Covid-19 Daily Bulletin

28 Apr

28 April 2021

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

Key Announcements:

  • Yesterday, there was 2,685 new cases of coronavirus in the UK and 17 people died within 28 days of testing positive.
  • Those given a first dose of either the Pfizer or AstraZeneca vaccines – and who became infected three weeks later – were between 38 and 49 per cent less likely to pass the virus on than unvaccinated people, a PHE study has found.
  • Vaccines minister, Nadhim Zahawi, has announced that a quarter of the adult population in the UK have now had both doses of a covid-19 vaccine
  • The most common side effects of the Covid-19 vaccines are pain or tenderness at the injection point, researchers involved in the ZOE covid symptom study app have found.
  • Transport secretary, Grant Shapps, told Sky News this morning that the NHS app is being worked on to be used as a digital health certificate for travel.
  • More than 38m people in England live in areas that are recording virtually no new cases of Covid, analysis by The Times has shown.
  • People aged 42 and over in England are now able to book their Covid-19 jab, the health secretary, Matt Hancock, has said.
  • A spokesperson for the Prime Minister has told reporters that Britain has no surplus vaccine doses at the moment and is prioritising vaccinating its population.

Devolved

  • Northern Ireland’s Queen’s and Ulster Universities will not hold any in-person graduation ceremonies this summer.

International

  • Spanish authorities have indicated it will reopen its borders for British tourists in June with the use of a digital health certificate which Downing Street said was being developed.
  • Data from France has shown that the country’s Covid crisis is beginning to ease as French president Emmanuel Macron plans to relax restrictions in the next few days.
  • India recorded 360,960 new cases in the 24 hours to Wednesday morning according to health ministry data, another new daily global record.
  • The Indian variant of the virus has been detected in Fiji, sparking fears of a “tsunami” of Covid-19 cases.
  • Pakistan recorded more than two hundred Covid-19 deaths in a day for the first time since the start of the pandemic, as the government said it was considering stricter lockdowns.

Stakeholders

  • The TUC is calling for an immediate public inquiry into the handling of the Covid pandemic.
  • Sir Jeremy Farrar, the director of the Wellcome Trust, has urged the UK to share the Covid vaccines it has bought with India and other nations, to tackle the soaring death toll and reduce the spread of the virus and new variants around the world.
  • New figures show that just 630 fines have been issued to airlines for failing to check passengers’ Covid-19 papers despite thousands of people turning up at UK borders without the correct forms.