Government, while others will be better off – IFS
some self-employment income will not have it covered by the SEISS,” said the report.
Stuart Adam, of the IFS, said: “Under pressure to come up with a workable scheme to support the selfemployed at speed, the Chancellor has erred on the side of generosity for most. Being able to claim the full amount even if profits are affected to add to the number of intensive care units in hospitals which are quickly filling up in the hardest-hit regions.
Spanish authorities are bringing in 1,500 purchased ventilator machines and asking local manufacturers to ramp up production, with some creative solutions employed, such as snorkelling masks re-purposed as breathing masks.
Other European nations are on a building and hiring spree, putting together makeshift hospitals and shipping coronavirus patients out of overwhelmed cities via high-speed trains and military jets.
“It feels like we are in a Third World country. We don’t have enough masks, enough protective equipment, and by the end of the week we might be in need of more medication too,” said Paris emergency worker Christophe Prudhomme.
Russia, meanwhile, sent medical equipment and masks to the US, while Cuba sent doctors to France.
Turkey has sent masks, hazmat only marginally will leave some selfemployed benefiting substantially.
“The delay in payments will cause financial hardship for some, but the fact that they can claim benefits for the next three months, and then also claim the earnings replacement in early June, will mean many will ultimately lose little or no income overall. suits, goggles and disinfectants to Italy and Spain.
London is just days from unveiling a 4,000-bed temporary hospital built in a massive convention centre to take non-critical patients so British hospitals can keep ahead of an expected surge in demand.
Spain has boosted its hospital beds by 20%.
Hotspots in Madrid and north-east Catalonia have almost tripled their ICU capacity. Dozens of hotels across Spain have been turned into recovery rooms, and authorities are building field hospitals in sports centres, libraries and exhibition halls.
Milan opened an intensive care field hospital on Tuesday at the city fairgrounds, complete with a pharmacy and radiology wards. It expects to eventually employ 900 staff.
The pressure is easing on hard-hit Italian cities like Bergamo and Brescia as the rate of new infections in Italy slows. Yet many Italians are still dying at home or in nursing
“But some will fall through the gaps completely, including high earners and the newly selfemployed, and others will see only part of their overall earnings covered, including many who combine self-employment with employment or whose business is set up as a company.”
Shadow Chancellor John McDonnell homes because hospitals are saturated and they could not get access to ICU breathing machines.
With more than 12,400 dead so far, Italy has the most coronavirus deaths of any nation.
Italy, Britain and France are among countries that have called in medical students, retired doctors and even laid-off flight attendants with first-aid training to help, although all need retraining.
The medical staffing shortage has been exacerbated by the high numbers of infected personnel. In Italy alone, nearly 10,000 medical workers have been infected and more than 60 doctors have died.
The Paris region more than doubled its ICU capacity over the past week – but the beds are already full.
Paris was sending critically ill patients to less-saturated regions on special high-speed trains yesterday. Others have been moved by military planes, helicopters or warships.
One reason Germany is in better
said the Government should now urgently revisit both schemes.
“It is unacceptable that carers, those on shorter working hours, and new starters who began work after February 28 are not covered by the job retention scheme, and that two million self-employed people are not covered by the self-employment package,” he said. shape than other European countries is its high proportion of ICU beds, at 33.9 per 100,000 people, compared to 8.6 in Italy. Germany has 775 virus deaths, 16 times fewer deaths than Italy.
Britain still has some free ICU beds available, but the outbreak is likely weeks away from its peak and the UK has one of the lowest number of hospital beds per capita in Europe.
The new hospital inside London’s Excel centre plans to admit its first patients at the end of this week. Chief operating officer Natalie Forrest warned that it will need thousands of doctors, nurses and volunteers.
Worldwide, more than 860,000 people have been confirmed infected and over 42,000 have died, according to a tally kept by Johns Hopkins University.
China, where the outbreak began late last year, yesterday reported just 36 new Covid-19 cases.