The lounge and dining room lie empty at St Oswalds House care home in Warrington. With two coronavirus cases confirmed here, and four more residents fighting symptoms, all are confined to their bedrooms in self-isolation.
Visits from the outside world have long been halted at the home in Cheshire. It is a desolate picture, one that is being repeated in beleaguered care homes all around the country.
Yet here, twice a week and throughout weekends, the doors open and something magical happens. Voices – some frail but all determined – drift from their lonely islands and mingle in the empty corridors, making this anxious place stir again with a remarkable spirit of resilience and togetherness. Follow all coronavirus updates here on our live