Coronavirus live updates: June 9 2020

Education secretary Gavin Williamson is set to announce today in the House of Commons that all primary school children in England will not be returning to classrooms before the academic year ends.

Pupils in Reception, Year One and Year Six will continue attending, but children in other year groups will now likely only return to school in September.

Scroll down for all of today’s latest news:

5.15pm
That’s the end of today’s blog. Thanks for reading and see you tomorrow.

5.05pm
Here’s a rundown of some of the latest news:

• UWE Bristol has launched a digital innovation fund to help small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) to innovate during these turbulent times.
• We The Curious has joined a campaign calling on the Government to set up an emergency resilience fund to support the UK’s science centres.
• Police bosses will be holding a Facebook Live session tomorrow and responding to questions about the response to the Black Lives Matter protests and the latest coronavirus regulations.
• Historic England has announced it is launching a second emergency fund to help the heritage sector recover in the wake of the pandemic.

4.41pm
UWE Bristol has launched a digital innovation fund to help small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) to innovate during these turbulent times.

The scheme, funded by the European Regional Development Fund (ERDF), offers £1m worth of grants to businesses based in the region.

Businesses in any sector wanting to use digital innovation to address new challenges that have arisen from Covid-19 have until July 8 to access the grants, worth between £10,000 and £40,000, to fund 35 per cent of project costs.

Applicants must be SMEs and based in Bristol, Bath & North East Somerset, North Somerset or South Gloucestershire.

Pro vice chancellor for research and enterprise professor Martin Boddy said: “In a time of unprecedented change, UWE Bristol is proud of the role it can play to support the region’s SMEs in responding to the pandemic and financial crisis.

“We are therefore delighted to open UWE Bristol’s Digital Innovation Fund, £1m of grant funding to support businesses in the West of England to address new challenges caused by Covid-19.

“We are looking forward to this new fund delivering similar benefits to the local economy, and helping individual SMEs to innovate and grow.”

3.52pm
Young people across the Bristol region are invited to take part in virtual games.

Wesport has had to cancel both of its spring and summer flagship events due to the pandemic, a time when levels of physical activity for children has dropped and the inequalities gap has widened.

The charity hopes that by running the virtual games across B&NES, Bristol, North Somerset and South Gloucestershire, it can encourage young people and their families to be more active and stay healthy.

Each Monday Wesport is launching a new challenge video demonstrated by local athletes and young leaders from Bristol.

2.37pm
People are being encouraged to give their views on transport across Bristol.

1.41pm
FareShare South West has delivered more than 536,000 meals to frontline charities supporting vulnerable people since lockdown measures began.

The Bristol-based charity has seen demand for its service rocket, with more than 225 tonnes of food distributed in just nine weeks.

Over the course of the last year,  FareShare has redistributed some 606 tonnes of in-date surplus food from the food industry – enough to create almost 1.5 million meals – to 345 charities, including domestic violence refuges, breakfast clubs, food banks and day centres.

To help meet the additional demand, the local community has come together to support FareShare South West, with Ashton Gate FC donating its grounds during the crisis to help the charity store up to 150 additional pallets of food.

Julian Mines, CEO of FareShare South West, said: “Because of the lockdown many more families and individuals are finding themselves in really tough circumstances, and demand for our food has skyrocketed.

“We’re doing everything we can to continue to get food onto people’s plates, whether that’s delivering fresh food to homeless hostels and domestic violence refuges, or supplying community organisations with the packets and tins they need to get vital food supplies onto the doorsteps of families who are self-isolating.

“We’re incredibly grateful to our team of volunteers who have gone above and beyond to get this food out, and to the local community for supporting us with food, PPE and financial donations. These are tough times for everyone and it’s so heartening to see our community pull together to get food out to people who need it during this crisis.”

12pm
People are being encouraged to only visit recycling centres in Bristol if it is essential and they cannot store items at home.

Facilities in the city have been busy since reopening and the council is only letting vehicles with certain number plates in on certain days in a bid to manage numbers.

https://twitter.com/BristolWaste/status/1270229649071706113

11.04am
We The Curious has joined a campaign calling on the Government to set up an emergency resilience fund to support the UK’s science centres.

The Science Centres For Our Future campaign says more than 40 organisations are at risk due to the measures they have had to take during the Covid-19 pandemic.

It is calling for £25m to support the future of We The Curious and others, warning that without urgent funding, the country is at risk of losing its world-class science centres.

10.30am
Police bosses will be holding a Facebook Live session tomorrow.

There will be a chance for members of the public to ask questions about the response to the Black Lives Matter protests and the latest coronavirus regulations.

9.40am
Historic England has announced it is launching a second emergency fund to help the heritage sector recover in the wake of the pandemic.

8.45am
Good morning and welcome to today’s live blog.

In the latest updates:

• More than half of pregnant women recently admitted to UK hospitals with coronavirus were from a black, Asian or minority ethnic background, a new study has found.
• The US recorded 450 deaths linked to the virus over the past 24 hours, the lowest daily increase in two months.
• Bristol Rovers could learn today whether their League One season will resume when a vote of English Football League clubs takes place.

Main photo by Martin Booth

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