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Javid calls for memorial for Muslim soldiers

Sir Sajid told the BBC: “The National Memorial Arboretum holds a special place in national life and already does so much to commemorate different communities who bravely served…reports Asian Lite News

The government should build a memorial to Muslim soldiers who fought in the First and Second World Wars, former Chancellor Sir Sajid Javid told the BBC.

He said a memorial should be erected at the National Memorial Arboretum in Staffordshire to “help honour the fallen and educate future generations” about the 140,000 Muslims who “made the ultimate sacrifice to protect our freedom.”

He urged current Chancellor Jeremy Hunt to consider the project. Hunt said Treasury officials would “be happy to engage with him to identify how best the government can help make this vision a reality.”

The campaign for a Muslim war memorial was first launched in 2015 in a bid to mark the centenary of the First World War. The World Wars Muslim Memorial Trust aimed to raise £1 million ($1.26 million) for the project.

Permission for it was provisionally granted by the National Memorial Arboretum Landscapes and Memorials Committee last year.

The arboretum’s lead, Mark Ellis, told the BBC: “We wish them the very best in their fundraising efforts and look forward to this fitting tribute to the service and sacrifice of Muslim service personnel being installed and dedicated in the future.”

Sir Sajid told the BBC: “The National Memorial Arboretum holds a special place in national life and already does so much to commemorate different communities who bravely served.

“Muslim service also deserves recognition. A new powerful symbol … will help honour the fallen and educate future generations.” He added: “I hope the chancellor will help make this vision a reality at the Spring Budget.”

A spokesperson for the Commonwealth War Graves Commission, which cares for the graves, memorials and records of fallen servicemen and women, said: “We regularly collaborate with religion and worldview communities to remember the diverse faiths, beliefs and worldviews held by of all those who gave their lives in the conflicts of the First and Second World Wars.”

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Javid’s NHS vision to focus on Digital Health and Care Plan

“There are also some 50 acute trust collaboratives and mixed collaborative, bringing together acute, specialist, mental health and community providers…reports Asian Lite News

UK Health Secretary Sajid Javid will set out his ambition to ensure every pound of taxpayer’s money is well spent in the health and care system when speaking at the NHS Confed Expo, the Department of Health and Social Care said.

Speaking in Liverpool, he will use his speech to discuss the need for the strongest health and social care leadership and better partnerships between health and care services as he looks to the year ahead.

He will reflect on work already underway to tackle the Covid backlog, improve social care and narrow health inequalities, the department added.

He will set out what the government will deliver over the next year, including a Digital Health and Care Plan, Health Disparities White Paper, 10-year plans on cancer, dementia, and mental health, a reset of the NHS Long Term Plan and a Health Education England workforce framework followed by the NHS’s first-ever 15-year workforce strategy.

Speaking to an audience of NHS professionals, the Health and Social Care Secretary will talk about the power of partnerships– taking learnings from the pandemic to strengthen ways of working between different health and care services and drive down waiting times.

For example, according to Department of Health and Social Care, South London Health and Community Partnership – a unique partnership of three mental health trusts – has been able to bring out of area patients down by a third and re-admissions down by two thirds.

“It’s not about reinventing the wheel. It’s about listening to the innovators already doing incredible things within the system – then giving them a platform to do it,” Javid will say.

“There are also some 50 acute trust collaboratives and mixed collaborative, bringing together acute, specialist, mental health and community providers.

“They’ve already shown that when we partner like this, challenges that appear intractable in one place can be resolved in another.”

Over the next three years, the Health and Care Levy will see a record £39 billion of additional funding invested in the health and care sector to help reduce waiting times and ease pressures on the workforce so they can deliver for patients, the statement added.

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Javid warns of 1,00,000 Covid-19 cases a day

The law mandating face coverings was scrapped in July 19, under plans that lifted almost all Covid rules in England, reports Asian Lite News

Sajid Javid has urged the public to wear face masks in enclosed spaces to combat spiking Covid cases – just as he was challenged about whether Tory MPs are leading by example by avoiding coverings in the “packed” parliament.

In his first ever Downing Street press conference, the health secretary repeated his warning that infections could reach 100,000 a day as the country enters a challenging winter period.

He stressed that, aside from vaccinations, people can take other – now voluntary – measures such as meeting outdoors where possible, ensuring good ventilation, wearing masks in crowded spaces and taking lateral flow tests.

He said: “With winter soon upon us, these little steps make a big difference. And they’re more important now than they have ever been.”

But he was questioned about none of the MPs on the “completely packed” Tory benches wearing coverings in the Commons on Wednesday. Javid admitted it was “a very fair point” and politicians had a “role to play in setting an example”.

The law mandating face coverings was scrapped in July 19, under plans that lifted almost all Covid rules in England.

In the same month, Javid said he would not wear a face mask on a quiet train even if there was a sign asking him to once restrictions are eased.

“If I was on crowded tube in London I would wear a mask,” he told BBC Radio 4’s Today programme.

“If I was on the West Coast mainline going up to my constituency and it’s late at night and there are about three people in the carriage, even if it said ‘we recommend a mask’, I wouldn’t wear a mask.”

Latest government figures show that a further 179 people had died within 28 days of testing positive for Covid-19 as of Wednesday.

As of 9am on Wednesday, there had been a further 49,139 lab-confirmed Covid-19 cases in the UK.

Hospital admissions stand at 868 on average per day over the last seven days, up from 780 a week earlier, a rise of 11%.

Earlier, Matthew Taylor, chief executive of the NHS Confederation which represents health bodies, warned “we risk stumbling into a winter crisis” unless measures such as face masks and vaccine passports – the government’s “Plan B” for the coming months – are introduced in England.

Highest Covid-19 deaths since March

Since lockdown rules ended in the country three months ago, the United Kingdom is witnessing a sudden surge in COVID-19 cases. Official figures on Wednesday revealed 49,139 COVID-19 positive cases were reported in a single day, marking the largest daily rise since lockdown ended in the country.

This is for the eighth consecutive day that more than 40,000 new cases of Covid-19 were reported. Meanwhile, doctors in the UK urged the British government to reimpose Covid-19 restrictions at the earliest. Due to a new wave of Covid-19, the hospitals in the UK are overwhelmed with patients.

The British government has however clarified that no new lockdown would be imposed in the country as of now. The United Kingdom has the eighth biggest death toll globally from Covid-19, with nearly 139,000 fatalities. The total number of Covid-19 cases in the country stands at 8,589,737.

The country also reported 179 Covid-related deaths. The total number of coronavirus-related deaths in the UK now stands at 139,031. Confirmed cases in the UK have risen steadily in October, with COVID-19 rates soaring among largely unvaccinated secondary school children. And this in turn is spreading to the older population and more vulnerable age groups

Around 86% of people aged 12 and over in Britain have had their first dose of vaccine and more than 78% have received both doses, the latest figures showed.

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July 19 is End of Lockdown: Javid

The new Health Secretary Sajid Javid, who took office after the resignation of Matt Hancock, told the House of Commons that ministers “see no reason to go beyond” that “target date, reports Asian Lite Newsdesk

Health secretary Sajid Javid has announced that the final easing of lockdown measures in England is still set for 19 July.

The easing of lockdown measures in the UK was pushed back by four weeks from June 21 amid concerns over the spread of the Delta variant.

The new health secretary, who took office after the resignation of Matt Hancock, told the House of Commons that ministers “see no reason to go beyond” that “target date”, according to a BBC report.

Javid said that while cases were rising, the number of deaths “remains mercifully low”.

In a statement, he said no date for lifting restrictions would come with “zero risk” and that “we have to learn to live with” Covid-19.

“We also know that people and businesses need certainty, so we want every step to be irreversible,” BBC quoted Javid as saying.

“The restrictions on our freedoms, they must come to an end.”

Javid also added that the government was aiming for “around two thirds of all adults in this country” to have had two doses of a coronavirus vaccine by 19 July.

Earlier, Prime Minister Boris Johnson also said the UK is “very likely” to ease Covid measures and people will be able to go back to life “as it was before Covid” on July 19.

“Although there are some encouraging signs and the number of deaths and hospitalisations remains low — though both are going up a bit — we are seeing an increase in cases,” Johnson was quoted as saying by the BBC.

“So we think it’s sensible to stick to our plan to have a cautious but irreversible approach, use the next three weeks or so really to complete as much as we can of the vaccine rollout.

“And then with every day that goes by, it’s clearer to me and all our scientific advisers that we’re very likely to be in a position on July 19 to say that we can go back to life as it was before Covid as far as possible,” he noted.

Britain has reported another 18,270 coronavirus cases in the latest 24-hour period, the highest since early February, and 23 coronavirus-related deaths, according to official figures released on Saturday.

The government’s decision on lifting measures is based on the progress of the UK’s vaccine rollout.

According to latest figures, across the UK, 44 million people — or 84.1 per cent of adults — have had their first jab and more than 32 million people — 61.6 per cent of the adult population — have had their second dose, the BBC said.

“I want to see the restrictions lifted and life going back to normal as quickly as possible. That is my absolute priority. I want to see those restrictions lifted as soon as we can,” Sajid Javid was quoted as saying.

After his statement at the Commons, Javid was asked what he would do to help parents who were having to stay home repeatedly because their children were being told to isolate.

Javid said a pilot was under way to ascertain whether “tests can be used in lieu of isolation,” the BBC reported.

Labour’s shadow health secretary, Jonathan Ashworth, suggested the government should not be so confident about the date, warning that cases were on the up.

“We’ve seen around 84,000 cases in the last week, an increase of around 61%. Today we’ve seen the highest case rate since January,” he said.

“So what is he going to do to push infections down? Vaccinations will do it eventually but not in the next four weeks,” he was quoted as saying by the BBC.

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