E-Paper
Covid-19: UK extends job subsidy to October as death toll crosses 40,000
Lockdown: Britain’s Chancellor Rishi Sunak made the much-awaited announcement about extending the job retention scheme from June to October in the House of Commons on Tuesday, saying ‘we are doing everything we can to protect people currently unable to work.’
Britain’s Chancellor Rishi Sunak on Tuesday extended the scheme to pay 80% of the wages of employees to a limit of 2,500 pounds per month until October, admitting the challenges faced by employers, as the UK death toll from Covid-19 crossed 40,000 , according to a comprehensive register.
Meanwhile, Prime Minister Boris Johnson mentioned the “worst-case scenario” that a vaccine for coronnavirus may never be found, but expressed the hope of a breakthrough in ongoing trials, including one at the University of Oxford.
Making the much-awaited announcement about extending the job retention scheme from June to October in the House of Commons, Sunak said: “We believe in the dignity of work and we are doing everything we can to protect people currently unable to work”.
Keen to take first steps to revive the economy, the Johnson government on Monday published a 60-page document, advising those who can go to work to do so, but the advice was promptly criticised by experts and trade unions who fear another virus wave and lack of facilities in work places to deal with resumption of economic activity.
Johnson said in the document’s foreword: “It is clear that the only feasible long-term solution lies with a vaccine or drug-based treatment. That is why we have helped accelerate this from the start and are proud to be home to two of the world’s most promising vaccine development programmes at Oxford University and Imperial College, supported by a globally renowned pharmaceutical sector”.
“But while we hope for a breakthrough, hope is not a plan. A mass vaccine or treatment may be more than a year away. Indeed, in a worst-case scenario, we may never find a vaccine. So our plan must countenance a situation where we are in this, together, for the long haul, even while doing all we can to avoid that outcome”.
According to the Office for National Statistics, which registers deaths on the basis of death certificates issued and the causes mentioned in it, there were 35,044 deaths in England and Wales up to May 9.
Adding the latest figures for Scotland and Northern Ireland in hospital settings, the total official UK death toll now stands at 40,011, making it the worst-affected country in Europe. According to data collected by the Johns Hopkins University, Italy has recorded 30,739 deaths, Spain 26,744 and France 26,604.
