to categorise different destinations. Details of which countries are on the ‘green list’ will be revealed next month. These will be destinations where Britons will be able to travel without having to quarantine on their return, although they will still need to undergo a COVID-19 test before their departure, as well as on their return to the UK.
The Joint Biosecurity Centre is providing data to determine how countries will fit into the traffic light system. They are monitoring vaccination rates, infection levels, concerns about coronavirus variants, and the accuracy of a country's COVID-19 reporting.
An NHS app will be used to allow Britons to demonstrate whether they have had a COVID-19 vaccine, or tested negative for the virus, before travelling abroad. It will be the same NHS app that is currently used by some people when they book appointments with the NHS. It will not be the NHS COVID-19 app which is being used now to ‘check in’ to pubs and restaurants for contact-tracing purposes.
Many people are drinking more during the pandemic
The pandemic can make us feel more stressed or worried than usual.
In times of stress some people can drink more often or more heavily. But it’s more important than ever to look after our health and wellbeing.
Drinking alcohol can impact your health in many different ways including increasing the likelihood of accident or injury. It can also lead to more serious health issues like cancer, stroke and heart disease. The more alcohol you drink, the higher your risk.
Choosing to cut back on how much you drink may help reduce related health risks and complications linked to coronavirus. Alcohol can reduce the immune system’s ability to fight off infectious diseases and have an impact on the health of your heart and lungs.
NHS Reducing alcohol intake.
King's College and Prof Tim Spector are conducting a major research project which has contributed extensively to our knowledge of the coronavirus and its behaviour. It has over 4.5 million contributors and takes less than a minute a day to complete. Details can be found here.
New activities in MK parks
Enjoying the benefits of fresh air in beautiful and natural surroundings not only makes you feel better emotionally, it contributes to your physical wellbeing, reducing blood pressure, heart rate, muscle tension, and the production of stress hormones. It also helps to increase self-esteem, reduce anxiety, and improve mood.
The Parks Trust has an exciting range of activities for all the family: Adult Paddleboarding, Walk and Talk – Woodlands Wildflowers for Beginners, Community Litter Pick and much more. Details here.
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Voting safely on May 6
Next week on Thursday 6 May 2021, residents in Milton Keynes will be voting for a Police and Crime Commissioner and Borough Councillors. In some areas there will also be Parish Elections and Neighbourhood Plan Referendum(s).
We are putting arrangements in place to help ensure polling stations are safe places to vote. You can expect many of the measures you’ve become used to over recent months in shops and banks, such as hand sanitiser and face coverings.
For more information about voting safely, please see our Frequently Asked Questions, which are here.
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.
Your Feedback
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Let us know how we can improve: COVIDChampions@Milton-Keynes.gov.uk
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