it's been acknowledged by government and
other public bodies that the pandemic
has hit
vulnerable groups and those living in
deprived areas the hardest
official figures for england show that
the overall death rate between
april and june this year in the poorest
areas was nearly double that of the
least deprived
the government says it is committed to
reducing deprivation
and has spent over 100 billion pounds in
welfare support this year
and that they are ensuring that councils
have the appropriate resources
our special correspondent ed thomas has
spent time in burnley
and reports now on some of those trying
to cope there with unemployment
and with mental health issues
i love the poor because i know i'm the
poor
and as long as i breathe i'll serve the
poor
into porsche there's plenty you see all
these people
they have children hungry children
are we're gonna it's hard to keep your
distance
when you're cold and hungry politicians
say that it was a level this coronavirus
it's a lie because if you're poor
you've got no chance it's during the
pasta break and all thoughts in here
it's really hard to get food for myself
because i've got much money only
and i can't go out anywhere a couple of
days food is
mean everything to us
every time you get any money it
disappears as fast as you've got it with
the coronavirus as well with the
reduction in wages
it's not easy to call so this means you
can eat yes yeah
you can eat and it helps out wherever
you're stuck chocolate
i think they've all got chocolate and
all this
is laid on by pastor mike the knee's
massive
absolutely colossal this is the church i
represent
the level of need here in burnley at the
moment is
i think unprecedented and it's upsetting
we got some some bread as well yeah for
too many
the legacy of coronavirus is not only
sickness
but desperation visiting a family who
had no carpet had no city who had no gas
i had no electric
they had no food i broke my heart
because
um nobody cared for them
they fell through the crack pot noodles
that kind of stuff all right
i go into houses and i sometimes have
children ripping the bags off them to
get out the food as i'm carrying them
to the door
and it's not all right though that's not
all right
and it wasn't as bad as that before the
virus
the biggest part of coronavirus has been
the loneliness
most days pastor mick helps people like
viv she's 55.
keep trying to cause myself to eat i'd
stop eating emperor
about a week i just ended up collapsing
on my bathroom floor
living in isolation became too much it's
just where i brought it all back
i lost my husband i buried two of my
babies
i gave birth to a mile i wanted them to
do and cry and they didn't cry
yeah no mother has to go through that
the coronavirus brought all this yes
brought every moment
back to me when you collapse what went
through your mind
just let me go let me you know
my number must be up i thought my time
were up
and pastor meg says he's hearing more
and more of these stories
we're trying to fetch a bit of hope to
people's lives the unfairness
of health deprivation i feel angry
because people
aren't listening what has coronavirus
meant for your care
he stopped him i'm supposed to have a
blood test done once a month
for my council account nobody's been
undone it
six months i don't want to be a dream of
the system that's already dying
because i'm already dying we can't do
nothing to help
we've just got to sit back and watch it
there's not many people lose their child
and there's even less that lose two
the first lady of our food bank came and
um she brought down
the daughter had killed herself we pray
you have to try and find words without
their support what would have happened
to you
me i'd probably be where my daughter is
now
but where i probably would have took me
on that
it worked then together they're the hope
for thousands through this crisis
do you know it's um you carry
carry people's burns
you try to tell them that it's it's all
right
this is so upsetting
that was father alex frost ending that
report there by our
special correspondent ed thomas