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In January this year, an estimated 1.3 million people across the country reported they were experiencing symptoms of Long-COVID.
Long-COVID can be debilitating, with the symptoms of COVID lasting many weeks and in some instances many months. Of those who reporting suffering long term symptoms in January this year, almost 840,000 said it adversely affected them every day, with almost 250,000 saying their day-to-day activities were ‘limited a lot’.
Symptoms can include, but are not limited to;
- Fatigue – the most commonly identified symptom
- Loss of smell and taste
- Symptoms of depression and anxiety
- ‘Brain fog’ and loss of concentration
The prolonged impact of Long-COVID could lead to more time spent away from family and loved ones, more time off work, and less time spent being able to do the things you enjoy.
Help is available to help everyone as they recover from COVID, the NHS: My COVID Recovery website has guides about what to expect, how to deal with symptoms and the actions you can take aid your recovery.
If you have COVID-19 symptoms that last more than four weeks you should make an appointment to see your GP through via the NHS App, their website or by phone. They will ask about the symptoms and the impact they are having on your life and may suggests you have a blood test or chest x-ray to rule out other possible causes.
If the symptoms are having a big impact on your life, you could be referred to a the Mid and South Essex Long COVID Team which is the local specialist rehabilitation scheme.
The best way to prevent Long-COVID is to try and avoid catching COVID in the first place. The best way to do this is always to get yourself vaccinated.
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 It’s World Immunisation Week next week (24-30 April) and you may have seen Community Health Champions out in the borough this month encouraging communities to visit vaccination clinics and have the COVID-19 vaccine.
These champions, which have been deployed in partnership with Thurrock CVS, have been working in lower-uptake areas to understand and resolve worries and give you access to the COVID-19 vaccine.
The team have also been letting you know about COVID-19 vaccination clinics in Thurrock including the NHS Essex Partnership University NHS Foundation Trust (EPUT) vaccination bus. If you are aged 16 years and over and need your first, second or booster dose (including spring booster), or know someone aged 12-15 years who needs their first or second dose, the bus will be in the below areas from 10am to 3pm:
- South Essex College, Grays – Saturday 23 April, Saturday 30 April
- ASDA Tilbury – Thursday 28 April
- IKEA Lakeside – Friday 29 April
World Immunisation Week is celebrated in the last week of April to promote the use and global importance of vaccines to protect people of all ages against disease, and ultimately from vaccine-preventable diseases.
Find out more about the COVID-19 vaccination on our COVID-19 vaccination webpage. You can hear more about the safety and efficacy of COVID-19 vaccines including facts about fertility, pregnancy and breastfeeding on our YouTube channel.
 Stay informed about the latest news and information from Thurrock Council by going to thurrock.gov.uk/email and signing up to the newsletters that interest you. As well as news for residents, you can sign-up to get up-to-the-minute email alerts about adverse weather or traffic conditions affecting Thurrock.
Thurrock Council unreservedly apologises to households across Thurrock who have seen disruption to their waste collection – this has been below the high standards residents should rightfully expect and the standards the council sets itself in delivering this service
The recent Just Stop Oil protests caused some significant delays in bins being collected, with waste crews unable to gain access to the depot on a number of days. In addition operational factors have further impacted the effective delivery of the service in some areas of the borough.
The Council sincerely apologises to the residents of Thurrock that have been impacted by the disrupted waste collections. As a resident, you have a right to expect your waste to be collected in a consistent and efficient manner.
On occasion, matters arise which are beyond the council's control. However, there have been some times in the past few weeks that our service to you simply hasn’t been good enough.
We are urgently taking action to resolve the service delivery issues as quickly as possible.
The council will provide regular updates on the Thurrock Council’s Facebook and Twitter feeds, including information about any action to be taken by residents to present their bins for collection where specific roads have unfortunately been missed. Please do look out for this information as we aim to resolve the missed collections as quickly as possible.
Information is also available on the council’s website, including how to report a missed bin at thurrock.gov.uk/missedbins
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One of the best ways to help Essex Police put a stop to nuisance motorcyclists who selfishly use our green spaces and parks to illicitly ride their bikes on is to report all incidents to them.
The more reports the police receive the more intelligence they have to help them target anti-social off-road motorcyclists and direct resources in the future to more effectively bring a halt to these activities.
Officers regularly patrol known problem areas and in just two hours on Sunday 10 April they stopped 25 people with 13 motorbikes. Police issued 16 confiscation warnings to owners of motorcycles and one of the motorbikes was seized.
Incidents can be reported using Essex Police’s Digital 101 tool which allows anyone to report non-emergency crimes via a simple and easy to use online chat.
Using the tool you will be able to speak directly with an online operator at Essex Police to provide the necessary details and information about non-emergency crimes.
Digital 101 is open from 7am to 11pm each day and can be accessed from a desktop computer, laptop, tablet or your mobile phone. To access the chat simply visit the Essex Police website and click ‘live chat’ in the bottom right-hand corner of the screen.
For those who don’t feel comfortable messaging someone directly, you can also submit a report through the Essex Police website to provide details of offences and even upload photographic or video evidence you might have a captured of the incident.
This can be done through the Extra Eyes initiative which can be found on the Safer Essex Roads Partnership website. If you wish to remain anonymous then you also have the option of submitting a report through Crimestoppers, either online or by calling 0800 555 111.
Although reports might not always guarantee immediate attendance each will help build up a picture of where and when these incidents happen and provide intelligence that can help them identify who is involved and how to track them down.
Please remember, in an emergency, or if a crime is in progress, always dial 999.
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Nominations for this year’s Thurrock Education Awards are open, offering people across the borough the opportunity to recognise the fantastic work and achievements of those within education.
There are 11 award categories to choose from this year:
- Excellence in early years education
- Newcomer of the year
- Teaching and school support of the year
- Excellence in English or science, technology, engineering or maths (STEM)
- Excellence in sport and/or the creative arts
- Inclusive opportunities for skills development
- Mental health and well-being champion
- Teacher of the year primary
- Teacher of the year secondary and post 16
- Education leader of the year
- GEM award (going the extra mile)
Nominations for this year’s awards can be completed online by visiting the Education Awards 2022 nomination portal and will close at midnight on Sunday 15 May. All winners will be announced at a special award ceremony on Friday 8 July at the Civic Hall in Grays.
For more information and to make a nomination today go to thurrock.gov.uk/education-awards
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