Here’s the Deputy Chief Minister’s statement delivered at this afternoon’s daily press conference on COVID-19:

WELCOME AND INTRODUCTION

Good afternoon and welcome.

This 4pm press conference is part of our public information strategy on COVID-19.

It is designed to keep you informed and updated.

And we will once again repeat our public health advice.

My colleague the Minister for Civil Contingencies Samantha Sacramento will expend on what your Government is doing to protect you.

She will give you details of the new field hospital at the Europa Sports Complex.

This is now ready to receive patients.

Act to keep the numbers down.

Act on the advice that we give you.

The core message remains the same.

Stay at home, stay alive.

DAILY STATISTICS

In keeping with the format of these press conferences, I will start with an update from A&E last night and with the latest statistics.

Remember that anyone with the symptoms of COVID-19 should call 111 first.

In the last 24 hours nobody with COVID-19 symptoms attended A&E.

All patients were treated as clean.

There were two admissions to the clean non-COVID ICU and one to Victoria Ward during the day.

And no admissions overnight.

The test data as at 8.30 this morning is as follows:

Total swabs 770

Results pending 211

Results received 559

Confirmed cases 81

Recovered cases 34

Active cases 47

We are now also providing the data as to where the active cases are.

I said there are now 47 active cases.

45 of them are at home.

And there are 2 cases in John Ward.

This is now our COVID ward.

There is therefore nobody with confirmed COVID-19 in ICU at the moment.

TEST NUMBERS AND LEVELS

As you know, our first case of COVID-19 was confirmed at the beginning of March.

We now have a total of 81 confirmed cases.

34 have recovered.

There are today, as I said, 47 active cases.

The more testing that we do the more cases that we will identify.

A total of 770 swabs have been taken so far.

This represents about 2.4% of the population.

Bear in mind that a few people may have been tested more than once.

Notwithstanding that, a sample of our size would require the testing of 1.2 million people in the United Kingdom.

The latest test data I have seen is that UK have tested 134,916.

Therefore number of tests in Gibraltar 770 might sound low

But in proportional terms it is actually high, when compared to the size of our population.

A further sample of 400 people are now being tested separately by invitation.

This will provide an indicator of the prevalence of COVID-19 in our country.

STAY AT HOME

The tests show that the number of cases locally continues to increase.

Thankfully the uptrend is happening slowly at the moment.

We have to keep it that way.

We need to ensure that hospital admissions do not spike.

You can see what has happened in other countries.

Hospitals have been overwhelmed.

Intensive care facilities are full.

Patients wait in corridors.

Sometimes on the floor.

Many thousands have died.

In Spain an ice rink has been converted into a morgue.

We do not want to see those distressing scenes repeated here.

We need to keep the rate of increase down.

This is the only way in which the GHA will be able to cope.

And there is one easy way to keep the numbers down.

Stay at home.

Listen to our advice.

Help our healthcare workers.

Do not go out unless you really have to.

That is the object of a lockdown.

If you stay at home you will slow the spread.

OVER 70s

If you are over 70 you are most at risk.

You should not go out at all.

Get your family, friends or neighbours to help you.

If there is nobody who can help you then call 20041818.

They will organise the delivery of shopping or medication.

Indeed, over 110 such requests have already been processed.

The calls are taken by the call centre at Bayside.

The physical distribution is from the base of operations at the Gibraltar Training Centre.

Morrisons and Eroski have introduced special hours for the elderly.

If you are over 70, Gibmaroc, Risso’s Daily, Coviran and Ramsons have introduced home deliveries.

They will take orders by telephone.

But when you receive deliveries from anyone please take care.

Do not have any contact.

Ask that your groceries are left on the doorstep.

Remove or wash all outer packaging before putting it away.

Throw away the bags.

Clean and disinfect any surfaces that the items touched.

Then wash your hands for 20 seconds as soon as you finish.

It is important that you take special care.

The virus will attack everyone.

But If you are over 70 then you are most at risk.

To stay safe, stay at home.

GIBRALTARIANS ABROAD

I will say a few words about Gibraltarians abroad.

Easyjet has now grounded all its planes.

The Government are in discussions with British Airways.

There were only ten passengers on the BA flight that came in yesterday.

Only thirteen on the return leg back to Heathrow.

Passengers are advised to always check with the airline.

The group of seven Gibraltarians in London over the weekend are now back in Gibraltar.

The largest single group of eleven are now in Morocco.

Sadly, they have been caught by the lockdown.

There are no sea or air links with Morocco.

There are three in Australia.

These are in touch with the British Embassy.

And are now in accommodation and on the Embassy list.

Again, there are no flights back to the UK.

There are two more in Goa, India now in safe accommodation.

The first obstacle to their return is the lack of air connections.

The group of four in the United States is now down to one person.

Some have made their way to London.

Five in total are expected to return home from Heathrow on Friday.

The total number awaiting return to Gibraltar is now twenty-two persons.

UK SUPPPORT

I want to thank the UK Government.

We are working together on this and on everything else.

As part of the same family.

With the Governor and the CBF here in Gibraltar;

and with the Foreign Office and the MOD in London.

The Foreign Office is helping with stranded Gibraltarians.

Public Health England is there for Public Health Gibraltar.

The NHS and the Department of Health for the GHA.

The Royal Gibraltar Regiment are now on the ground;

MOD medics are already supporting the GHA;

A RoRo Ferry chartered by the MOD is poised to deliver medical supplies to Gibraltar this month;

And we can count on the staunch support of the Prime Minister himself.

TASK FORCE FUTURE

The Cabinet, at its first virtual meeting yesterday decided to launch “Task Force Future”.

The Chief Minister has asked Ministers Isola, Licudi and Daryanani to focus on life post COVID-19.

Tourism, the Port, Financial Services and Gaming must be ready for the opportunities that will come when all this is over.

“Task Force Future” will look at how to best prepare ourselves for the re-opening of business all over the world.

Stakeholders will be involved in the process.

OPPOSITION

The Chief Minister and I met the official Opposition yesterday, together with the Financial Secretary in order to discuss the detail of the BEAT COVID measures.

We are meeting the two Opposition parties this afternoon.

This will be for a Public Health briefing and discussion.

We are being open and transparent with them.

Just as we are being open and transparent with you.

I know that what we tell you is sometimes hard.

But we are not hiding anything.

We are telling it as it is.

Things will get worse before they get better.

NURSING ASSISTANTS

When that time comes, our health service will need your help.

We are making a call today for volunteers to train as nursing assistants.

This is a three -day training package.

The idea is for persons to train early and then remain in reserve.

You will only be called upon if needed.

Academic qualifications are not required.

But clearly, you cannot be in the vulnerable category.

You cannot have underlying health conditions.

In order to volunteer, please email

[email protected] or telephone 20060359 or 20075595.

COMMUNITY SPIRIT

At the same time, be confident that your Government is doing everything possible.

That together we can fight this.

But you have to follow our advice.

The sense of community spirit is truly remarkable.

It has taken a killer virus to bring humanity together.

To make us re-evaluate our priorities;

To re-assess what is important in life;

To move away from our non-stop, busy schedules;

and to make us understand and value what really matters.

Families spending more time together.

Parents talking to their children.

People taking care of each other.

Looking out for elderly neighbours;

Caring for the most vulnerable;

Pulling together as one.

The World is seeing the rebirth of many of the values that we grew up with.

Gibraltar too.

Values that we have long taken for-granted.

We see this here in the spontaneous donations to the GHA; in the army of volunteers who have put their names forward.

We see this in our determination to defeat the virus and to protect those we love.

We see this in our patios, our balconies and our windows; every day as we thank our healthcare workers and emergency services.

And I urge you once more to respect our law enforcement bodies.

Listen to them and cooperate with them.

They will be there for you.

At 8.00pm every day be there for them.

Thank our emergency services and thank our healthcare staff.

ADVICE

Before passing on to Minister Sacramento, let me repeat our public health advice once again.

1. Listen and act on the advice of our public health experts.

2. When you sneeze or cough, do so into a tissue and then bin it.

3. Wash your hands regularly for at least twenty seconds.

4. Do not visit anyone over 70.

5. If you are over 70 or vulnerable please stay at home.

6. If you need medical advice call 111.

7. If you have any other question call 200 41818.

8. Stay home, Stay Alive.