Covid-19 Daily Bulletin

19 Jun

19 June 2020

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

Key Announcements   

  • A £1bn fund to help England’s children catch up on what they have missed while schools have been closed has been announced by the Prime Minister, the BBC
  • At yesterday’s press conference, Matt Hancock, Health Secretary, stated that the  Joint Committee for Vaccination and Immunisation published its interim advice  regarding priority for vaccination, asserting that it should be given to   front line health and social care workers and those at increased risk of serious disease and death i.e. adults over the age of 50 and those with heart and kidney disease .
  • The Imperial vaccine is in the first phase of human clinical trials and AstraZeneca has struck a deal for the Oxford vaccine even before approval so we can build up a stockpile should it be clinically effective.
  • The government has been forced to abandon a centralised coronavirus contact-tracing app, switching to an alternative designed by US tech companies Apple and Google, which is  reportedly  months away from being ready.
  • Major analysis has shown that South Asian people are the most likely to die after being admitted to hospital in Great Britain, reports  the BBC.
  • Sky News reports  that Britain’s borrowing has soared to a record £103.7bn as debt outstripped GDP for the first time in nearly six decades due to the coronavirus pandemic.

Regional /Devolved  

  • CornwallLive  reports  that NHS England has said there were no further coronavirus deaths reported in Devon and Cornwall’s hospitals on June 17 th , which is the third straight day.
  • A top disease expert is warning  Londoners to have “extra vigilance” as high streets open up as new data suggests the number of new cases is not coming down as quickly in the capital as in other regions.
  • Face coverings should be made mandatory in shops and confined public spaces, London’s mayor has  
  • ITV has reported  that 38 members of staff at a food factory in Wrexham have tested positive for coronavirus, which is the second to have announced an outbreak yesterday, after a factory on Anglesey confirmed 58 cases of coronavirus at its site.
  • The BBC reports  that coronavirus outbreaks have been reported in Leicester and at a meat processing plant in Yorkshire.
  • The Tees Valley Mayor and Combined Authority have earmarked  £1million to encourage businesses to offer employment to more 16-20-year-olds across Tees Valley in a bid to reverse the decline of apprenticeship creation as a result of the coronavirus pandemic.
  • The Scotsman reports  that Nicola Sturgeon has confirmed that Scotland will enter phase two of lockdown easing, as well as having announced a review on the 2-metre distancing rule. Face coverings will be mandatory on public transport from Monday.
  • The BBC reports  that m ost shops in Scotland are to reopen from 29 June as part of a further easing of the country’s lockdown rules.
  • Shops can reopen in Wales from Monday, the South Wales Argus reports .
  • The Belfast Telegraph  has  reported  that hairdressers and nail bars can reopen from July 6 th  in Northern Ireland
  • The BBC reports  that  Wales’ five-mile travel rule could be lifted in two weeks so people can “travel as far as they like for all purposes,” the first minister has said.
  • The Guardian  reports  that Mark Drakeford, First Minister of Wales, will officially open its borders to tourism from July 6 th .
  • Sky News reports  that schools in Northern Ireland will have a social distancing rule of o n e  metre rather than two metres when they reopen in August

International

  • Indian officials have re-imposed a lockdown in the southern city of Chennai, and three neighbouring districts, the BBC reports .
  • The Guardian has reported  that a Russian priest, who referred to the coronavirus as a “pseudo-pandemic”  has seized a convent in the Urals region and announced he will only be removed by force.
  • Sky News reports  that the Chinese Communist Party is worried that the current ripple, as reported cases have been recorded in provinces across China, will become a second wave.
  • The Guardian reports  that t he first trial results of a coronavirus vaccine being developed by  CureVac  in Germany are expected in two months .
  • Business Insider reports  that Donald Trump has said that testing for Covid-19 is “overrated”  and repeated his claim that too much testing ‘made the US look bad’ in an interview with  the Wall Street Journal .

Stakeholders  

  • Responding to the Government’s announcement on lost teaching time, Rebecca Long Bailey, Labour’s Shadow Education Secretary  ” The funding and the principle of a tutoring scheme is certainly a welcome start but it needs to be backed with a detailed national education plan to get children’s education and health back on track. “
  • On the news that the UK test and trace app is switching to an Apple-Google model, Jonathan Ashworth, Labour’s shadow health secretary, said   “This is unsurprising and yet another example of where the government’s response has been slow and badly managed. It’s meant precious time and money wasted. “
  • Responding to the ADASS Budget Survey on the impact of  Covid  on Budgets, Dr Layla  McCay , a director at the NHS Confederation, which represents organisations across the healthcare sector, said:   “The Government promised that it would give care homes and other services everything they need to get through coronavirus and this report shows that it has failed. Not only are providers struggling to make ends meet, only 4 percent  of the adult social care directors surveyed were confident that they have enough money to meet their legal responsibilities – down from 35  percent  last year. This should serve as a chilling reminder of the need to drastically overhaul how social care is funded and supported in England. “
  • In a report  launched today, the charity Teenage Cancer Trust has called on the Government to provide essential specialist services as it warns that 53% of young people with cancer have struggled to access psychological support during the Coronavirus pandemic, at a time where isolation and anxiety are magnified.
  • A new survey released today (Friday 19 June) by school leaders’ union NAHT reveals the concerns leaders of schools for children with special educational needs have with the guidance and resources they have been given by government for dealing with Coronavirus, especially around PPE.
  • Responding to the second part of the annual Association of Directors of Adult Social Services (ADASS) budget survey, which focuses on the impact of coronavirus on social care budgets, Cllr Ian Hudspeth , Chairman of the Local Government Association ’s Community Wellbeing Board, said:   “Social care can play a hugely important role in helping people to live the life they want to lead. Care services were already under huge strain and facing severe cost pressures even before the pandemic, which as this report demonstrates have only been made worse … Councils are doing all they can to support social care providers in their areas, but the fragility of our care provider market, exacerbated by coronavirus pressures, is a serious concern and this needs to be addressed as part of fundamental future reforms of the system. Our own commissioned research with ADASS suggests that providers face extra costs of £6.6 billion by the end of September this year as a result of the coronavirus emergency. “

Unconfirmed  

  • The Daily Telegraph has reported  that, on 29 th  June, Boris Johnson is expected to announce that agreements have been reached for air bridges with a “small number” of countries with low levels of the virus.