Covid-19 Daily Bulletin

26 Feb

26 February 2021

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

Key Announcements:   

  • The Queen has  urged people to  “think about other people”  and get vaccinated.
  • The  Joint Committee on Vaccination and Immunisation is due to publish  Phase 2 of the  vaccine prioritization program this morning. It is widely expected they will recommend the Government continues the roll out by age groups.
  • Health Secretary Matt Hancock will deliver a press conference this afternoon.
  • The  Minister for Equalities, Kemi Badenoch MP,  has published the second quarterly report to the Prime Minister and Health Secretary on progress to understand and tackle COVID-19 disparities experienced by individuals from an ethnic minority background.
  • Former Prime Minister, Tony Blair, has  told the Guardian that the pandemic could have been cut short by three months if world leaders had  collaborated on vaccines, testing and drugs.

Devolved  

  • BMA Scotland  has warned it will be  “impossible” for NHS Scotland to recover from the pandemic if  consultants cannot be retained.
  • NI Health Minister has said that party politicking had cost lives during the Covid-19 pandemic.

International      

  • The French prime minister has said his government will impose new regional lockdowns across the country if the spread of the virus continues to accelerate.
  • The European commission president, Ursula von der Leyen, has attempted to reassure member states over vaccine supply, saying she would ban vaccines from leaving the EU if suppliers failed to deliver.

Stakeholders  

  • Responding to the Government’s latest progress report on addressing Covid-19 health inequalities, Dr Chaand Nagpaul ,  BMA council chair , said: ” Covid-19 has had a devastating and disproportionate impact on people from black and ethnic minority communities – an issue the BMA has been campaigning on since the very early days of the pandemic, when this deeply concerning trend first became apparent. Progress in both recognising and then tackling this, in order to stop more BAME people becoming ill and dying, has been far too slow, with delayed and incomplete reviews and lack of action.