Covid-19 Daily Bulletin

01 Feb

1 February 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 21,088. A total of 587 people lost their lives within 28 days of testing positive for Covid-19.
  • As of the 30 January , 8,977,329 people had received the first dose of a vaccine.
  • International Trade Secretary Liz Truss told the media on Sunday that the UK could help the EU and other nations with coronavirus vaccine supplies even before the domestic vaccination programme has been completed. She did however emphasise that this would only be done if it did not affect the UK vaccination timetable.
  • The NHS has announced that a Covid vaccination has been offered to residents at every eligible care home in England. Prime Minister Boris Johnson has called this a “critical milestone”.
  • It is being reported that Health Secretary Matt Hancock shall deliver a press conference later today on Covid-19.
  • As part of an opposition day in the House of Commons this evening, the Labour Party shall put forward a motion to require all arrivals from abroad to quarantine for 10 days in a hotel. It is being reported that Conservative MPs shall be ordered to abstain by the Government.
  • The UK Government has signed a deal or a further 40 million doses of Valneva’s promising vaccine candidate. 100 million doses of Valneva vaccine have now been secured.
  • Captain Sir Tom Moore , the 100-year-old man who has raised almost £33m for the NHS during the pandemic, has tested positive for coronavirus.

Devolved

  • Scotland First Minister Nicola Sturgeon is expected to make an announcement this week on when children in Scotland can return to school.
  • The police in Northern Ireland are urging the public to remain vigilant over scam messages offering the recipient the Covid-19 vaccination. PSNI Det Supt Simon Walls said people should speak to their older relatives about the potential scam.
  • It is being reported that nearly half of Scotland’s vaccines are still sitting in cold storage as delivery continues to lag behind nearly every other region of the UK, the Scottish secretary has confirmed.

International

  • The European Commission has announced that AstraZeneca will deliver 9 million more doses of its coronavirus vaccine to the EU than it offered last week.
  • The World Health Organisation (WHO) has criticised the EU’s announcement of export controls on vaccines produced within the bloc, saying such measures risked prolonging the pandemic. WHO chief Dr Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said “vaccine nationalism” could lead to a “protracted recovery.”
  • Over the weekend, the EU has reversed its decision to trigger an emergency provision in the Brexit deal to control Covid vaccine exports from the EU. This move could have seen checks at the border of Ireland with Northern Ireland in order to prevent shipments entering the UK.

Stakeholders

  • It has been reported that medical groups representing ethnic minority NHS staff are calling for their communities to be prioritised in the Covid vaccine rollout. A letter backed by 33 healthcare organisations recommends the government include ethnic minority communities in category six – out of the nine priority groups for the vaccine. The calls come after a survey by the British Medical Association that suggests hundreds of doctors from black, Asian and minority ethnic backgrounds do not feel fully protected from Covid-19 at work.