well more than 750 students have tested
positive for the coronavirus at
northumbria university in newcastle
almost all of them showed no symptoms
it's the biggest outbreak so far at any
university in the uk
well our correspondent danny savage is
in newcastle for us tonight danny
clive if you talk to students in
newcastle tonight you certainly get the
impression that coronavirus is
rife among the community everybody seems
to know somebody who's got it the
slightly better news though
is that the 717 northumbria students who
have tested positive
only something like 78 of them are
showing symptoms at the moment
but you do get the feeling that there
are many many hundreds if not thousands
of students in this city
who are having to stay behind closed
doors at the moment
and will do for some days yet
hi becca hello hey how are you a student
house
in a student street in newcastle tonight
all the people in this terraced home
have tested positive for covid
and are isolating and the neighbors have
had it too
we we thought we were like some
dangerous households and we
could would stay away we were like they
were like we've already had it you know
and you think it's pretty widespread in
student housing oh it's widespread
completely just
also with everybody going back on like
then kind of the night out scene or
whatever's left of it
second year students they've only been
back in newcastle for a week
and are sure they weren't infected
before they arrived
do you think the advice should have been
different at the beginning of term
on reflection now i think that they
definitely had
a lot of time the planning i think some
precautions
aren't quite as good as it could have
been like students coming back the halls
it's
they're all just thrown back in there
and it's shot back up
but i don't regret it at the moment
we're still having a good time in the
household and
we're working through it quite well
there are so many students isolating
that food parcels are now having to be
sent out
this is now a huge operation to look
after them this week
in total we'll have supported both in
university accommodation and private
accommodation a thousand students
we're working with partners in the
students union and the city council to
make sure that those students have
supplies
this is a hall of residence for
northumbria university
there are scores of cases in this one
city centre hall
the university says 770 students
have tested positive days back in the
terrace street
this is the strangest of friday nights
how are you
um we've all been you know a bit rough
but i think we're all on the mend now
they've got another week of this before
they can go out again
the concern is that case numbers will
increase the hope is that this is a peak
and things will improve danny savage bbc
news
newcastle the first minister of scotland
nicola sturgeon says she's made it
crystal clear
to the disgraced mp margaret ferrier
that she should stand down from her seat
ms ferrier was suspended from the snp
for travelling from scotland to london
by train
despite experiencing covert symptoms and
then returning back to scotland by train
after testing positive
the metropolitan police is now
investigating here's our scotland editor
sarah smith
says margaret ferrier is a friend but
she's not attempting to defend what
she's called
a monumental almost incomprehensible
error of judgment
her actions were reckless dangerous
and completely indefensible and i i feel
very angry
and on behalf of all of you every single
day i stand here
and i ask you to make horrendous
sacrifices as part of our collective
efforts against covet i've also
spoken to her directly and made crystal
clear to her that i think she should now
resign as an mp on saturday margaret
ferrier took a test after showing
symptoms of coronavirus
yet she traveled by train from glasgow
to london on monday
on monday evening she received a
positive test result
and then she took a train back to
scotland knowing
she had covered nineteen it wasn't until
wednesday that she informed the snp
chief whip who immediately told the
parliamentary authorities
i cannot believe the behavior of a
member of parliament
it was complete shock that somebody
could be so
reckless with the staff at the house of
commons with the
fellow member mps but also traveling on
public transport as well
completely reckless behavior totally
unacceptable
and i'm very angry that the house has
been put at risk
really very very angry about this
madam deputy speaker an mp making a
speech about coronavirus
after having taken a test has shocked
her colleagues
a dup mp who sat with her at dinner is
now self-isolating
the real concern is that what margaret
ferrier has done undermines the public
health message that anyone with covert
19 symptoms has to isolate immediately
not even pop to the shops let alone take
a lengthy train journey
miss ferrier admits she made a huge
mistake
but people here in our constituency
people right across the country might
well be asking
if she can do it why can't i i think she
should have known better
yeah definitely no after all the kids
that are back at school know the rules
and she should know the rules i am an
snp member
i
i'm just very sad about all very
disappointed
ms ferrier is being investigated by the
metropolitan police and the british
transport police
as well as the common standards
commissioner she may face a fine and
could be suspended from parliament
sarah smith bbc news campus line
the latest government figures show there
were 6968
new coronavirus infections recorded in
the latest 24-hour period
that means the average number of new
cases reported per day in the last week
is 6200 and on average
372 people were admitted to hospital
every day
this number doesn't include scotland 66
deaths were reported that's of people
who died within 28 days of a positive
test and that means on average in the
past week 47 deaths were announced
every day which takes the total number
across the uk
to 42 268.
now different parts of the uk have had
mixed fortunes when it comes to tackling
coronavirus luton was praised by the
prime minister this week for its efforts
but is now back on an official watch
list other councils are faring better
as our health editor hugh pimno explains
it was an area with a covid19 problem
that's why heartsmere council in
hertfordshire
put out this video a month ago as part
of a wide-ranging publicity campaign
and should you show any symptoms
self-isolate
and it's had the desired effect
infections have fallen
and the area has been taken off the
official watch list
the council leader told me how others
had helped to get the messages out
we had 27 community leaders on a call a
few weeks ago
who had a reach of between four and six
thousand people through email lists so
it's identifying
the right people to speak to and then
get them to disseminate and cascade
the information down and it certainly
worked here in heartsmear
and i hope it will work elsewhere
coming off the watch list doesn't mean
the virus threat has gone away
far from it here in luton they were on
the official hotspots list
various community initiatives were taken
and infections fell
and they came off it but this week luton
has been put back
on as an area of concern
luton's weekly case numbers fell back in
august but are now about six times
higher than they were
some of that has been about more
people mixing more people being out and
about more
um and we what we're trying to do is
encourage people
to think about how many people that they
meet with
lucia runs a hair salon in the town she
has strict limits on numbers
and temperature checks on customers if
i'm totally honest i feel safe in here
because i have a say in how
i have you know i'm in charge of
people's behaviors in here
however when you know i have been out
and about
because it had luton had been you know
come off the
dangerous so to speak with alcohol comes
the
the more relaxed attitude also on the
latest watch list for england
rotherham's been added and sheffield
moved to a higher level of support
cheshire western chester and cheshire
east have been added
along with barrowin furnace wakefield
joins others in west yorkshire on the
list
the welsh government meanwhile will
allow people living alone
in areas with tougher restrictions to
meet one other household indoors
the first minister has also called on
people from areas of england with
restrictions
not to travel to parts of wales without
extra measures
cupim bbc news