Covid-19 Daily Bulletin

10 Aug

10 August 2020

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

Key Announcements

  • Prime Minister Boris Johnson is expected to visit a school today, re-enforcing the message that pupils in England will return to schools in September. Further to this, Johnson wrote a column in the Daily Mail  over the weekend, in which he said the Government had a “moral duty” to reopen schools.
  • The number of new coronavirus infections exceeded 1,000 cases yesterday, the highest number since late June.
  • Labour Shadow Health Secretary Jonathan Ashworth and  shadow Cabinet Office minister Rachel Reeves   have written to  Health Secretary Matt Hancock, calling on Government to cut funding  to a major coronavirus test and trace contractor in favour of locally-led measures.
  • Hancock has also announced  £172m worth of funding, which will be used to be boost the number of  nursing apprentices  following   According to the Government, this will enable as many as 2,000 nursing apprentices to be taken on every year for the next four years.
  • According to research carried out  by Public Health England in 100 schools over the summer term, ” there is very little evidence that the virus is transmitted in schools,” .

Regional /Devolved 

  • Scotland saw  over 100 new cases of the virus over the weekend,  with the cluster in Aberdeen  rising to 134 cases.

International

  • Australia has reported  its largest  daily rise in Covid-19 deaths  after 19 people in Victoria lost their lives due to the virus.
  • 43,000 North Korean volunteers have been trained  by the Red Cross to  help fight Covid-19 and provide flood assistance in communities .
  • US health secretary Alex Azar has praised  Taiwan’s response to the Covid-19 pandemic  during a meeting with President Tsai Ing-wen in Taipei.

Stakeholders

  • Jeremy Farrar, director of the Welcome  Trust and SAGE member,  wrote  in the Guardian that the UK  may have reached “if not already exceeded the absolute limits of easing restrictions.”
  • General secretary of the Association of School and College Leaders,  Geoff Barton, has called for  a ‘week on-week off’ model for the re-opening of schools in order to “limit the number of children on site or travelling to and from school “.
  • Charity Hope Not Hate has published  a survey on BAME adults across the UK during the pandemic, which finds that those identifying as ethnic minorities are twice as likely to have lost their job during the furlough period.

Unconfirmed reports  

  • The FT reports  that  Home Office Minister Chris Philp  will hold talks with his French counterparts, discussing UK funding for increased security on the beaches of northern France following  migrants trying to reach the U.K. by boat over the weekend.
  • The Daily Mail reports  that France could be removed from the Government’s list of countries exempt from quarantine restrictions.