As the fourth week of UK lockdown comes to a close, and the scale and impact of coronavirus is growing, at TikTok we want to do our bit to help ease the burden being felt by some of the communities at the heart of our platform who have been impacted by the pandemic. 

Globally TikTok has pledged $250M to support those deeply affected by the global crisis, but today we are announcing a specific UK commitment that will help the heroic healthcare workers. These are the individuals working around the clock in our hospitals under incredibly challenging circumstances to save lives, but who we have also seen using TikTok to let off steam and enjoy some light relief during their breaks. 

TikTok videos celebrating NHS staff and healthcare workers have gathered 330million views in just the last month - a 5000% increase compared with four weeks ago. Their entertaining and inspiring content has spread so much joy, while their dedication to their work has been both humbling and inspirational, which is why we want to help.

TikTok Health Heroes Relief Fund

TikTok's global Health Heroes Relief Fund has been established to help the heroes of this global battle.

Using this Fund, in the UK TikTok is donating £5m to the COVID-19 Healthcare Support Appeal, established by the RCN Foundation. The donation will provide emergency funding to thousands of frontline healthcare workers - including nurses, midwives, physios, paramedics, cleaners and porters - who are in need of immediate practical financial support, as well as psychological support both during and after the coronavirus emergency.

Keep calm and TikTok on

As millions of us across the UK feel further apart than ever before thanks to social distancing, it has been humbling to see so many people turn to TikTok for moments of light relief and to connect with one another in the face of such struggle. 

Whether it's families bonding over the #BlindingLightsChallenge dance, TikTokkers looking out for one another in the #NeighbourhoodWatch challenge, or even learning how to #WorkOutFromHome - we've been amazed at how TikTok users have adapted to the challenges of life under lockdown with energy, positivity and creativity. 

We are also proud of how the TikTok community has come together to support one another during this difficult time. From saying a huge thank you to our all our healthcare workers through our #ThankYouNHS challenge to the incredible support we've witness for key workers including delivery drivers, rubbish collectors and supermarket staff in our weekly #ClapForOurCarers challenge. 

Over 200,000 #ThankYouNHS and over 4,000 #ClapForOurCarers videos have been published to date, and they are among some of the biggest trending health care hashtags on TikTok:

- #ThankYouNHS 300m+ views

- #NHS - 175m+ views

-#ClapForOurCarers 23m+ views

- #DancingNurses 1m+ views

And, we've loved seeing the resilience and humour of the key workers on the frontline who, no matter the pressures they are under, still make time to take part in TikTok dance challenges with colleagues bringing joy to millions of us.

We want to say a big thank you to all our users for your constant positivity, energy and support as we continue to do our bit for the communities impacted by the pandemic. We'll be sharing more on how we're supporting the community in the coming weeks.