Covid-19 Daily Bulletin

19 May 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 was 2,412 and 7 people died within 28 days of having tested positive.
• A total of 36,704,672 people have received their first vaccine dose in the UK and 20,546,452 people have received their second dose.
• Health Secretary, Matt Hancock, will hold a Downing Street press conference at 5pm this evening.
• A report released by the National Audit Office has said that the government “lacked plans for pandemic response”. However, it had enjoyed some success in their efforts to deal with the crisis.
• Jenny McGee, who cared for Boris Johnson when he was sick with Covid, resigned yesterday over a “lack of respect” for NHS workers.
• Boris Johnson has warned people against holidaying in amber list countries, after Environment Secretary George Eustice said people could go to those countries if they quarantined when they returned.
• Fully vaccinated UK holidaymakers could be given the green light by EU ambassadors to visit the bloc this summer, with a meeting scheduled today to discuss easing restrictions on non-essential trips into the EU.
• A decision about whether key workers with long Covid should get compensation could take more than a year, government advisers have told the BBC.

Devolved

• More than one million people in Northern Ireland have received a first dose of a Covid-19 vaccine, according to the latest government figures.
• Wales has been urged to delay giving children a Covid jab and instead donate the vaccines to low-income countries.
• Scotland’s deputy first minister is to be given a new role with responsibility for co-ordinating the country’s recovery from the Covid pandemic.

International

• India has suffered a world record one-day death toll, surpassing the previous highest toll, recorded in the US, of 4,475.
• Tunisia has ended its one-week lockdown, despite having the highest reported deaths per capita of any country in Africa.
• France is taking steps to ease the lockdown measures allowing cafes and restaurant terraces to open to 50 percent capacity, rolling back the nightly curfew to 9pm and reopening non-essential shops and cultural venues.

Stakeholders

• A report published by Social Finance and Cheshire West and Chester Council, revealed a growing gap between pupils with full attendance and increasingly absent pupils during Covid.