Covid-19 Daily Bulletin

2 July 2020

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

Key Announcements  

• In guidance set to be  announced today , it is expected that Education Secretary Gavin Williamson will describe how pupils will return to educational settings from September. One way this will could be achieved is through expanding the size of self-contained bubbles in which pupils can mix. In secondary schools, for example, it’s thought that entire year groups will be able to form a single bubble.  It has also been said that if two pupils get the virus, the given school  could face closure .
• A  Channel 4 News  investigation broke last night that the DHSC issued safety warnings for some 85 million masks and respirators, as they were deemed “sub-optimal” and potentially unsafe.  Apparently some of these respirators are being used still, particularly in the South West of England.
• Some 10,000 jobs  are set to be lost in the UK from the aviation and retail industries.
• The Treasury has  faced backlash  after posting via social media that Brits should “raise a glass” in celebration of the reopening of pubs. The post has since been deleted, however not before receiving criticism for being irresponsible and insensitive to the UK’s death toll.

Regional /Devolved   

• Welsh pubs, cafes and restaurants will be told they can open for outdoor service from 13 July.
• In Leicester, it has been reported that new infections have been focused among children and working-age people. Schools are set to close in the region again for all but the children of keyworkers as part of their local lock-down.
• According to Public Health England figures, Bradford, Barnsley and Rochdale are the worst-affected regions in the UK .
• The  Scottish Government  is set to announce a decision on the 2 meter rule today, a change which would have ‘huge’ implications for pubs and restaurants.
• In  Northern Ireland , much fallout is expected after Deputy First Minister Michelle O’Neill attended the funeral of republican Bobby Storey, and reportedly had not been following social distancing rules.

International  

• A new one record was reached yesterday in the US, with 52, 982 people testing positive for the virus in one day.
• David Clark, New Zealand ‘s Health Minister has resigned after breaking lockdown restrictions
• A second, ‘softer’ lockdown is to be implemented in  Kazakhstan  to mediate the emergence of a surge in covid  cases.
• The WHO has said that the  Middle East  is at a “critical threshold”, after a surge in cases. The case numbers in June have reportedly been higher than they were over the first four months of the virus being in the region.
• In  Latin America and the Caribbean , it has  been projected by the World Bank that there will be a GDP contraction of over seven percent, making it the work crisis of the past century.

Stakeholders  

• Former Conservative transport minister, Theresa Villiers, has said that quarantine rules have not been worth it, as the industry has been “damaged” without reducing the covid risk.
• Chair of the  British Medical Association , Dr  Chaand Nagpaul , has said that the Government must give  councils better data faster if they are to continue with Boris Johnson’s ‘whack a mole’ strategy of targeting local outbreaks.
• In response to an indication that benefit sanctions will shortly be introduced as the country moves out of lockdown, Mind has said the announcement was “nothing less than appalling” and that the  “The DWP must reverse this decision immediately and announce how they intend to safeguard those of us with mental health problems with a benefits system that supports, not penalises them, through the pandemic and beyond.”

Unconfirmed   

• It is being reported that a list of some 75 -95 (depending on news outlet) countries will not have to abide by quarantine rules in the UK, from Monday.  The announcement for airbridges has been pushed back until tomorrow, Friday 3 July.
• The Sun  has reported that British holidaymakers in Spain are being hit by an illegal ‘covid tax’, in the likes of bars and restaurants.