Brummies to thank coronavirus NHS workers with tonight’s ‘Clap for Carers’ campaign

A nationwide social media campaign has been set up to show appreciation and give thanks to NHS workers on the frontline fighting coronavirus.

The ‘Clap For Our Carers’ campaign, or #clapforourcarers, will see people across the UK applaud NHS workers on Thursday 26th March at 8pm.

People across the UK will applaud from their doorsteps, balconies or windows of their homes, in order to say thank you for all of their hard work.

NHS workers, both current and retired, have been called upon to work on the frontline of the coronavirus pandemic.

Classed as key workers, they are fighting around the clock to keep daily life of the UK afloat.

It comes as the Government’s coronavirus action plan of 3 March included new measures designed “to save lives through delaying and flattening the peak of the epidemic”.

These include enabling “regulators to emergency register suitable people as regulated healthcare professionals, such as nurses, midwives or paramedics.

“This might include (but will not be limited to) recently retired professionals and students who are near the end of their training.”

The originator of the campaign, Annemarie Plas, decided to orchestrate #ClapForOurCarers after she heard friends and family members in her home country, the Netherlands, were doing something similar, she told HuffPost.

“It’s really been inspired by what I’ve seen at home,” she says. “I saw what was happening there and I thought: ‘wow, this is amazing, let’s see if I can pull it off.’”

Despite this campaign, NHS staff are not receiving the protective equipment that they need in order to treat coronavirus patients.

Healthcare workers in hospitals throughout the UK have been voicing their concerns and frustration over the lack of personal protective equipment, known as PPE.

Nursing students, meanwhile, are to be drafted in by the NHS to help out on hospital wards during the peak of the coronavirus outbreak.

As of Thursday (March 26), there are 9,529 coronavirus cases in the UK. 465 have died from the virus, while 135 have recovered.

For more information on coronavirus and official NHS guidelines, click here.