North Herefordshire MP Bill Wiggin, in his regular column for the Hereford Times,

THE Covid-19 virus has created an unprecedented crisis because it is so efficient at transmitting itself through the population. It is making vulnerable people less likely to recover and possibly filling our hospitals with patients needing ventilators.

We live longer, have a higher standard of living than ever before and so we have so much more to live for. Therefore, we need to do all we can to ensure that we manage our health service availability by not all being ill at once.

We have seen results from the panic buying and the empty shelves and so we are seeking to avoid exactly this sort of thing happening in the NHS when you or your loved ones will be expecting the very best care.

While we try to spread the burden, we also need to keep our economy alive. We cannot have the NHS without the economy to pay for it.

So the balance between keeping safe and keeping working has been the challenge our Prime Minister has been managing.

The Government has promised to do whatever it takes to support our economy through this crisis, and the Chancellor announced an unprecedented package of government-backed loans and guarantees to support business.

An initial £330 billion of guarantees – equivalent to 15 per cent of our GDP – is available to any businesses who need access to cash to pay their rent, the salaries of employees, pay suppliers or purchase stock, will be able to access a government-backed loan.

We will try to support jobs, incomes, businesses and we will help people to protect their loved ones.

My website – billwiggin.wordpress.com/coronavirus – has all the information I can find to support ourselves, families and businesses.

The Government’s absolute priority is to save lives.

I am available to my constituents and continue to hold surgery appointments for those in need but in light of the Government’s social distancing measures, I will be holding surgeries remotely by telephone or video link.

I welcomed the Government’s announcement of a relaxing of competition laws to allow supermarkets to work together to ensure that everyone has access to food and essential supplies when they need them.

We will do whatever it takes to ensure people have the food they need. We have good supply chains, farm to fork, and we must be responsible so our shops are not empty.

It is more important than ever that we keep calm and do our upmost to look after one another. We are fortunate that our sense of community spirit in Herefordshire will enable us to do just that.