Covid-19 Daily Bulletin

14 August 2020

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

Key Announcements

• People coming to the UK from France and the Netherlands must quarantine for 14 days from Saturday. UK Transport Secretary Grant Shapps has said around 160,000 Britons on holiday in France will have to isolate for 14 days on their return as he defended introducing the quarantine at short notice.
• More beauty treatments, small wedding receptions and live indoor performances will be able to resume in England from Saturday, as lockdown rules are eased. Bowling alleys, casinos and soft play centres will also be able to reopen, PM Boris Johnson has announced.
• The UK has secured early orders for a combined total of 90m coronavirus vaccine doses, as global efforts intensify to find effective inoculation against Covid-19. The deals bring the total amount for which Britain has secured an early option to at least 340m, one of the world’s biggest stockpiles.
• The government has quietly removed 1.3m coronavirus tests from its data because of double counting, raising fresh questions about the accuracy of the testing figures. In the government’s daily coronavirus update on Wednesday, it announced it had lowered the figure for “tests made available” by about 10% and discontinued the metric.

Regional/devolved

• Lockdown rules on meeting people indoors in Wales will not be relaxed this weekend, as previously suggested, However, up to four households – up from two – will be able to form an extended household from 22 August, as long as conditions “remain stable”.
• Scotland’s coronavirus infection rate could be increasing after a number of small clusters were detected. Health authorities in Orkney are dealing with five positive cases, while an Aberdeenshire primary school was closed as two staff members tested positive.

International   

• France says the UK decision will lead to “reciprocal measures”
• Spain has seen its biggest increase in daily infections since late April – up to 2,935 in the 24 hours to Thursday evening. Madrid is one of the worst affected areas and hospitals in the capital are on alert.
• North Korea lifts a lockdown on a border city after what it said was an outbreak caused by a returning defector
• Peru has passed the 500,000 mark in terms of total coronavirus cases and has now registered more deaths per head than any other country in Latin America.
• India recorded more than 1,000 coronavirus fatalities over the past 24 hours — the second time its one-day count has reached four digits — pushing the country’s overall death toll to more than 48,140 people, the fourth-highest in the world.

Stakeholders    

• Labour’s Angela Raynor has said the UK government has not “answered the crucial question about how they are going to support families” affected by the new quarantine on arrivals from France.
• EasyJet has bolstered its balance sheet with a £608m deal to sell and leaseback 23 aircraft, as airlines raise cash to see them through the uncertain future facing the industry.