Covid-19 Daily Bulletin

A series of daily updates for CHO members regarding relevant updates pertaining to Coronavirus from home and abroad.

Key Announcements

• The number of fatalities from covid 19 has risen to 26,097, after deaths in care homes and the wider community were added to official numbers. The UK now has the third highest official fatality rate.
• The Government are set to miss their 100,000 tests a day target today, with just 52,429 tests conducted yesterday. However, NHS Providers have said that the target number is a distraction, and that testing capacity should be focussed on “key groups” in a systematic way.
• This morning the Prime Minister will chair his first cabinet since being hospitalised with covid 19 and the birth of his new son yesterday. He is also expected to deliver today’s No 10 press conference.
• The Prime Minister is expected to reiterate the 5 tests Raab outlined yesterday, which would need to be met before lockdown measures were relaxed. Most reports agree that it is very unlikely that significant changes to the lockdown will be made on the next review date of 7 May.
• The Scientific Advisory Group for Emergencies (SAGE) is also meeting today, and will discuss options for easing restrictions.
• The FT have details of a sector by sector report being produced by Business Secretary Alok Sharma that will look at how businesses could operate during the crisis.
• AstraZeneca has announced a partnership with the University of Oxford over a potential vaccine. The Jenner Institute and Oxford Vaccine Group have been working on a vaccine, called ChAdOx1 nCoV-19. AstraZeneca has said it will supply the vaccine at a cost to them during the pandemic.
• Fundraising veteran Captain Tom Moore celebrates his 100th birthday today. He has received over 140,000 birthday cards from members of the public.

International   

• South Korea has reported no new covid cases today, after pursuing an aggressive testing and trace approach at the start of the pandemic.
• Criticism is mounting on Brazil’s President Jair Bolsonaro, who responded to the 474 deaths in his country yesterday: “So what? I’m sorry. What do you want me to do?”
• U.S President Trump told Reuters news agency yesterday that the high death toll in the U.S was in part a consequence of China not telling other countries about the virus sooner, and said that Bejing would “do anything they can to have me lose this race” (talking about the Presidential election).
• A funeral home in Brooklyn yesterday was found to have rented trucks yesterday and put about 50 corpses inside with ice. More than 18,000 people have died in New York from the virus.
• The Times have published a look at how other countries around the world have approached the easing of lockdown measures.

Stakeholders    

• Transport for London have warned that the tube may be overwhelmed if lockdown measures were lifted, but social distancing was maintained.
• Following Education Secretary Gavin Williamson’s appearance in front of the Education Select Committee yesterday, Dr Patrick Roach, NASUWT General Secretary said: “It is vital that teachers ‘ safety and their health concerns are also addressed fully before any decision to reopen schools.”
• Carers UK have called for “unpaid carers – who are providing the majority of care to vulnerable people in our society – a priority group for testing.”
• The British Beer & Pub Association (BBPA) has called on Prime Minister Boris Johnson to back British pubs, by giving them the specific support they need to get through the COVID-19 lockdown and beyond.

Unconfirmed reports

• The U.S is looking at the drug remdesivir, an antiviral drug used on ebola. There are reports that the drug had cut covid patients time in hospital by a third.