The UK added 6,032 cases today and now has reported a total of 171,253 positive cases of COVID-19.
In the 24 hours up until 5pm yesterday, we lost another 674 people to COVID-19. We now sadly have a total of 26,711 losses of life. The UK are now adding ALL positive-testing loss of life to the daily totals, wherever it occurs.
Total numbers given:
England 118,343 / 24,110
Northern Ireland 3,536 / 338
Scotland 11,353 / 1,415
Wales 9,812 / 908
Rep. Of Ireland have 20,612 (+359) cases and 1,232 (+42) losses of life.
There have now been 3,272,102 reported cases worldwide. The number of people who have lost their lives worldwide to COVID-19 is now 231,312. Already 1,031,502 people have recovered.
Guess who was back for today's UK briefing? That man who used to be Prime Minister! Yes, it was Boris himself, just sneaking 1 appearance in for April. He thanked the NHS for his life, and apologised for not being here.
Tomorrow is our deadline for 100k tests a day - we managed 81,611 yesterday, so not bad at all - they are trying.
We have 15,043 people in hospital today.
We have so far succeeded - numbers are all going down, and no patient went without a ventilator, or intensive care. The reasonable worst case scenario was 500,000 deaths. "We are past the peak and we are on the downward slope."
Today Oxford University has announced a partnership with Astra Zenica, so that when a vaccine is ready, it will be available as soon as possible, not only to the UK, but affordably to poorer countries.
Next week he will set out a comprehensive plan for how to restart the economy. We are being guided by the science, and will try to build political cross-party consensus, support of the population, and it will rely on the 5 key tests.
1. Protect the NHS ability to cope.
2. Sustained fall in deaths,
3. Infection rate falling (consistently below R1 = reproductive rate 1).
4. Operational and logistical challenges on testing and PPE sufficient
5. We must not overwhelm the NHS with a huge peak.
Our R rate at the moment seems to be around 0.7-0.9. We can't give a precise figure as to when we can reduce restrictions, but we know we need a bit of a 'head start', we can't just go for it now. It would be back at over R=1 or more in days.
Patrick Vallance did the slides. 2/5 of our positive cases added yesterday were tested outside hospitals. This is due to the expansion of testing. We do have slightly more people in hospital, but it's a small increase. London and the North West are up, everywhere else is slightly down. Critical care is down overall everywhere. Our trajectory is slightly above Italy, France and Spain. Remember the figures in the slides are 2 days old.
Public asked a question about tourism. The lady is worried everyone will go on holiday jaunts to Cornwall and take COVID-19 with them. Boris said that movement like that is not currently allowed, and will only be allowed once we reduce restrictions.
The other public question was about mental health - Chris Whitty answered - he looks slightly healthier today. The NHS now has scope to re-open urgent and essential services, and this includes mental health.
Mental Health Care charities have also been supported by specific grants. On the NHS website you can find NHS and charity details. The Samaritans are available to listen 24 hours a day - call 116 123
Press asked about Cancer patients. Chris Whitty spoke about Cancer care, as well as strokes and heart attacks. He said as much of the NHS as possible is going back online, including care for these patients, as well as testing and screening.
That's another reminder to GO TO HOSPITAL if you need to. Areas are separated. I know two people who've had emergency surgery in the last fortnight, neither have caught COVID-19 or come to any harm.
Boris mentioned face coverings, and said they'll be discussed next week, as they will be handy coming out of the lockdown. I think that's our second clear clue it is likely to be something that features in our future. Start choosing your material.
Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe plans to extend the national emergency for another month.
Tajikistan has reported it's first case of COVID-19. *very sad face*
The Isle Of Skye has confirmed their first cases. *very sad face*
Frontline health and social care workers with visas due to expire before 1 October 2020 will receive an automatic one year extension. This includes staff from overseas working as midwives, radiographers, social workers and pharmacists.
There are so many things I could say right now about realising true value, but I'm not allowed to be political.
Social networking platform TikTok has pledged $10m to Gavi’s (global vaccine alliance) life-saving immunisation programmes and future deployment of COVID-19 vaccines.
The Ruler of Dubai, Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum, has bought 60 tonnes of of PPE to donate to the NHS. The first of several plane loads has already arrived at Heathrow from suppliers in China.
Vietnam have tested 792 people for every single positive case of COVID-19. Talk about contact tracing!
The UK have tested less than 5 people for every positive case.
Since January the role of children in transmitting COVID-19 has been a big unknown, and it seems it will stay that way a while longer. Several recent pre-print studies (not yet peer-reviewed) are conflicted:
1. A French study of a 9 year old boy with COVID-19 determined he didn't pass it to anyone else, despite coming into contact with over 170 people.
2. A Swiss study felt children under 10 rarely catch COVID-19 because they don't have the receptors where the virus attaches, so pose little risk to vulnerable people. They are allowing Grandparents to see their young grandchildren for short periods, as long as they show no symptoms.
Daniel Koch, Switzerland's infectious disease chief:
"Young children are not infected and do not transmit the virus."
"They just don't have the receptors to catch the disease."
3. Data from The Netherlands was used to inform the Dutch position:
"The virus is mainly spread between adults and from adult family members to children. Cases of children infecting each other or children infecting adults are less common."
4. However, a new German study of 3,712 patients has found:
"Analysis of variance of viral loads in patients of different age categories
found no significant difference between any pair of age categories including children. In particular, these data indicate that viral loads in the very young do not differ significantly from those of adults. Based on these results, we have to caution against an unlimited re-opening of schools and kindergartens in the present situation. Children may be as infectious as adults."
5. ...and finally, a study from Wuhan and Shanghai which looks at contact patterns (how many people we mix with) and how easily we seem to catch COVID-19.
They found that children 0-14 years are less susceptible than adults 15-64 years of age (around 1/3 as likely). In contrast, individuals over 65 years are more susceptible to infection than adults 15-64 (around 1 1/2 times as likely). "We find that social distancing alone, as implemented in China during the outbreak, is sufficient to control COVID-19. While proactive school closures cannot interrupt transmission on their own, they can reduce peak incidence by 40-60% and delay the epidemic."
Aldi UK will be providing the option of face masks to all store-based staff.
Doctors are using modified snorkel masks as reusable PPE. There's a pre-print study which looks at how effective they are. The answer is very.
Since mid-April, several clusters of COVID-19 have been reported in major cities in Heilongjiang province, China. Officially around 500 cases in all and they are mainly imported, as Chinese nationals return from Russia. Restrictions on movement, opening of shops, driving of vehicles and leaving the house are in place.
China, Vietnam, Malaysia, Thailand and Australia are among the countries preparing to resume or increase domestic flights.
The top 20 contenders for American Idol are performing from their homes, rather than the series being cancelled or postponed. We need more of this.
"Today, the European Region accounts for 46% of cases and 63% of deaths globally. The Region remains very much in the grip of this pandemic."
"Spain, followed by Italy, the United Kingdom, Germany and France still have the highest number of cases. But following social and physical distancing measures introduced some weeks ago, we are now seeing evidence of a plateau or reduction in the number of new cases."
Hans Kluge, Regional Director, WHO Europe.
Kobe, a 16-day old baby, has become the youngest COVID-19 survivor in the Philippines. He tested positive at 5 days old and is now fully recovered. Apparently staff sent him home with posters saying "Kobe beats COVID".
South Korea has reported no new cases today. Taiwan and Hong Kong have both reported 0 new cases for 5 days. Well done to you all.
Captain Tom Moore, on his 100th birthday, has been promoted to Colonel. His 100 lap walk has raised over £30m for the NHS.
I've changed the figures today. I read that most people in the UK don't appreciate how large our loss of life is compared to other countries, so I'm showing them not with most cases at the top, but the countries with highest loss of life - just for today.
Some people. I've shown them as numbers here because I don't know all of their names:
Countries / Cases / Losses of life (some states yet to report):
USA 1,075,276 (+11,082) 62,299 (+644)
Italy 205,463 (+1,872) 27,967 (+285)
UK 171,253 (+6,032) 26,711 (+674)
Spain 239,639 (+2,740) 24,543 (+268)
France 166,420 Not yet reported today 24,087
Belgium 48,519 (+660) 7,594 (+93)
Germany 162,123 (+584) 6,518 (+51)
Iran 94,640 (+983) 6,028 (+71)
Brazil 80,246 (+885) 5,541 (+30)
Netherlands 39,316 (+514) 4,795 (+84)
China 82,862 (+4) 4,633
Turkey 120,204 (+2,615) 3,174 (+93)
Canada 52,069 (+472) 3,082 (+86)
Sweden 21,092 (+790) 2,586 (+124 )
Switzerland 29,586 (+179) 1,737 (+21)
Mexico 17,799 (+1,047) 1,732 (+163)
Ireland 20,612 (+359) 1,232 (+42)
India 33,610 (+548) 1,079
Russia 106,498 (+7,099) 1,073 (+101)
Portugal 25,045 (+540) 989 (+16)
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https://www.worldometers.info/coronavirus/
https://twitter.com/BBCHughPym/status/1255875971196096512
https://gulfnews.com/world/asia/philippines/16-day-old-baby-youngest-covid-19-survivor-in-the-philippines-1.1588247707493
https://twitter.com/i/events/1219057585707315201
https://edition.cnn.com/travel/amp/asia-domestic-flights-covid-19-intl-hnk/index.html
https://twitter.com/WHO_Europe/status/1255783740745244672?s=19
https://twitter.com/WilliamYang120/status/1255745433676083200?s=19
https://twitter.com/DHSCgovuk/status/1255839317143871489?s=19
https://www3.nhk.or.jp/nhkworld/en/news/20200430_19/amp.html
https://science.sciencemag.org/content/early/2020/04/28/science.abb8001
https://www.t-online.de/nachrichten/panorama/id_87786530/drosten-warnt-bei-kita-oeffnungen-vor-vorschnellem-handeln-ansteckungsgefahr-hoch.html
https://www.thelancet.com/journals/lanchi/article/PIIS2352-4642(20)30095-X/fulltext
https://www.manchestereveningnews.co.uk/news/uk-news/aldi-new-face-mask-policy-18169464
https://zoonosen.charite.de/fileadmin/user_upload/microsites/m_cc05/virologie-ccm/dateien_upload/Weitere_Dateien/analysis-of-SARS-CoV-2-viral-load-by-patient-age.pdf
https://academic.oup.com/cid/advance-article/doi/10.1093/cid/ciaa424/5819060
https://www.medrxiv.org/content/10.1101/2020.04.24.20078907v1
https://www.rivm.nl/en/novel-coronavirus-covid-19/children-and-covid-19
https://amp.dw.com/en/china-tries-to-contain-new-coronavirus-outbreak/a-53280411
https://www.express.co.uk/news/world/1275155/coronavirus-news-latest-scientific-research-covid-19-switzerland-death-rates/amp
Blood clotting
https://www.medrxiv.org/content/10.1101/2020.04.25.20077842v1
Another informative update. I love how you have the positive with the negative. Thank you xx
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