Newspaper report by Erin Lyons dated 17th May 2020 about a new manufacturing centre in Oxfordshire is getting a multi-million-pound funding boost from the government as part of the race to produce millions of doses of a coronavirus vaccine. The government will invest up to £93 million to accelerate construction of the Vaccines Manufacturing and Innovation Centre (VMIC) at Harwell Science and Innovation Campus. When completed it will have capacity to produce enough vaccine doses to serve the entire UK population in as little as six months. The funding will ensure the centre opens in summer 2021, a year ahead of schedule.
Newspaper report by Liam Rice about the return to school and that parents across Oxfordshire were waiting to see whether schools will ask them to send their children back in next week – and whether other parents would comply. Prime Minister Boris Johnson confirmed on Sunday night that the government wants pupils in Reception, Year 1 and Year 6 to go back to school on Monday. He also said that he expected up to a quarter of students in Year 10 and Year 12 to get 'some contact' with schools from June 15, to help them prepare for exams. Schools will all be expected to ensure children are socially distancing, to stagger lunch and break times and put extra hygiene measures in place, but parents and teachers were still divided.
Report by David Lynch about Back to School dates. Parents were urged to send their children back to primary schools in Oxfordshire next week, as the county council dishes out masses of protective equipment. Across the county, 94 per cent of schools have remained open to vulnerable children and the children of key workers during the lockdown. But as of Monday, June 1, the government has said primary school-aged children in Years 1 and 6, as well as nursery and reception classes, should return to school. To prepare for this, Oxfordshire County Council has given out masses of masks, visors, gloves and other Personal Protective Equipment (PPE) which teachers can use in case a child in their class is ill. Government advice says children returning to school should not be made to wear PPE automatically.
Newspaper article about Professors Martin Landray and Peter Horley , they had identified the first treatment known to saves lives from Covid 19 . The Oxford University professors had discovered that the drug dexamethasone had reduced deaths by a third among Covid 19 patients ill enough to be ventilated.
Newspaper article reporting that the Covid-19 vaccine being developed at the University of Oxford was safe The trial took place between April 23 and May 21 and the findings were published by medical journal the Lancet,
Newspaper report about refurbishment of the Old Grammar School. Community groups in Bampton had spent years fundraising to upgrade the Building, used as the Cottage Hospital in the hit TV series Downton Abbey. The 17th Century building already housed the village library and archive, plus a small shop, renovation work was to start December 2020. and it was scheduled to open in Spring 2021. West Oxfordshire District Council’s approved a £48,750 grant for Bampton Community Archive (BCA), owned by the Bampton Exhibition Foundation, who themselves made a ‘substantial contribution’ to the project. But the BCA has raised more than £50,000 plus grants, including almost £38,000 in £1 donations through the Bampton Mile appeal. This aim to collect one mile of £1 coins, which laid flat around the Downton Abbey Location Tour would raise £71,527.
