Covid-19 Daily Bulletin
08 Jun
8 June 2020
A series of daily updates for CHO members regarding relevant updates pertaining to Coronavirus from home and abroad.
Key Announcements
- New quarantine rules requiring all people arriving in the UK to self-isolate for 14 days have come into effect. Anyone arriving from the Republic of Ireland, the Channel Islands or the Isle of Man does not have to enter quarantine.
- A further 77 people have died yesterday in the UK after testing positive for coronavirus – the lowest daily increase since the lockdown began. Though, weekend reporting lags have been commonplace throughout.
- Health Secretary Matt Hancock announced all NHS staff in England will need to wear surgical-grade masks from 15 June to reduce transmission of coronavirus in hospitals.
- Epidemiologist professor John Edmunds, who is a member of the Scientific Advisory Group for Emergencies (Sage), has said the nationwide coronavirus lockdown “should have happened earlier” to avoid the loss of many lives.
- Meanwhile, Health and Social Care Secretary, Matt Hancock has said he is sure that the Government “made the right decisions at the right time” on implementing the coronavirus lockdown.
- Test kits have been offered to every care home for over-65s or those with dementia in England, reaching the testing target for 6 June.
- From Monday 15 June places of worship will be permitted to open for individual prayer in line with social distancing guidelines.
- The Public Health England review into the disproportionate impact of Covid-19 on people from ethnic minorities has been criticised for not considering air pollution as a factor.
- A tweet from the Prime Minister, Boris Johnson, said this weekend’s Black Lives Matter protests have been “subverted by thuggery.”
Regional/Devolved
- Scotland and Northern Ireland have reported no new coronavirus deaths. However, the Scottish Health Secretary reiterated there was often a reporting delay over the weekend.
- Scotland’s private sector recorded one of the deepest slumps in business activity in the UK last month as lockdown restrictions continued to disrupt the economy, according to the RBS Purchasing Managers Index.
- An Ulster Bank survey has suggested the Northern Ireland economy is still in “a deep downturn”.
- Vulnerable people in NI who were advised to shield can now go outdoors, as part of lockdown measures lifted by the executive.
- Welsh Housing Minister, Julie James, has said she is “absolutely determined” homeless people will not have to go back on to the streets after the coronavirus pandemic.
- Parts of two of Wales’ national parks will reopen to local people today after being shut during the coronavirus lockdown.
- More than half of children questioned in Wales are worried about falling behind with schoolwork due to the coronavirus lockdown, a survey suggests .
- Many schools in north-west England will delay reopening at least until 22 June over concerns the coronavirus infection rate is on the rise.
International
- New Zealand is to lift almost all its coronavirus restrictions within hours as it reports there are no active cases in the country.
- In Mexico, 3,484 new confirmed cases of coronavirus infections and 188 additional fatalities have been reported, bringing the total in the country to 117,103 cases and 13,699 deaths.
- Brazil has registered 37,312 total coronavirus deaths while total cases in the country reached 685,427, according to the health ministry on Sunday.
- US death toll is approaching 110,000, according to the Centre for Disease Control.
- Australia said on Monday China remains unresponsive to its weeks-long pleas to ease tensions between the two trading partners that escalated after Canberra called for an international enquiry into the origins of the novel coronavirus.
Stakeholders
- Chris Hopson, the chief executive of NHS Providers, has said the Government did not consult NHS leaders or give them notice before a decision to make all hospital staff wear surgical masks from 15 June.
- Figures in the pharmaceutical industry, including the Association of the British Pharmaceutical Industry, has warned that stockpiles of medical supplies have been “used up entirely” by the coronavirus pandemic.
- A new survey of international students by the British Council has found that nearly 14,000 fewer students from eight countries – including China, Singapore and Malaysia – are likely to come to the UK in 2020/21 in the wake of the coronavirus pandemic.
- Heathrow boss John Holland-Kaye said the UK’s new quarantine rules put a third of the airport’s 75,000 workforce at risk. “I don’t want to see that happen. But we’ll have to make that decision, within the next couple of weeks.”
- Figures from Carers UK, released for Carers Week, show that estimated 4.5 million people in the UK have become unpaid carers as a result of the Covid-19 pandemic. Helen Walker, Chief Executive of Carers UK, said: “The Government must not take unpaid carers for granted in this crisis. It must ensure their physical and mental health is looked after and it is imperative that, moving out of the pandemic, the Government rebuilds our care system so that carers are supported and families have the services they need to live better lives.”
Unconfirmed reports