• The Health Secretary urges people to follow the guidelines to protect themselves and others from the potentially debilitating long-term impact of COVID-19
• A new film has been released today featuring the stories of 4 people, one aged just 22, who are living with the long-term effects of the virus

The Health Secretary is urging the public – and especially young people – to follow the rules and protect themselves and others from COVID-19, as new data and a new film released today reveal the potentially devastating long-term impact of the virus.

The symptoms of ‘long COVID’, including fatigue, protracted loss of taste or smell, respiratory and cardiovascular symptoms and mental health problems, are described in a new film being released today as part of the wider national Hands, Face, Space campaign. The film calls on the public to continue to wash their hands, cover their face and make space to control the spread of the virus.

The emotive film features the stories of Jade, 22, Jade, 32, Tom, 32 and John, 48, who explain how their lives have been affected – weeks and months after being diagnosed with COVID-19. They discuss symptoms such as breathlessness when walking up the stairs, intermittent fevers and chest pain. The film aims to raise awareness of the long-term impact of COVID-19 as we learn more about the virus.

A new study today from King’s College London, using data from the COVID Symptom Study App and ZOE, shows one in 20 people with COVID-19 are likely to have symptoms for 8 weeks or more. The study suggests long COVID affects around 10% of 18 to 49 year olds who become unwell with COVID-19.

Public Health England have found that around 10% of COVID-19 cases who were not admitted to hospital have reported symptoms lasting more than four weeks and a number of hospitalised cases reported continuing symptoms for eight or more weeks after discharge.

Health and Social Care Secretary Matt Hancock said:

I am acutely aware of the lasting and debilitating impact long COVID can have on people of all ages, irrespective of the seriousness of the initial symptoms. The findings from researchers at King’s College London are stark and this should be a sharp reminder to the public – including to young people – that COVID-19 is indiscriminate and can have long-term and potentially devastating effects.

The more people take risks by meeting up in large groups or not social distancing, the more the wider population will suffer, and the more cases of long COVID we will see.

The powerful new film we’re releasing today sheds light on the long-term impact this devastating virus has and should act as a stark reminder to us all.

The government is committed to supporting people suffering long-term symptoms of COVID-19. The NHS recently announced £10 million to run designated long COVID clinics in every area across England where respiratory consultants, physiotherapists, other specialists and GPs will all help assess, diagnose and treat thousands of people who have reported symptoms ranging from breathlessness, chronic fatigue, “brain fog” to anxiety and stress.

Most people recover from COVID-19 without needing special treatment and for the majority symptoms will clear after approximately 2 weeks (endnote 1). But some of the persistent health problems reported for weeks and months after include continuing headaches, fatigue, respiratory symptoms such as lung inflammation, cardiovascular symptoms such as chest tightness, protracted loss or change of smell and taste and mental health problems, such as cognitive difficulties.

Tom, 32, who features in the film says:

Do not make the mistake of thinking that being young or being fit is going to stop COVID from having a long-term impact on your health.

Jade, 32, adds:

The virus doesn’t care about any of that.

Jade also says:

I developed coronavirus symptoms in March and, as someone who lives alone, it was very concerning, and I hoped it would be over after a week or two. Every time I thought I was making a recovery my symptoms returned – my breathing and fatigue was overwhelming, and I eventually understood I was experiencing the long-term COVID-19. More than anything I think it’s important for people to understand this isn’t always a two-week long virus – it has hugely affected my life and I hope the video and my story encourages those watching to do what they can to prevent infection of the virus.

Jade, 22, who also features in the film said:

I haven’t had a day since mid-March where I’ve felt better. I’m a Nursery Practitioner and I haven’t been able to work for seven months now. I’m having to rest more, sleep more and I don’t have the energy that I used to at all. I really hope that I go back to my normal self. Not knowing makes me feel really worried about my future.

Professor Stephen Powis, NHS Medical Director, said:

As we continue to learn more about COVID-19, it is clear that a significant minority of patients are suffering the after effects for weeks or months after contracting the virus. New specialist centres across the country will see respiratory consultants, physiotherapists, other specialists and GPs, all help assess, diagnose and treat patients who are suffering, and so it has never been more important that everyone does what they can to reduce the risk of spreading the virus by following the Hands, Face, Space guidance.

Health Minister Lord Bethell said:

The evidence is worrying – COVID-19 is clearly having a long-term impact on some people’s physical and mental health.

We are moving quickly to stand up rehabilitation facilities and recovery services. These are becoming more accessible with the opening of specialist clinics across England.

The NHS England Long COVID taskforce will have a big impact, bridging between our research and the care people need. But the public must continue to be aware their behaviour has a huge impact on the spread of this virus and they must take the necessary precautions.

Dr Claire Steves, clinical academic at KCL and lead scientist at COVID Symptom Study App said:

The COVID Symptom Study App has released key findings on long-COVID that show that older people, women and those with a greater number of different symptoms in the first week of their illness were more likely to develop long COVID. Around one in seven had COVID-19 symptoms lasting for at least 4 weeks, with around one in 20 staying ill for 8 weeks and one in fifty suffering for longer than 12 weeks.

We look forward to collaborating further with DHSC to support future preventative and treatment strategies for long-COVID. We urge everyone to join the effort by downloading the COVID Symptom Study App and taking just a minute every day to log their health.

New figures have been released as part of the Hands, Face, Space campaign which reveal uncertainty around how long it takes to recover from COVID-19. Over a third of people (34%) believe COVID-19 symptoms disappear after four weeks, whilst 1 in 5 (20%) of the 18 to 34 age group state they thought this would take 2 weeks (endnote 2). Over a third (31%) of the same respondents admitted they are unsure how long it would take to recover from COVID-19 symptoms.

Nearly a third (29%) of people aged between 18 to 34 said they weren’t aware it is possible to have COVID-19 without displaying symptoms, meaning many people could also be at risk of acting as a ‘carrier’ of COVID-19 and passing it on to vulnerable family members, further reinforcing the importance of adopting the three essential behaviours to protect ourselves and our loved ones.

If you are suffering from any long-term symptoms or health problems after recovering from COVID-19, speak to your GP, call 111 or check the Your Covid Recovery website – an online COVID recovery resource for patients.

Assets

Hands Face Space – Long Covid

The compelling evidence combined with expert recommendations around ‘Hands. Face. Space’ includes:

Washing your hands

While coronavirus is not likely to survive for long periods of time on outdoor surfaces in sunlight, it can live for more than 24 hours in indoor environments (endnote 3). Washing your hands with soap and water for at least 20 seconds, or using hand sanitizer regularly throughout the day will reduce the risk of catching or passing on the virus (endnote 4).

Covering your face

Coronavirus is carried by tiny respiratory droplets. Larger droplets can land on other people or on surfaces they touch while smaller droplets, called aerosols, can stay in the air indoors for at least five minutes, and often much longer if there is no ventilation (endnote 5). Face coverings reduce the dispersion of these droplets, meaning if you’re carrying the virus, you’re less likely to spread it when you exhale (endnote 6).

Making space

Transmission of the virus is most likely to happen within two metres, with risk increasing exponentially at shorter distances (endnote 7). While keeping this exact distance isn’t always possible, remaining mindful of surroundings and continuing to make space has a powerful impact when it comes to containing the spread. ‘Hands. Face. Space’ are simple but vital behaviours that have the power to protect the public from both the short and potential long-term impact of coronavirus.

Endnotes

Endnote 1: Tony Blair Institute For Global Change study, Long Covid Reviewing The Science And Assessing The Risk 2020

Endnote 2: Report of the WHO-China Joint Mission on Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-19)

Endnote 3: COVID Awareness survey conducted by Opinium on behalf of Cabinet Office. Total sample size was 2,001 UK adults. Fieldwork was carried out online between 13 to 15 October 2020.

Endnote 4: Neeltje van Doremalen N, Bushmaker T, Morris DH, et al. Aerosol and Surface Stability of SARS-CoV2 as Compared with SARS-CoV-1. N Engl J Med 2020; 382(16): 1564-7

Endnote 5: Beale S, Johnson A, Zambon M, null n, Hayward A, Fragaszy E. Hand Hygiene Practices and the Risk of Human Coronavirus Infections in a UK Community Cohort [version 1; peer review: 1 approved]. Wellcome Open Research 2020; 5(98).

Endnote 6: A. C. Fears et al., “Persistence of Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome Coronavirus 2 in Aerosol Suspensions,” Emerg. Infect. Dis., vol. 26, no. 9, Sep. 2020, doi: 10.3201/eid2609.201806.

Endnote 7: D. K. Milton, M. P. Fabian, B. J. Cowling, M. L. Grantham, and J. J. McDevitt, “Influenza Virus Aerosols in Human Exhaled Breath: Particle Size, Culturability, and Effect of Surgical Masks,” PLoS Pathog., vol. 9, no. 3, 2013, doi: 10.1371/journal.ppat.1003205.

This is the fifth publication of the UK House Price Index since May 2020 following the decision to suspend the index as a result of the effect the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic had on the reporting of the data.

Since August, we have been publishing the reports that were meant to be published during the period of suspension to enable the August index to be released today (Wednesday 21 October), as originally scheduled, before the disruption earlier this year. Following this report, we will be resuming the originally planned schedule. See the calendar of release dates.

England

In England, the August data shows on average, house prices have risen by 0.7% since July 2020. The annual price rise of 2.8% takes the average property value to £256,109.

The regional data for England indicates that the:

• South East experienced the greatest monthly price rise, up by 1.6%
• North East and South West saw the lowest monthly price growth with 0.0%
• East Midlands experienced the greatest annual price rise, up by 3.6%
• North East saw the lowest annual price growth, with a rise of 1.0%

Price change by region for England

Repossession sales by volume for England

The lowest number of repossession sales in June 2020 was in the East of England.

The highest number of repossession sales in June 2020 was in the North West.

Average price by property type for England

Funding and buyer status for England

Building status for England

*Figures for the two most recent months are not being published because there are not enough new build transactions to give a meaningful result.

London

London shows, on average, house prices have risen by 0.9% since July 2020. An annual price rise of 3.5% takes the average property value to £489,159.

Average price by property type for London

Funding and buyer status for London

Building status for London

*Figures for the two most recent months are not being published because there are not enough new build transactions to give a meaningful result.

Wales

Wales shows, on average, house prices have risen 2.1% since July 2020. An annual price rise of 2.7% takes the average property value to £172,828.

There were 17 repossession sales for Wales in June 2020.

Average price by property type for Wales

Funding and buyer status for Wales

Building status for Wales

*Figures for the two most recent months are not being published because there are not enough new build transactions to give a meaningful result.

Access the full UK HPI

The UK HPI is based on completed housing transactions. Typically, a house purchase can take 6 to 8 weeks to reach completion. The price data feeding into the August 2020 UK HPI will mainly reflect those agreements that occurred after the government measures to reduce the spread of coronavirus took hold.

UK house prices

UK house prices increased by 2.5% in the year to August 2020, up from 2.1% in July 2020. On a non-seasonally adjusted basis, average house prices in the UK increased by 0.7% between July 2020 and August 2020, compared with a rise of 0.3% during the same period a year earlier (July 2019 and August 2019).

The UK Property Transactions Statistics showed that in August 2020, on a seasonally adjusted basis, the estimated number of transactions of residential properties with a value of £40,000 or greater was 81,280. This is 16.3% lower than a year ago. Between July 2020 and August 2020, UK transactions increased by 15.6% on a seasonally adjusted basis.

House price growth was strongest in England where prices increased by 2.8% in the year to August 2020. The highest annual growth within the English regions was in the East Midlands where average house prices grew by 3.6%. The lowest annual growth was in the North East, where prices increased by 0.2% in the year to August 2020.

See the economic statement.

Background

1. The UK House Price Index (HPI) is published on the second or third Wednesday of each month with Northern Ireland figures updated quarterly. The September 2020 UK HPI will be published at 9.30am on Wednesday 18 October 2020. See calendar of release dates.

2. We have made some changes to improve the accuracy of the UK HPI. We are not publishing average price and percentage change for new builds and existing resold property as done previously because there are not currently enough new build transactions to provide a reliable result. This means that in this month’s UK HPI reports, new builds and existing resold property are reported in line with the sales volumes currently available.

3. The UK HPI revision period has been extended to 13 months, following a review of the revision policy (see calculating the UK HPI section 4.4). This ensures the data used is more comprehensive.

4. Sales volume data is also available by property status (new build and existing property) and funding status (cash and mortgage) in our downloadable data tables. Transactions involving the creation of a new register, such as new builds, are more complex and require more time to process. Read revisions to the UK HPI data.

5. Revision tables have been introduced for England and Wales within the downloadable data. Tables will be available in csv format. See about the UK HPI for more information.

6. Data for the UK HPI is provided by HM Land Registry, Registers of Scotland, Land & Property Services/Northern Ireland Statistics and Research Agency and the Valuation Office Agency.

7. The UK HPI is calculated by the Office for National Statistics (ONS) and Land & Property Services/Northern Ireland Statistics and Research Agency. It applies a hedonic regression model that uses the various sources of data on property price, in particular HM Land Registry’s Price Paid Dataset, and attributes to produce estimates of the change in house prices each month. Find out more about the methodology used from the ONS and Northern Ireland Statistics & Research Agency.

8. The UK Property Transaction statisticsare taken from HM Revenue and Customs (HMRC) monthly estimates of the number of residential and non-residential property transactions in the UK and its constituent countries. The number of property transactions in the UK is highly seasonal, with more activity in the summer months and less in the winter. This regular annual pattern can sometimes mask the underlying movements and trends in the data series so HMRC also presents the UK aggregate transaction figures on a seasonally adjusted basis. Adjustments are made for both the time of year and the construction of the calendar, including corrections for the position of Easter and the number of trading days in a particular month.

9. UK HPI seasonally adjusted series are calculated at regional and national levels only. See data tables.

10. The first estimate for new build average price (May 2016 report) was based on a small sample which can cause volatility. A three-month moving average has been applied to the latest estimate to remove some of this volatility.

11. Work has been taking place since 2014 to develop a single, official HPI that reflects the final transaction price for sales of residential property in the UK. Using the geometric mean, it covers purchases at market value for owner-occupation and buy-to-let, excluding those purchases not at market value (such as re-mortgages), where the ‘price’ represents a valuation.

12. Information on residential property transactions for England and Wales, collected as part of the official registration process, is provided by HM Land Registry for properties that are sold for full market value.

13. The HM Land Registry dataset contains the sale price of the property, the date when the sale was completed, full address details, the type of property (detached, semi-detached, terraced or flat), if it is a newly built property or an established residential building and a variable to indicate if the property has been purchased as a financed transaction (using a mortgage) or as a non-financed transaction (cash purchase).

14. Repossession sales data is based on the number of transactions lodged with HM Land Registry by lenders exercising their power of sale.

15. For England, this is shown as volumes of repossession sales recorded by Government Office Region. For Wales, there is a headline figure for the number of repossession sales recorded in Wales.

16. The data can be downloaded as a .csv file. Repossession sales data prior to May 2016 is not available. Find out more information about repossession sales.

17. Background tables of the raw and cleansed aggregated data, in Excel and CSV formats, are also published monthly although Northern Ireland is on a quarterly basis. They are available for free use and re-use under the Open Government Licence.

18. HM Land Registry’s mission is to guarantee and protect property rights in England and Wales.

19. HM Land Registry is a government department created in 1862. It operates as an executive agency and a trading fund and its running costs are covered by the fees paid by the users of its services. Its ambition is to become the world’s leading land registry for speed, simplicity and an open approach to data.

20. HM Land Registry safeguards land and property ownership worth in excess of £7 trillion, including over £1 trillion of mortgages. The Land Register contains more than 25 million titles showing evidence of ownership for some 87% of the land mass of England and Wales.

21. For further information about HM Land Registry visit www.gov.uk/land-registry.

22. Follow us on Twitter, our blog, LinkedIn and Facebook.

Successful projects will be funded by the FCDO’s International Programme Fund (IPF) budget. The deadline for submitting proposals is 17:00 (Yemen time) on Sunday 8 November 2020.

Programme

The programme is looking to support a project or projects with a budget of up to £60,000 in the following area.

Building the resilience of vulnerable communities affected by the impacts, both primary and secondary, of the COVID-19 pandemic in Yemen.

Examples of activities that projects might support include but are not limited to:

• raising awareness around routes of transmission of COVID-19 and protective sanitation measures in at-risk communities
• providing grants to small businesses affected by the economic downturn associated with the COVID-19 pandemic
• supporting women who have unpaid care duties or are working in the informal healthcare sector
• distributing hygiene kits to families, IDP camps, schools, hospitals or other public institutions
• providing psychosocial support to individuals whose mental health is at increased risk of suffering as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic

In this call for proposals, we will prioritise bids that come from civil society organisations or work through civil society organisations as part of a consortium. We strongly encourage women-led or gender-focused organisations to apply. We welcome proposals for work in all regions of Yemen.

Successful projects should have sustainable outcomes and should clearly identify the change that will be brought about. They may also build on projects by other organisations, complementing their efforts, but should not duplicate existing work.

The maximum grant funding for any project is £60,000. This may be in addition to co-funding and self-funding contributions. Our funding is for the UK financial year 2020-21 only (projects must be implemented and all costs incurred by 31 March 2021).

Bidding process

Bidders should fill in the Project Proposal Form and the Budget Template below.

Project proposal form (ODT, 51.7KB)

Activity based budget template (ODS, 8.75KB)

We will not consider proposals submitted in other formats. Budgets must be Activity Based Budgets. Successful bids must demonstrate strong strategic relevance and have a clear focus on delivering change and sustainability.

Proposals should be sent to the British Embassy Sana’a at BritishEmbassy.Sanaa2@fco.gov.uk by 17:00 (Yemen time) on Sunday 8 November 2020. In the subject line, please label your email IPF Yemen: [title of your proposed project].

We will evaluate proposals in November 2020. We expect the approved project/s will commence from 1 December onwards.

Evaluation criteria

Proposals will be evaluated against the following criteria:

• fit to overall objective
• the extent to which the proposal addresses the issues
• how well defined and relevant the project outcome/purpose is and how outputs will deliver this change
• value for money and
• the organisation’s previous experience

Notes

The British Embassy Sana’a reserves the right to carry out due diligence of potential grantees, including seeking references, as part of the selection process.

Bidding is competitive and only selected projects will receive funding. The Embassy reserves the right to accept or reject any or all bids without incurring any obligation to inform the affected applicant(s) of the grounds of such acceptance or rejection. Due to the volume of bids expected we will not be able to provide feedback on unsuccessful bids.

No organisation can financially profit from receiving grant funding – proposals from for-profit organisations for grant funding can only be considered if an officially registered non-profit making arm or division of the for-profit organisation will deliver the project.