Covid-19 Daily Bulletin

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

Key Announcements 

• Boris Johnson spent a second night in intensive care. His condition is “stable”, and he is not on a ventilator.
• The first patients have been admitted to London’s NHS Nightingale Hospital.
• In yesterday’s press conference, Foreign Secretary Dominic Raab said he was confident that Johnson will pull through his illness, because he is a “fighter” and will be “back at the helm… in short order”.
• As chair of the daily COVID-19 meeting, Raab will make the final decision about lifting lockdown restrictions if Johnson remains incapacitated. However, a planned review of restrictions is unlikely to go ahead on Monday as planned.
• Sir Patrick Vallance, Chief Scientific Adviser, said that the current data showed that it was “possible” that we are beginning to see the beginning of change in terms of curve flattening, but this will not be known for sure for about a week.
• Chris Whitty, Chief Medical Officer, admitted that the UK is learning the lessons from Germany’s relatively low numbers of Covid-19 deaths, including on Germany’s high level of testing early on.
• Ex-PM David Cameron said he was praying for the “very tough, very resilient” Boris Johnson to pull through as he remains in intensive care with coronavirus. He also insisted that Dominic Raab would have the support to make the “right” decisions for the country.
• Theresa May also wished the Prime Minister a “speedy and good recovery” and said Raab would be backed by a “first class civil service”.
• Cabinet Minister Michael Gove now self-isolating , due to a member of his household showing symptoms of Covid-19. It was also confirmed that the Chancellor, Rishi Sunak, will deputise for the Prime Minister if Dominic Raab falls ill.
• A report from the Resolution Foundation found that the Government’s job retention scheme may cost £30-40bn over three months, three times the size of initial estimates.
• The New Statesman is reporting that the UK is set to endure worst post-war recession with GDP falling 5.3% this year.
• A study from the Intensive Care National Audit and Research Centre into the first patients critically ill with Covid-19 in the UK indicates that black and Asian people are more likely to be badly affected by coronavirus than white people.

Legislation

• The House of Commons Commission announced that parliamentary digital, broadcasting and procedural experts are working round the clock to develop a virtual House of Commons – if needed – for the end of the Easter recess.
• The Lord’s Speaker, Lord Fowler, wrote to members of the House of Lords regarding the House’s return from recess saying that the public health crisis “presents us with a serious problem as we seek to continue to fulfil our constitutional duty”.
• He noted that the priority was to enable Oral Questions, including Private Notice Questions, to continue. “Oral Questions pose particular challenges and if we are to open participation up to all members, we will have to change how we work”, he warned.
• Chair of the Procedure Committee Karen Bradley wrote to the Speaker of the House of Commons in which she expressed the Committee’s strong support for the measures that the Speaker and the House authorities have already taken.
• Bradley also set out further temporary measures the Committee is advising in order to make sure proper scrutiny of the Government can continue, including the urgent implementation of a temporary system to allow remote balloting in elections for select committee chairs.

International

• The lockdown in the Wuhan, in China’s Hubei province, is beginning to be lifted . China reported no deaths on Tuesday.
• The European Commission is planning to announce a “roadmap to exit” coronavirus lockdowns across Europe on Wednesday. Some countries, such as Austria, Denmark and the Czech Republic, are already beginning to ease lockdown restrictions.
• Meanwhile, the European Union’s top scientist, Mauro Ferrari, has resigned , condemning what he called Brussels’ “disappointing” response to the coronavirus pandemic.
• Germany now has 103,228 confirmed cases, but its reported death toll remains strikingly low, at just 1,861. Experts suggest that this is because of its early testing regime.
• On Tuesday, the US recorded the most coronavirus deaths in a single day with more than 1,800 fatalities reported. Despite this, at a press conference President Donald Trump said the US might be getting to the top of the “curve”.
• Also, from the US, Trump announced last night that the UK has requested 200 ventilators from the American government as a matter of urgency.
• The death toll in France rose above 10,000.
• The recorded number of cases for African countries passed the 10,000 mark.
• The Founder of Twitter, Jack Dorsey, is donating $1 billion to fight the coronavirus pandemic.

Stakeholders

• Responding to news that just 2,022 Coronavirus business loans have been approved so far, Bridget Phillipson, Labour’s Shadow Chief Secretary to the Treasury said: “With so many businesses struggling during this crisis, the Government needs to ensure they can access the financial support they need”.
• The Welsh Liberal Democrats have given their support to calls for an urgent all-party meeting to discuss remote working for Westminster, urging MPs to follow the actions taken to allow the Senedd to function virtually.
• The Investment Association has written to the Chairs of all FTSE 350 companies, expressing the industry’s commitment to supporting British business during the extraordinary economic circumstances caused by the COVID-19 pandemic.
• A letter co-ordinated by former UK Prime Minister Gordon Brown, and signed by 100 other former Presidents and Prime Ministers, has called for a G20 task force to be established in order to co-ordinate a response to Covid-19.
• Ipsos Mori released a poll of over 1000 18-75-year olds revealing the financial impact of COVID-19 on personal finances, and the disproportionate impact on younger generations.

Unconfirmed reports

• Several papers speculate this morning about how long Johnson may need to recover from Covid-19. The Times reports : “senior figures in No. 10 accept the prime minister will need a period of recuperation after recovery,” noting “one week for every day spent in intensive care is the rule of thumb.”
• An academic from the University of East Anglia told the Mail : “most people who were that ill to need at least a month, or possibly two, to be sufficiently back and to be able to function.”