Trust confirms hospital patient’s positive test Republic’s pubs stay shut Call to extend job furlough as high street cull ‘accelerates’
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BY CONNOR LYNCH BY RUKI SAYID Consumer Editor
THE Government was last night urged to extend its furlough scheme as thousands more high street workers were culled in an “accelerating” jobs crisis.
Pizza Express plans to shut 67 sites and axe up to 1,100 staff, while Currys PC World owner Dixons Carphone will cut 800 roles.
The blows came just 24 hours after Sunderland-based Hays Travel announced 878 job cuts.
With the DW Sports collapse also putting 1,700 at risk, 4,500 roles have been put on the block in the first two working days of August.
And figures reveal at least 150,000 jobs have been cut or put at risk at more than 60 major UK firms during lockdown. With Chancellor
Rishi Sunak’s furlough scheme ending in October, the Government has been warned that job cuts to date will be the tip of the iceberg.
Shadow Business Minister Lucy Powell said: “The jobs crisis is clearly accelerating. It’s only Tuesday and this week we’ve heard of mass redundancies.
“The Government is pulling the rug out from beneath businesses by ending furlough support indiscriminately and prematurely. They must target support at the hardest-hit sectors or be responsible for more people losing jobs.”
TUC chief Frances O’grady urged the Tories to “stop watching from the sidelines as thousands of high street jobs are lost”. She said: “We need urgent and targeted action to save livelihoods before it’s too late.
“That’s why the TUC is calling for the job retention scheme to be extended for businesses who need longer to get back on their feet.”
In the past week, some of our biggest brands – TUI, Selfridges,
current test and trace procedure and stopping visits to the ward where the patient is located for 14 days. A Northern Health and Social Care Trust spokesman said: “As of August 4, and the current definition we can confirm there is no outbreak of Covid-19 in Holywell Hospital. “However, one patient has tested positive which is not to be unexpected during a pandemic. “The Test and Trace procedure is now being CASE Facility in Antrim followed. This includes stopping visiting to the ward in which the patient is located for a period of 14 days.”
A PATIENT has tested positive for Covid-19 at a Northern Irish mental health hospital.
The Northern Health and Social Care Trust confirmed a person staying at the Holywell Hospital in Antrim has the bug.
The health trust has said that while a patient has tested positive for the virus, there has “not been an outbreak”.
It added a patient contracting the coronavirus during the pandemic is “not to be unexpected”.
The trust also said it is following the
ANGRY publicans have said the Republic’s decision to keep them closed for at least another three weeks will be met with “fury and despair” from the industry.
Taoiseach Micheal Martin yesterday decided against allowing pubs that don’t serve food to reopen on August 10, delaying their reopening for a second time.
Hotel bars, nightclubs and casinos will also remain closed and this will be reviewed again on August 31. Mr Martin said: “A lot depends on the prevalence of the virus, how high numbers would get or how low.
“I hope we can [reopen pubs] of course, that’s the objective but it very much depends on the numbers and how much we can keep the virus down.
“I know that this will come as a blow to pub owners and I want them to know that I have enormous sympathy for their plight.
“This virus is taking away their ability to earn a living.”
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