Updated 29 May 2020

• Islington Council has published its business support survey. If your organisation has been affected by COVID-19, complete this survey. You should also visit their dedicated COVID-19 business support page for the latest updates.
• The Council has also announced a discretionary fund for small businesses that do not fit the criteria for one of the business grants but still have ongoing costs. Small businesses in need of marketing and/or up to £250 worth of delivery services via Pedivan email businesssupport@islington.gov.uk.
• To support the local economy, Islington Council has created a directory listing the businesses in the borough that are still able to safely operate and trade in one form or another.
• Camden Council wants to establish how the coronavirus is affecting your business in order to address any short and long term needs. Please fill in the business form.
• Camden Council have more guidance online and a helpline you can call if you are struggling with business rates: 020 7974 6460
• Camden Council is taking work experience online, and is seeking more employers to offer the opportunity to local young people. Also, a reminder of their important donation drive for spare technology and devices.
• To help vulnerable students access online learning Camden Council is encouraging businesses in the borough to donate spare laptops and iPads. You can donate any surplus tech here.

• The Royal College of Physicians (RCP), with Public Health England, has published guidance on the safest level of PPE to protect medical staff and specifies the type of PPE that should be worn in various healthcare settings.
• The Francis Crick Institute is aiming to laser cut at least 320 face shields a week for fellow KQ partner St Pancras Hospital, for use of their staff and distribution to other north London hospitals. Further contributing to the PPE effort, a team at the Crick have been assessing the community-driven approaches to producing PPE and medical hardware, and reviewing the open source blueprints on which they are based.
• Central Saint Martins has been challenging its student and staff to make washable fabric face masks for the general public and scrubs for NHS workers. The university has created comprehensive guidelines for making scrubs, which other organisations might wish to download.
• Arup has produced CareBox, a downloadable set of designs and procedures for the rapid deployment of a range of modular pop-up wards, or ‘plug-in hospitals’. While the drop in ICU admissions has given hospitals some respite, temporary infrastructure projects could be prepared in advance of a potential second wave of cases.
• The Francis Crick Institute has produced a set of downloadable Standard Operating Procedures for undertaking COVID-19 testing. The procedures cover five stand-alone work streams in a diagnostic pipeline, allowing for an agile approach that can make use of lab-space distributed across a research institution.
• The British Library and the Crick have ramped up support for testing. As many as 300 scientists have refocussed their work to carrying out essential diagnostic tests in the lab. And a new drive-through swabbing facility for NHS staff is in operation at the British Library.
• The Coronavirus Global Response fund recently met Wellcome’s initial target sum of $8 billion to fund the research and development of a vaccine. Meanwhile, Wellcome’s on-going COVID-Zero campaign has raised $238 million to date from among businesses.
• Large randomised testing has begun using a treatment identified by Benevolent AI’s algorithms. Baricitinib came out on top as a potential therapy for SARS-CoV-2 infections, after the company’s patented AI-derived knowledge graph had sifted through a database of approved drugs.
• The Alan Turing Institute is working with the Royal Society on the Rapid Assistance in Modelling the Pandemic (RAMP) initiative, leading on urban and social simulation models. RAMP is a large network of volunteer data modellers advising government.
• UCL researchers have launched ‘Virus Watch’, a large data study monitoring how easily and in what manner the virus spreads. The team were awarded funding by the UK Research and Innovation, after responding to the recent call for innovative COVID-19 research projects.
• EIT Digital announces two large funding opportunities as part of its “DATA against COVID-19 program”. A total of €15 million will be awarded to digital deep tech start-ups and SMEs that offer innovative responses to the crisis. And on Tuesday 19 May there will be a webinar with further details on the fund and the application process.
• The Alan Turing Institute has repurposed its work on London’s air quality to provide policy makers with a near-real time picture of activity across London. Project “Odysseus” will generate historic profiles of activity, using multiple data sources, and measure these against a map of current activity to understand how effectively the lockdown and the steps to withdraw from it are working. (Those interested in how data and AI is being harnessed to unriddle the pandemic, and the implications on privacy protection, can sign up to ATI’s webinar on the subject on Thursday 28 May.)
• The BMJ reports on the accuracy of COVID-19 tests, and describes in detail the hazards of false negative test results. “While positive tests for covid-19 are clinically useful, negative tests need to be interpreted with caution, taking into account the pre-test probability of disease. This has important implications for clinicians interpreting tests and policymakers designing diagnostic algorithms for covid-19.”
• Newest partner The Physiological Society has developed a range of resources on COVID-19, including: a brilliant community-led Q&A page on the various physiological effects of the virus; free access to relevant research papers published in The Journal of Physiology and Experimental Physiology; and a series of free webinars for scientific authors and researchers under lockdown.
• The Institute of Physics has a handy COVID-19 resource hub, where you can find the latest free journal articles and related research from the physics community.
• Researchers can make use of Springer Nature’s new digital library tool that catalogues the most recent published research on all aspects of the coronavirus. And you can also read about how AI was used to develop this tool here.
• The RCP launches #doctorsdiaries, an open call for stories from the medical staff working on the frontlines of COVID-19. Individual stories of “resilience, hardship, positivity and pride of being at the centre of this pandemic” will be stitched together in an instructive documentary toolkit for medical staff and patients.
• The RCP had been pushing the government to exempt international NHS and social care staff, including their spouses and dependents, from the International Health Surcharge, in recognition of the vital role they played in the frontline response to COVID-19. Commenting on the Government’s u-turn on the issue, Professor Andrew Goddard, president of the RCP, said: ‘We are delighted to see the government have paid heed to our calls for health and social care staff to be exempt from the immigration health surcharge. It has never made sense to make the very people whose jobs it is to care for our nation pay inordinate charges to access care. But the government’s job isn’t done yet.’
• The Royal Veterinary College is undertaking a survey to investigate the impact of COVID-19 lockdown on cat and dog owners, the relationship they have with their pets, as well as quality of life for pets and pet behaviour. If you have cat or dog, you can take part in the survey here.
• Another survey you can take part in: University of London has initiated a global survey to confirm one of the most widely cited symptoms of the coronavirus – loss of smell. UoL’s Centre for Study of Senses (yes, that really exists) is leading on the survey, in which you, or someone you’d like to share this with, can participate anonymously here.

• 85 per cent of surveyed museums and galleries professionals were concerned about how to encourage visitors back into the building once they re-opened. Read more of the findings from ArtFund’s survey into how the sector has been affected by the coronavirus.
• Zoom gloom: Reflecting on some fascinating research, City, University of London’s Professor André Spicer describes the various ways in which we are not yet emotionally or mentally equipped to handle a life of video conference calls.
• Mansplaining: Academics at City, University of London found that in March media coverage of the coronavirus “nearly three times as many expert men as women were interviewed. This is a much higher ratio than usual.”
• The Anna Freud Centre has published online a wealth of guidance and resources to support young people’s mental health in this period of disruption and uncertainty.
• A new series of blogs from children’s mental health experts at the Anna Freud Centre will consider the psychological and emotional effects of the pandemic on children, and the strategies and opportunities available to look after them.
• Aga Khan Foundation UK has distilled its educational work in 18 different countries into a curated support pack to help families navigate the online educational resources available for children learning from home.
• A new issue of The Stay at Home Garden pack from Global Generation features an abundance of colourful new creative activities for your children.