Covid-19 Daily Bulletin

08 Jun

8 June 2021

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

Key Announcements:

  • Yesterday, there were 5,683 new confirmed cases of Covid-19 yesterday, and one person died within 28 days of a positive test, government statistics show.
  • In the UK, up to and including 6 June, a total of 40,460,576 people have had a first dose of a Covid vaccine and27,921,294 have had a second dose.
  • Health Secretary Matt Hancock announced in the Commons yesterday that everyone aged 25 and over in England would be invited to get a Covid vaccine. He added that the government was “reassured” that vaccinations still offered protection against the Delta variant.
  • The Times reports that the lifting of the final lockdown restrictions in England, scheduled for 21 June, could be delayed for a fortnight after a “downbeat” briefing about the latest coronavirus data given to ministers by Professor Chris Whitty and Sir Patrick Vallance. The delay would enable all over-50s to be fully vaccinated and leave sufficient time for jabs to take effect before restrictions are lifted.
  • The Health and Social Care Committee has published a report on workforce burnout and resilience in the NHS and social care. The committee argues that problems existed before the pandemic but were exacerbated by the spread of Covid.
  • Portugal has moved to the “amber list” from “green list” for coronavirus travel rules as of 04.00 BST. British holidaymakers returning from the country now have to self-isolate for 10 days on arrival in the UK.

Devolved/Regional

  • According to a new report from the Northern Irish Audit Office, the cost of responding to Covid in Northern Ireland has risen to more than £6.2bn, with the cost to Stormont estimated at £3.9bn and the remainder attributed to Westminster support schemes.
  • Surge testing in West Yorkshire is being expanded to help identify and contain the spread of the Delta variant.
  • The Welsh government said yesterday that all adults in Wales will have been offered a first Covid jab by Monday, putting the country’s rollout six weeks ahead of schedule.

International

  • Thailand has started its Covid vaccination campaign despite concerns over the supply of doses which are mainly being produced locally by a royal-owned company that has no experience of making vaccines.
  • Slovakia has become the second EU country to start vaccinating citizens with the Russian-made Sputnik V vaccine.
  • Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi has announced that the Indian government will provide Covid vaccines free of charge to all adults from later this month.

Stakeholders

  • UNICEF has warned that millions of Covid vaccines could be wasted if rich countries send large amounts of leftover doses to poorer nations in one go. It has called for a steady supply through the year instead because poor countries do not have resources to use them all at once.
  • The head of the World Health Organization, Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, has expressed concern that vaccine inequality has created a “two-track pandemic” with Western countries protected and poorer nations still exposed.