Covid-19 Daily Bulletin

14 May 2021

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

Key Announcements:

• Yesterday, 2,657 new cases of Covid-19 and 11 deaths within 28 days of a positive test were reported across the UK.
• A total of 35,906,671 people have now received the first dose of a vaccine and 18,890,969 have received a second dose.
• UK cases of an Indian variant have more than doubled in the past week, according to Public Health England data. When asked by reporters, the Prime Minister said: “we are anxious about it.”
• Vaccines Minister, Nadhim Zahawi, told the BBC that in areas where the new variant has emerged, the government would step up enhanced testing and flex the vaccine rollout by offering it to younger people if they live in multi-generational households.
• All adults aged over 18 in and around the Lancashire towns of Blackburn and Darwen will be able to book their coronavirus vaccine to help tackle cases of the Indian virus variant.
• Second vaccine doses could be brought forward and local restrictions introduced to help tackle the Indian variant in the worst-affected areas, the Government has said.
• Coronavirus vaccines have saved 11,700 lives and stopped 33,000 people becoming seriously ill with Covid-19 in England, research suggests.
• The number of referrals to treatment patients waiting to start treatment at the end of March 2021 was 5m patients – up from 4.7m in February 2021.
• Portugal looks set to ban holidaymakers until at least 30 May as it considers extending its ‘state of calamity’.

Devolved

• The Scottish First Minister, Nicola Sturgeon, is set to provide an update on the Covid restrictions Glasgow and Moray will face as Scotland prepares to move to level two.
• Moray’s coronavirus outbreak is showing “signs of improvement”, NHS Grampian has said. Meanwhile, the outbreak of Covid cases in the south of Glasgow is “relatively contained”, according to national clinical director Prof Jason Leitch.
• Criminal defence lawyers are to boycott courts across Scotland on Monday in a dispute over Scottish government funding during the Covid crisis.
• Welsh First Minister, Mark Drakeford, has said that officials “decided to hold back” on relaxing some lockdown restrictions in Wales on Monday due to concerns about the Indian variant.
• People in Wales are being advised to only travel abroad for “essential” reasons for at least three more weeks.
• The latest survey by the Office for National Statistics (ONS) shows nearly two thirds of people in Wales are estimated to have antibodies to help protect them against Covid-19.
• Non-essential travel from Northern Ireland to other parts of the Common Travel Area (CTA) is to be allowed from 24 May.
• Northern Ireland’s health minister, Robin Swann, has warned that the mental health effects of the pandemic will be felt for years to come.

International

• A petition calling for the cancellation of the Tokyo Olympics which garnered 350,000 signatures in nine days has been submitted to organisers. This comes as the country is set to declare a state of emergency in three more prefectures hit hard by the COVID-19 pandemic.
• Fully vaccinated Americans no longer have to wear a mask in most settings, the Center for Disease Control said on Thursday.
• Spain’s prime minister, Pedro Sánchez, said the country is on track for herd immunity, predicting 33m people will be vaccinated by mid-August.

Stakeholders

• Nearly one in five pregnant women in the UK were forced to wear a face covering during labour, according to research by a charity, despite official health guidance saying they should not be asked to do so.
• Children are being left more vulnerable to grooming by county lines drug gangs due to the coronavirus pandemic, a charity, Safe and Sound, has warned.