Covid-19 Daily Bulletin

28 May 2021

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

Key Announcements:

• The number of people who tested positive for the virus yesterday in the UK was 3,542 and 10 people died having tested positive within 28 days.
• As of the 26th May , 38,614,683 people had received the first dose of a vaccine in the UK and 24,043,956 people had received a second dose of vaccine.
• This morning, Business Secretary Kwasi Kwarteng has called on the British public to be patient as ministers decide on whether coronavirus restrictions can be relaxed further on 21st He added that the numbers would need to be assessed in two weeks’ time.
• Yesterday, Health Secretary Matt Hancock spoke at a Downing Street press conference where he said that latest estimates found that more than half and potentially as many as three quarters of all new cases of the virus were of the Indian variant. He made a number of other announcements including that those over the age of 30 can come forward for their first covid-19 jab.
• Hancock faced questioning from MPs and the media yesterday over accusations made by former advisor to the Prime Minister, Dominic Cummings. Matt Hancock said they were not true. Prime Minister Boris Johnson told the media that some of the “commentary” didn’t “bear any relation to reality”.
• Boris Johnson told the media yesterday that “we may need to wait” for the lifting of all covid restrictions is England which is still currently scheduled for 21st Johnson said that at present there was nothing in the data to suggest that the unlocking would be delayed. However, he did say that there were signs of an increase in the number of cases of the Indian variant.

Devolved

• First Minister of Scotland Nicola Sturgeon is expected to announce the results of a review of restrictions in a Covid-19 briefing at 12:15. Glasgow which has been subject to stricter restrictions that the rest of the country is expected to find out if it shall remain in level three restrictions.
• The Welsh government has confirmed that live music events can return immediately in Wales. Venues hosting live music events would have to complete risk assessments.

International

• China has accused the US of playing politics in the calling for a new investigation into the origins of the coronavirus pandemic which was first detected in China in late 2019.

Stakeholders

• Commenting on the announcement that up to 75 per cent of covid cases in the country are from the variant first discovered in India, shadow home secretary Nick Thomas-Symonds said “Three quarters of the cases in the country coming from the variant first discovered in India, confirms the terrible consequence of the Conservatives’ reckless refusal to secure our borders against Covid. Labour warned time and time again that refusing to put in place a proper hotel quarantine system would have exactly these consequences. The Prime Minister delayed putting India on the Red List for two weeks, even when cases there were – tragically – rising quickly. Even now, Ministers have created confusion over the ‘Amber List’ for travel. This dangerous incompetence has to stop.