Cymraeg

Coronavirus updates #HereForSwansea

Latest information:

This is today's round-up of the latest Coronavirus news on Wednesday 1 April 2020.

#StayHomeSaveLives #HereForSwansea

Business support

Around 1,500 small businesses in Swansea are set to share in £21m of grant payments this week to help see them through the Coronavirus crisis.

Swansea Council staff have pulled out all the stops to make the Welsh Government funding available as quickly as possible to help keep business afloat in these difficult times.

The effort is just the first stage of business support being administered by Swansea Council on behalf of the Welsh Government. More payments will be made over the coming weeks as applications are processed. There is more information available at this link: www.swansea.gov.uk/coronavirusbusinessgrant.

Council to convert Bay Studio to field hospital

Swansea Council is working with contractors Kier and TRJ to transform a former factory and film studios into a hospital to help manage the expected upsurge in Coronavirus cases.

The council is taking temporary control of the Elba building at Bay Studios complex on Fabian Way to create an extra 850 beds for the NHS - read more here.

Kingsway

Work to switch eight Swansea city centre roads around the Kingsway from one-way traffic to two-way has been postponed due to the Coronavirus.

As part of the £12m transformation project, the switch had been planned for the weekend of April 4 and 5.

A number of important new road signs and other materials cannot be supplied to the council right now due to coronavirus-related matters.

The work, which was one of the final steps of the project, will be completed at a later date.

Littering

We need the public to support us more than ever while the coronavirus crisis continues to impact on our services. Our cleansing teams will get around to emptying full bins although it may take a little longer than normal. In the meantime we need residents to stop dropping bags of litter or bags of dog poo near full bins. This is littering and is not acceptable.

We are doing our bit - we need you to do yours and help keep our city clean during these difficult times. If bins are full please take your rubbish and dog poo home and dispose of at home.

Social distancing

Thank you to everyone who is observing the rules about social distancing. Residents are still being urged to increase their efforts to keep their distance from other people during the Coronavirus crisis. Get the latest government guidance here: www.gov.uk/coronavirus

Government guidance on accessing green space is here: www.gov.uk/government/news/coronavirus-guidance-on-access-to-green-spaces

Flying Start Health Visiting

Should you need to contact your Health Visitor, in the first instance please use the telephone details you have in your red book.

If unsuccessful, please email Flying.Start@wales.nhs.uk or call 01792 532132 and leave a message. Your queries will be passed on to a Health Visitor to get back to you.

If you have an urgent medical query and you're not sure what to do please call 111 or your GP.

Flying Start Childcare

All Flying Start childcare settings are closed until further notice.

The service is currently being repurposed to provide childcare for vulnerable families. There have been four centralised hubs identified to provide this childcare, locations are:

For children aged 0-18 months:

Mountain View Children Centre, Mayhill.

For children of walking age - approx. 18months - 4 years:

The Children's Centre in Penlan
Flying Start Sea View
Flying Start Townhill

Recycling

Services throughout the country have been impacted by the onset of the Coronavirus and some councils in Wales have already reduced their kerbside collections. However, apart from suspending collections of bulky waste and the closure of our recycling centres our kerbside recycling services are continuing normally.

Please wash down recycling containers. Double-bag any tissues and put them in black bags.

In addition, please put out your waste and recycling by 6.00am rather than 7.00am on your usual collection days. Visit our Recycle for Swansea Facebook page at https://www.facebook.com/RecycleForSwansea/ or our twitter feed @RecycleForSwansea for the latest updates.

Staff

Swansea Council staff have been praised for saving lives and keeping the city running during the Coronavirus crisis.

The council has responded to the crisis by transforming the way it works to meet the changing needs of the public who include thousands of vulnerable people told to stay at home by the Government for the next 12 weeks.

Rob Stewart, Leader of the Council, said: "I cannot speak highly enough of their commitment and willingness to adapt to a situation that is changing by the day. I am immensely proud of their response and I would like to thank each and every one."

Many critical services like refuse, social services, home care and emergency home repairs are carrying on in the face of huge pressures, while hundreds of other staff are switching from their usual roles to provide support to local communities and the vulnerable.

Previous statements issued by the council about service provision can be found here.

If you are concerned you may have coronavirus you can check your symptoms using NHS Direct Wales symptom checker.