Parikiaki can confirm, that as of Thursday 16th July 2020, after having contacted local hospitals, churches, the Turkish Cypriot media and community, funeral directors and from death announcements placed in our newspaper, that one Covid-19 related death was recorded within the UK Cypriot community this week a Greek Cypriot male pensioner from London.
To date, we estimate 315 UK Cypriots (Greek, Turkish and Maronite) in total have died from Coronavirus. The figure includes 279 in London and 36 outside London.
The total fatalities now include 183 UK Greek Cypriots, 96 UK Turkish Cypriots and one UK Maronite Cypriot, all from London. Included in the UK Greek Cypriots are three married couples and two brothers. A total of 275 UK Cypriot deaths have been recorded in London.
Outside London, there were nine UK Greek Cypriots and one UK Turkish Cypriot from Birmingham, three UK Greek Cypriots from Weston-super-Mare, who were all from the same family, one from Derby, one from Lowestoft, one from Cambridge, one from Cheltenham, three UK Greek Cypriots and one UK Maronite Cypriot from Liverpool, one UK Greek Cypriot from Luton, one from Southend, one from Glasgow, one from Newport, one from Leeds, one from Hemel Hempstead, one from Manchester one from Middlesborough, one from Margate and one from Wakefield. Four UK Turkish Cypriots, one each from Colchester, Maidstone, two Northampton and Suffolk, passed away, bringing the total number of UK Cypriot deaths outside London to 36.
Prime Minister Boris Johnson is to pour 3 billion pounds into England’s National Health Service (NHS) to try to ward off any resurgence of the coronavirus.
Britain is the worst-affected country in Europe by COVID-19 with a death toll from confirmed cases of more than 45,000.
The government has faced criticism over several different aspects of its response to the pandemic, including that it was too slow to impose a lockdown and failed to ramp up testing capacity quickly enough.
In recent weeks, the country has eased lockdown restrictions as infection rates have fallen but the government said it must now begin to prepare for a potential second peak in cases over winter.
“The Prime Minister is clear that now is not the time for complacency, and we must make sure our NHS is battle ready for winter,” a spokesman said ahead of a news conference by Johnson on Friday afternoon.
The 3 billion pound cash boost for the state-funded health system would be made available immediately, and the use of private hospitals and temporary field hospitals would be permitted until March, the government said.
Total annual NHS funding in England exceeds 115 billion pounds.
The funding announcement applies only to the English health service, with knock-on increases for Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland to be set out later.
The government will also increase testing capacity and flexibility, bolster its stockpiles of protective equipment and, wary of increased pressure from other seasonal illnesses, increase its annual flu vaccination programme.
