Covid-19 Daily Bulletin

08 Dec

8 December 2020

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

Key Announcements:

  • The first 800,000 doses of the Pfizer/BioNTech vaccine have begun to be administered across the UK. Margaret Keenan, who turns 91 next week, became the first person to receive the vaccine outside of a trial, this morning at University Hospital in Coventry.
  • The UK have ordered a total of 40 million doses – enough for 20 million people. Health Secretary, Matt Hancock, says he expects it to take several weeks to get health workers, care staff and the over 80s vaccinated.
  • There are hopes that the Oxford/AstraZeneca vaccine may also be approved by UK regulators later this month.
  • Health Secretary, Matt Hancock, will answer an urgent question in the Commons at 12:30pm on the vaccine roll.
  • Hancock told BBC Radio 4 Today programme this morning that he had “great hopes for summer 2021 and hoped restrictions could be lifted by Spring.” However, he did confirm that restrictions could get tougher until then: “I also worry that people still need to hold our nerve and keep the virus under control.”
  • The Guardian are reporting that a trial will begin in January to look into whether mixing and matching Covid vaccines gives better protection than two doses of the same one.
  • The government has published a report praising the work and achievements of its Vaccines Taskforce (VTF), 6 months after it was set up.
  • The was 14,718 new cases of Covid in the UK yesterday. Sadly 189 people lost their lives.

Devolved

  • Wales is the only part of the UK without falling Covid rates. The Health Minister, Vaughan Gething, confirmed in a press conference that the Government were looking at whether further restrictions would be needed.
  • 11 Scottish council areas will exit Tier 4 restrictions on Friday.
  • The first vaccination in Northern Ireland has been administered, with Sister Joanna Sloan receiving the jab at the Royal Victoria Hospital this morning.

International

  • Multiple news outlets in the US are reporting that Rudy Giuliani, the personal lawyer to Donald Trump, has been admitted to hospital, having contracted Covid 19.
  • The French health ministry’s top official, Jérôme Salomon, has said the country is unlikely to end its national lockdown on 15 December.
  • The WHO have confirmed they will be seeking to visit China “as soon as possible” to study the origins of the pandemic.

Stakeholders

  • The school leaders’ union NAHT will hold a crowdcast for School Business Leaders, aimed at identifying and offering support. Paul Whiteman, general secretary of school leaders’ union NAHT, said: “Throughout this crisis school business leaders have been the quiet heroes. In the face of immense challenges, they have been crucial to helping to make sure schools can deliver all that has been asked of them.”
  • Responding to the latest Welsh Government update on Coronavirus in Wales, Darren Hughes, Director of the Welsh NHS Confederation said: “The figures highlighted today are stark. We have record number of patients with COVID in our hospitals and the highest number of confirmed cases in a single day. Cases are rising in our communities across Wales. The impacts of rising cases are felt right across the health and care system. As hospitalisations rise, our capacity to treat other significant health issues decreases. There is also an increased risk of our staff contracting the virus, and we’re also seeing staff having to self-isolate because their partners, children or family members have to isolate, which is impacting on our capacity as well.