Covid-19 Daily Bulletin

10 Jul

10 July 2020

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

Key Announcements  

Yesterday, Oliver Dowden led a government press conference where he announced a range of measures:

  • Outdoor pools are to reopen from 11 July
  • Indoor gyms, swimming pools and sports facilities can reopen from 25 July.
  • Artists, musicians and dancers can perform to audiences, outside, from 11 July.
  • Will be working with Public Health experts to pilot indoor performances.
  • Beauticians, tattooists, spas, tanning salons and other close contact services can reopen from Monday. With some restrictions on particularly high-risk services.
  • From this weekend onwards, individuals will be able to join their local sports teams, as soon as their organisation has published approved guidance.
  • The IFS has  warned  of a “reckoning” to come to repair UK public finances
  • Tens of thousands of higher-risk workers are to get coronavirus tests when they don’t have symptoms,  as part of a new pilot,   re p o r ts  Yahoo.
  • The Telegraph  reports  that the World Health Organisation’s new coronavirus guidelines acknowledge some reports of airborne  transmission, but  stop short of confirming that the virus spreads through the air. But the organisation said more research was “urgently needed to investigate such instances and assess their significance for transmission of Covid-19”.
  • John Lewis and Boots have  announced  5,300 job cuts.
  • The Commission for Countering Extremism published a report  looking at the way in which extremists have sought to exploit the current pandemic , and  the Independent has  reported  that it  found that  Neo-Nazis have encouraged followers to “deliberately infect” Jews and Muslims with coronavirus .
  • WHO’s director-general has  said  that the virus was “not under control” in most parts of the world.

Regional /Devolved  

  • The Scottish Daily Record  reports  that Nicola Sturgeon announced yesterday that further restrictions will be eased from tomorrow as they enter phase three of its lockdown easing plan, as the nation recorded  zero coronavirus deaths for the fourth time in the space of seven days.  The route map can be found  here. 
  • Wearing a face covering is  now compulsory  in shops across Scotland.
  • The BBC  reports  that  all state schools in Wales will reopen to all pupils in September for the first time since coronavirus lockdown started in March.
  • People arriving in Northern Ireland from more than 50 countries including France, Spain, Germany and Italy are now no longer required to quarantine, the BBC  reports. 
  • Businesses in Leicester had expected extra help after they were ordered to close on 30 June following a spike in Covid-19 cases, the BBC  reported. 

International      

  • BBC  reports  that Melbourne has begun a second lockdown in response to a spike in new coronavirus infections
  • More than three million people in the US have now tested positive for Covid-19, according  to Johns Hopkins University.
  • The Guardian  has  reported   that Zimbabwe health minister  who is  facing  a coronavirus corruption charge has been sacked.
  • It has been  reported  that Serbia has scrapped its curfew plan for Belgrade after protests.
  • The Independent has  reported  that Bolivia’s interim president has said she has tested positive for coronavirus.

Stakeholders  

  • Responding  to ONS statistics on the impact of covid-19 on caring, Helen Walker, Chief Executive of  CarersUK  said ” In a matter of months, millions of people – most in their 40s and 50s and holding down a job – have started caring unpaid for family members and friends who would otherwise manage ok on their own, but are now at risk of the virus…The Government must recognise this immense pressure on carers and ensure their physical and mental health is protected and that they are given access to a break. The priority must be reinstating care and support services as soon as possible. Carers deserve far more support for their contribution throughout this crisis.”
  • Unite the Union  responded  to the confirmation from Rolls Royce that 2,000 of its UK workforce would leave in the company, with Unite national officer for aerospace, Rhys McCarthy, stating “The job losses at Rolls Royce are a stark reminder that these are highly-skilled jobs that the UK economy can ill-afford to lose as it faces the economic realities of the post- pandemic world…Unite stands ready at a moment’s notice to constructively engage with Rishi Sunak and business secretary Alok Sharma over a financial lifeline to our beleaguered manufacturing industries and also to forge a comprehensive industrial strategy. Such a blueprint will maintain the UK’s world-class industries, such as Rolls Royce ;  secure the future of tens of thousands of highly skilled jobs; and assist towards developing new technologies and industries that will help pay Britain’s way in the world in the decades ahead.”
  • Responding  to Gavin Williamson ’s speech on post-school education, Sir Peter Lampl , founder and chairman of the Sutton Trust, said:   “Further education and apprenticeships have a crucial role to play in widening opportunity … We would also like to see many more degree and degree-level apprenticeships available to young people. They offer a powerful combination of on the job learning and academic work, enabling young people to earn while they learn, graduate with little or no debt and with the skills the marketplace wants. “
  • Responding to the Government’s economic statement, Niall Dickson, chief executive of the NHS Confederation, which represents organisations across the healthcare sector, said: “The extra support for the NHS is welcome but we need more detail about the plans not least as patient services restart and we look ahead to what is certain to be a very difficult winter. “

Unconfirmed  

  • The UK government has rejected the chance to join the European Union’s coronavirus vaccine programme due to concerns over “costly delays”,  according  to sources.