The Mayor of Hackney has laid out the borough’s plans to help combat coronavirus, including transparency on information and organising volunteers, in an effort to reassure residents over the spread of the virus.
Mayor Philip Glanville said during a meeting of the Health and Wellbeing Board on Monday that the council would be “launching and coordinating a volunteer hub”. He emphasised that “how people are feeling is as important as the raw figures and data” showing the number of people affected by coronavirus.
This comes as Prime Minister Boris Johnson separately announced increased measures to delay the spread of the illness, including encouraging the closure of pubs and clubs and warning against “all non essential travel”. More than 1,500 people have tested positive for the virus in the UK, but the actual numbers of carriers are estimated to be somewhere between 35,000 and 50,000.
Mayor Glanville added that the latest issue of Hackney Today, a free newsletter provided by the council in libraries and put through letterboxes, had helped to cross a “digital divide” preventing older people and others without internet access from accessing information about the virus and the Council’s response.
Dr Sandra Husbands, City and Hackney’s Director of Public Health, said that the Council was “working very closely with partners”, including the NHS, East London NHS Foundation Trust and Clinical Commissioning Group.
“We learnt a lot from the swine flu pandemic,” she said. “We have robust plans for any high consequence infection.”
At a meeting of the Cabinet in the Town Hall later on Monday evening, Mayor Glanville said he wanted to “pay tribute to the work the council has done and the work staff are continuing to do”.
“There is no bigger challenge facing the borough and the country.”
As of Monday there have been 20 confirmed cases of COVID-19 in Hackney and the City of London.
