Remember Joanna and others at 11am today as Northamptonshire joins trade union tribute to honours key workers who lost their lives to Covid-19

Northamptonshire will come to a halt at 11am today to hold a minute's silence in memory of hospital worker Joanna Klenczon and all of the UK's key staff who are tragic victims of Covid-19.

Joanna Klenczon, 34, died on April 9 at Northampton General Hospital where she worked for ten years.

She is one of at least 135 NHS staff reported to have succumbed to the deadly bug and who are among those being honoured on International Workers' Memorial Day.

Every year on April 28th, trade unions worldwide unite to remember those who have lost their lives at work, or from work-related injury and diseases.

But this year's event has special significance as people — including emergency service workers from police, ambulance and fire services in Northamptonshire — unite in paying respect for the lives of those whose work involved caring, saving lives and providing important services.

The silence will be especially poignant at Northampton General Hospital following the death of popular domestic supervisor Joanna earlier this month.

In a tribute last week, hospital trust chief executive Sonia Swart said: "Joanna touched the lives of so many people at NGH and she is missed by everyone who knew or worked with her."

Unison is the UK’s largest trade union with more than 1.3million members providing public services

Its general secretary Dave Prentis said: “For every minute this pandemic continues, people are making extraordinary sacrifices to keep us safe and run our vital services.

“The least we can all do is spare a moment to pay our respects and show our gratitude to all the key workers who have lost their lives.

"This is also an opportunity to think about all those workers who are continuing to keep the country safe and functioning."

"Help spread the word about the minute's silence, by encouraging as many friends and colleagues to take part, whether in their workplace of at home."

Latest official figures collated at 5pm on (Sunday April 28) say 21,092 have died in UK hospitals after testing positive for Covid-19, 230 of them in Northamptonshire.

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