Covid-19 Daily Bulletin

6 April 2021

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

Key Announcements:

• Prime Minister Boris Johnson has confirmed that non-essential shops will be able to reopen and restaurants will be able to serve outdoors on 12 April, as planned in the government’s roadmap out of lockdown.
• Vaccine minister, Nadhim Zahawi, has confirmed that the American Moderna vaccine will begin being deployed in the UK “around the third week in April”.
• On BBC Radio 4 this morning, Zahawi said that if the government decides to use Covid vaccine passports, MPs would “absolutely” be given a chance to vote on the measure. The government has not yet ruled out the possibility of using Covid vaccine passports and has indicated they could become “a feature of our lives until the threat from the pandemic recedes.”
• Under an extension of the government’s testing programme , everyone in England will be given access to two rapid Covid tests a week from Friday.
• The Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency is reportedly considering advising against those under the age of 30 from taking the AstraZeneca Covid vaccine. This is amidst ongoing concerns that extremely rare blood clotting could be fractionally higher among younger people.
• From 9 April, the Philippines, Pakistan, Kenya and Bangladesh will be added to the government’s travel red list.
• On the 5 April, 26 people died from Covid-19 having tested positive within 28 days.

Devolved

• In Scotland, health secretary Jeane Freeman has said the government is considering the development of digital “certificates” to indicate when people have had a Covid vaccine.
• Hairdressers and homeware shops have been able to reopen in Scotland in their next phase of easing Covid restrictions.
• On Monday, the Welsh government said they had met their mid-April milestone to vaccinate all over-50s and adults with underlying health conditions. This claim has now been disputed however, with various groups coming forward to say they were still waiting to be contacted.

International

• Authorities in Saudi Arabia have said that only people vaccinated against Covid will be allowed to perform the Umrah pilgrimage, starting from the holy month of Ramadan.
• In a decision to protect their athletes, officials in South Korea have announced that the country will not take part in the Tokyo Olympics this year.
• From the 19th April, residents in Australia and New Zealand will be able to travel between the two countries without a quarantine period on either side. Also, in Australia , the vaccine rollout has reportedly slowed following delays in AstraZeneca exports from the EU.
• In India, everyone over the age of 45 is now eligible for a Covid vaccine. This comes amidst a worrying second wave of infections, and a new night curfew in Delhi which begins today.
• In America, New York state has opened up Covid jabs to all adults over the age of 16 from today.

Stakeholders

• Shadow health secretary, Jonathan Ashworth , has said in response to the announcement that twice-weekly rapid covid testing would be provided for everyone in England, that to break transmission, the government still needs to provide adequate sick pay.
• The British In Vitro Diagnostic Association has launched a new campaign called ‘Don’t Wait’ to restart testing for non-covid health issues, for diseases such as cancers, heart disease and diabetes.
• Scientists have warned that the later stages of the government’s roadmap out of Covid restrictions could cause hospital admissions to surge.
• Various MPs have criticised the government’s potential plans for Covid vaccine passports.

Unconfirmed reports

• A government adviser has said that the Covid road map could be “sped up” if case numbers continued to fall.