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15 May 2020updated 06 Oct 2020 9:45am

Lunchtime summary: Children disproportionately relying on foodbanks

By Samuel Horti

The impact of the pandemic on food bank use has been “instantaneous and profound”, a leading charity said today. Young people are disproportionately relying on the services: the number of children visiting a foodbank in March was more than double the figure for March 2019.

In the past few minutes, Wales has unveiled its “road map” for leaving lockdown. The full document, which will be available to view here shortly, lays out a traffic light system for various aspects of everday life, including schools, businesses, and visiting the shops. Over time, each sector will move from lockdown, to red, then amber and green, and they may do so at different speeds. The “stay at home” message will remain in place for at least two full weeks.

In other news, the World Health Organisation has said the government should not give dates for lifting lockdown measures without a full system for tracing and isolating new infections. The news came after Northern Ireland Secretary Brandon Lewis admitted that less than one tenth of the 18,000 people the government needs to recruit for its coronavirus contact tracing system were in place at the latest count.

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