CORONAVIRUS UPDATE 6TH NOVEMBER 2020

Covid: Furlough extended to 31 March

The major Covid-19 announcement of the week came from the Chancellor yesterday (Thurs). With increasing political pressure from MPs on the impact of the new lockdown in England, the furlough scheme (Job Retention Scheme) has been extended until the end of March 2021. The plan is that it will be the same level of grant support that was provided under the scheme in August. The full guidance is due to be published on Mon/Tues next week (9/10 Nov), so full detail will only be available then. The latest information is here.

In short, the summary is:
• The scheme will pay 80% of employee wages up to £2,500/month (note this is higher than the version of the scheme that has operated in Sept & Oct)
• Employers have to pay NICs and pension contributions
• New staff can be furloughed, providing they were on payroll by 30 October
• The scheme will be reviewed in January, so employer contributions could change then
For clarity, the Job Support Scheme (the successor to furlough) is postponed indefinitely. Also, the job retention bonus (to be paid if previously furloughed staff remain in employment until Jan 2021) has been scrapped.

We also understand there will be moves to support the re-hiring of employees that were made redundant during October, prior to the late decision to extend furlough.

Protect Scotland app now aligned to English and Welsh versions

The Scottish Government reminds people that they should not travel to other parts of the UK, unless it is for “essential” purposes such as work, education or caring responsibilities.

After recent improvements to allow the Protect Scotland tracing app to also work in Northern Ireland and Jersey, Ms Sturgeon announces that the English and Welsh apps have also been updated and joined the NHS Scotland server.

This means if people have to travel to other parts of the UK, Jersey or Gibraltar, they can continue to use the Protect Scotland app.

Discussions are also under way about it operating in other countries across Europe, she adds.

Almost 1.6 million people in Scotland have downloaded the app and it has already notified more than 13,000 contacts.

Use of UV light and the correct chemicals in the battle against Covid-19

We have had a couple of queries from members about the use of UV light to disinfect premises. We have had the following response from Food Standards Scotland.

“In relation to your query regarding UV and COVID-19 I can confirm that UV is effective against viruses but I'm not that clear how your members are intending to apply it. The issue with these methods (similar to steam cleaning etc) is that it's difficult to ensure effective application on all surfaces like corners, handles etc.

Therefore, traditional cleaning and disinfection methods are preferred. COVID is actually quite a fragile virus and can be killed by most standard chemicals already in use. Recent guidance data shows how enveloped viruses are not very resistant to biocides compared to other pathogens and WHO recommends disinfectants based on chlorine, ethanol, hydrogen peroxide or quarternary ammonium for this reason.

As noted in the guidance it is recommended to seek the BS EN 14476:2019 standard as this verifies the chemical has been assessed against enveloped viruses like COVID and there are lots of standard products now on the market which carry this.

So we would recommend that robust cleaning and disinfection should do the trick-especially in food businesses where COVID risks should be effectively managed by ensuring isolation of symptomatic staff, distancing, effective personal hygiene etc. I'm not sure why they would need to use UV on top of this but we would only suggest its use if they wanted an additional precaution. We wouldn't recommend that it's ever used as a replacement for C&D.

Interestingly a webinar last week by Argyll and Bute council considered COVID-19 in food manufacturing and they discussed the beneficial effects on UV light in destroying the virus. They linked this with using UVC systems retro fit into ventilation systems, which seems to be growing in popularity. So it may be that use of it in this setting is a viable option to provide additional controls”.

Some additional links on UV use:
HSE Disinfecting Premises Link

Medical Devices Link

Application of UV disinfection

The Scottish Craft Butchers office in Perth is now closed following government guidelines.
We will be available to our members to answer any queries via email or by mobile phone and will be available out of office hours for any members wanting to contact us.
Our contact details are below
Gordon King: – [email protected] 07917524313
Bruce McCall: – [email protected] 07834490922