Families of NHS and social care staff who die from coronavirus in the course of “essential frontline work” will receive a £60,000 payment, it has been revealed.

Speaking at the daily Downing Street press conference on Monday (April 27), health secretary Matt Hancock announced a new life assurance scheme for the families of frontline staff who die with coronavirus.

The West Suffolk MP told the briefing that 82 NHS workers and 16 social care staff had died so far.

He said: “I feel a deep personal sense of duty that we must care for their loved ones.

“Today, I am able to announce that the government is setting up a life assurance scheme for NHS and social care frontline colleagues.

“Families of staff who die from coronavirus in the course of their essential frontline work will receive a £60,000 payment.

“Of course, nothing replaces the loss of a loved one but we want to do everything we can to support families who are dealing with this grief.”

Mr Hancock added that the government was looking at other frontline professions which did not have access to a life assurance scheme.

He said: “As a government, we are looking closely at other professions that work on the front line against coronavirus, who also do not have access to such schemes, to see where this may be required.”

Mr Hancock announced that some NHS services which had been paused due to the coronavirus outbreak will be restored from Tuesday.

He said: “As the number of hospitalisations from coronavirus begins to fall, I can announce that, starting tomorrow, we will begin the restoration of other NHS services - starting with the most urgent, like cancer care and mental health support.

“The exact pace of the restoration will be determined by local circumstances on the ground, according to local need and according to the amount of coronavirus cases that that hospital is having to deal with.”

The briefing also heard 157,149 people in the UK have tested positive for coronavirus, an increase of 4,310 cases since Sunday, while 21,092 people have died in hospital with coronavirus, an increase of 360.

Mr Hancock added: “We must never lose sight of the human cost of coronavirus and the pain and the grief that it causes.”

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