Good afternoon ladies and gentlemen,
I will begin with the latest statistics from our good hard-working friends from the Department of Health and Social Care.
The total number of tests undertaken is 4767. We have had 4756 returned which means we have 11 outstanding.
There are 336 confirmed cases, and today we have no new cases. Total active cases is 3.
And I have another update here from the Department of Health and Social Care.
As well as providing an update on testing results, I’ve been asked to pass a message regarding dentists. I know this is on a lot of people’s minds. We have received a number of queries on this difficult subject, particularly for those that require emergency dental treatment. Patient needs in this circumstance can be urgent, however, it is clearly very hard to deliver these services whilst adhering to social distancing guidance. The Department of Health and Social Care continues to work with all dentists and the Island’s dental association towards the resumption of these services. A standard operating procedure to reopen all practices has been approved in principle, but this will be finalised next week along with quality assurance visits and discussions on the use of PPE and infection control which DHSC will undertake. We will look to issue further advice and guidance as soon as we can but until this time we ask that residents continue to contact the emergency dental number for any treatments.
So with that I would just like to say welcome to TT week. It is starting tomorrow and I know many of the fans around the world are going to be dejected, why? Because we have no TT. But what I can tell you is that we have entertainment for TT week. We have the TT lock-in, which is going to feature the virtual TT, 8 days of entertainment starting next Saturday. Manx Radio have their own programme of events which will be very exciting. In particular I always look forward to Roy Moore’s Mountain Memories. And there is also ITV4 which will be featuring races of the last decade.
What I would like you to do, and what I’m doing, is to actually promote TT. Why? Because normally TT will generate £37M spent in our economy. Clearly tourists are not here on our Island and that is an impact on our economy. So, every pound that you’re going to spend on our Island is going to be very valuable for all our local businesses. Which is why we need you to spend as much as you can in our local economy. The local multiplier effect would estimate that £1 equals £1.80 that goes around the economy.
So many of you are returning to work. Some of the offices returned to work this week. Next week we have some lifestyle services returning into work. This is great news and this is because of the confidence in the results we have been seeing each day. So what we want to do now is build confidence because now we are coming out of lockdown, which was always going to be challenging, always going to be difficult. But, we need you to have confidence to come out and to spend in our local economy.
So the Chief Minister talked yesterday about more work that we’re doing around social distancing. He mentioned New Zealand; I quite like the Danish model. And we are collating more data on this because we think we can do more and provide guidance for you, the public.
So what I would like to do at this particular point is also highlight in lockdown mental health. It’s been mentioned before, we’ve had our clinicians talk about this, and the longer we’re in lockdown the more mental health issues there are. And that’s why you and the Manx public have been so great to get to this particular point. But we must consider our neighbours, must consider our community and that’s why as we do more particularly now with recreation and in particular for staycation opportunities. If you’re not going away on holiday you have a staycation opportunity. Campsites are open, self-catering is open. Please avail yourself of our beautiful Island. We have many hundreds of miles of footpaths; we’ve got beaches, glens, moorland. Discover your Island and share it. That’s what I meant with regards to this week, TT week. We have outstanding weather, which is a real shame for the TT not being on, however I want you to take pictures, I want you to share that on all your social media so we can have a bounce back bumper year next year.
With that in mind, we are now planning for the super-Manx bank holiday, which is coming up in August, which is the big four-dayer. There we will really celebrate the Manx in general.
So with that I would like to now take questions.
Thank you.
