Covid-19 Daily Bulletin

16 September 2020

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

Key Announcements:

• Government figures show that there have been more than 370,000 confirmed cases of coronavirus so far in the UK and 41,000 people have died. On Tuesday, the number of new deaths stood at 27, with 3,105 new confirmed cases.
• The Eat Out to Help Out scheme has pushed down the UK’s inflation rate, which fell sharply to 0.2% as restaurant prices were reduced.
• Testing capacity remains a problem, with the BBC reporting that it will be announced that Care Homes and staff are the priority. It is expected that the Government will publish details of this plan in the next few days. The Times have reported that new analysis by the paper has shown that there were no coronavirus tests available in England at points yesterday and only a handful of slots free at centres in Scotland and Wales .
• The head of the Unite union has warned the “redundancy floodgates” could open if the Treasury fails to continue its job retention programme in some form. Unite say that without “a clear and urgent sign” from the government that it’s responding to calls to extend it, employers will feel they have no choice but to issue redundancy notices very soon.
• Two surgeons, Ajith George and Chris Coulson, have created a device to protect doctors giving ear, nose and throat procedures. They have offered the mask, which clips over patient’s masks, to the NHS for free.
• Angela Rayner, Deputy Labour Leader, will take on Johnson for the first time at Prime Minister’s Questions today, as Leader Keir Starmer has gone into isolation.
• The Liaison Committee (Chair of the Justice Committee, Chair of Defence Committee and Chair of the Foreign Affairs Committee) will also be interviewing the PM on his response to Coronavirus, with a particular focus on the economy.

Regional/Devolved

• Birmingham, Sandwell and Solihull remain in a more severe local lockdown, with certain businesses unallowed to reopen.
• While Blackburn with Darwen, Oldham and Pendle , are also unallowed to see those outside of their home or support bubble, certain venues and business can now reopen, including casinos, indoor gyms and ice rinks.
• In Bolton, as of yesterday, you’re not allowed to see those outside the home socially, and businesses and venues such as those listed above are not allowed to reopen. Certain other venues (cinemas, beauty salons and playgrounds) are now on a curfew, only operating from 10am-5pm.
• As of yesterday, additional businesses and venues can reopen in Leicester City. Other restrictions on socialising remain in place.
• For the North of England are slowing relaxing rules on local business and venue closures, as they begin to reopen. This does not include Blackburn with Darwen, Oldham and Pendle , and Bolton (where additional restrictions apply to some parts) and Leicester, as stated above.
• To see further information on for Scotland , Wales and Northern Ireland , follow each link.
• Sales on Scotland’s high streets stagnated in August, according to the latest industry study. The figures released by the Scottish Retail Consortium (SRC) show that sales fell for six months in a row compared with 2019. The total rate of decline stood at 7.5%, up slightly from July.
• Scotland’s first minister has said she is hopeful that a backlog in coronavirus test results will be resolved shortly after “constructive” talks with UK Health Secretary Matt Hancock over the issue. She added she hoped to see an improvement in the coming days. An average of about 12,700 coronavirus tests in Scotland are processed every day by the UK government’s network of Lighthouse laboratories, such as the one in Glasgow, with a further 4,700 being processed by the Scottish NHS and other public health laboratories.
• Yesterday saw some drama for the Irish Cabinet, as they announced the whole Cabinet would self-isolate as the Health Minister awaits Covid test. They later announced this was a false alarm.

International

• President Trump has denied downplaying the severity of the pandemic. At a televised event with voters, Trump contrarily said he had “up-played” it. More than 195,000 people have died with Covid-19 in the US since the beginning of the pandemic, according to data collated by Johns Hopkins university.
• India has surpassed five million confirmed cases , with more than 90,000 new positives being confirmed daily.
• France and Spain remain the worst hot spots for cases across Europe