Covid-19 Daily Bulletin

11 Sep

11 September 2020

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

Key Announcements:

  • The Office for National Statistics (ONS) said gross domestic product (GDP) rose by 6.6 per cent in July, continuing a rebound from the Covid-19 crisis as non-essential shops reopened and lockdown measures were relaxed. This comes after Britain entered the deepest recession since records began in the three months to June, in an economic decline outstripping any other advanced economy after the UK entered lockdown later than other countries and took longer to relax restrictions. GDP is now 18.6 per cent higher than its lowest ebb in April after the pandemic brought economic activity to a standstill. However, it remains 11.7 per cent below the levels recorded in February 2020 before the disease spread to Britain.
  • The ONS infection rate survey data will be published at midday today and will give an indication of how worried the government should be about a second coronavirus wave. The infection rate survey will be out at midday here , while at some point new R numbers will be released here . Government scientists are sure the overall rate will be above one, following the rise in incidences among young people. Keep an eye out for figures from Birmingham, which is rumoured to be next in line for a potential local lock down.
  • Following Boris Johnson’s lead, Welsh First Minister Mark Drakeford and Scottish First Minister Nicola Sturgeon both announced a ban on groups of more than 6 people. Both, however, have added their own caveats to the rule, with up to 30 people able to meet up outside in Wales and children under 12 being exempt in Scotland.
  • COVID-19 hospital admissions are on the up in all seven NHS regions in England, according to the I Newspaper “suggesting the recent surge in cases among younger age groups is now affecting older and more vulnerable people.”
  • Rishi Sunak faces pressure to extend the furlough scheme from the Commons Treasury committee. The Committee has said that the Government should consider a “targeted” extension to avoid a cliff-edge when the scheme ends in October and warned of mass long-term unemployment otherwise.

Regional/Devolved

  • A cluster of coronavirus cases with links to healthcare settings has been identified in the Dumfries area . NHS Dumfries and Galloway’s public health teams are investigating the outbreak and working with the locations which have been identified. It said some of the locations were “healthcare settings”. Those who had close contact with a positive case are being contacted by the local Test and Protect team, the health board confirmed.
  • People in Wales must wear facemasks in shops and other indoor public spaces from Monday, the first minister has announced. Mark Drakeford said: “Today for the first time we will go to a point where 20 people in 100,000 are suffering from coronavirus in Wales. That is the threshold we use for people to have to quarantine coming back into the UK. And having reached that today, we will be making the use of face coverings mandatory in shops and in closed public spaces in Wales.”

International

  • The UN has called for an immediate “quantum leap” in funding to fight coronavirus. The secretary general, Antonio Guterres, urged countries to find £15bn over the next three months to fund the ACT-Accelerator programme, a global collaboration for a vaccine and treatments led by the World Health Organization. “Either we stand together, or we will be doomed,” Guterres said, calling the virus the “number one global security threat”.
  • Global infections have passed 28m and deaths stand at 909,479, according to John Hopkins data. The first four countries in terms of infections, the US, India, Brazil and Russia, account for nearly 58 per cent of all cases.
  • India has set another global one-day record for coronavirus infections. The country reported 96,551 new cases. Deaths have remained relatively low in the country, but are seeing an upward trend, with more than one thousand deaths being reported every day for the last ten days. The country’s total reported cases are 4,562,414, according to Johns Hopkins University data, and deaths stand at 76,271.