COVID-19 Coronavirus UK and World News update 10th May 2020.

COVID-19 Coronavirus UK and World News update 10th May 2020.

The UK added 3,923 cases today and now has reported a total of 219,183 positive cases of COVID-19. We completed 92,837 tests yesterday.

In the 24 hours up until 5pm yesterday, we lost another 269 people who have tested positive to COVID-19. We now very sadly have a total of 31,855 losses of life in all settings.

England 135,982 / 28,467
Northern Ireland 4,119 / 430
Scotland 13,486 / 1,847
Wales 11,344 / 1,111

Rep. Of Ireland 22,996 (+236) cases and 1,458 (+12) losses of life.

There have now been a total of 4,152,885 reported cases worldwide. The number of people who have lost their lives worldwide to COVID-19 is now 282,733. Already 1,465,595 people have recovered.

"Important we take one step at a time towards the new normal. We’re not out of the woods. It’s about steady progress rather than making a dash for the exit."
Arlene Foster, First Minister for Northern Ireland.

We had Boris's long-awaited and pre-recorded gig at 7pm today, so this report is a little late.
He said what an excellent job we've done, because the reasonable worst case scenario was 500,000 losses of life. He also said that we can't throw away what we've already achieved.
We have a plan, but it is conditional and we cannot move forward unless we satisfy the 5 tests.
We are establishing a new 'COVID Alert Level', which will have 5 levels, from "we have no COVID in the UK" at 1, to "the NHS is in danger of or being overwhelmed" at 5. Throughout lockdown we have been at level 4, but we are looking towards level 3.
In order for this to work, we need world class testing.
The R level is between 0.5 and 0.9, but potentially not far below 1, so it is not yet time to reduce the lockdown.
Work from home if you can, but if you can't, please try to go to work.
Avoid public transport if at all possible.
Employers are receiving guidance on how to make workplaces safe.
From Wednesday people can take unlimited amounts of outdoor exercise. Social distancing rules must be adhered to, but you can drive there, and you can play sports with members of your household.
In order that social distancing is taken seriously, fines will be increased for those who break social distancing rules.
If we keep to these rules, then in the weeks and months ahead, we can look at reducing restrictions, depending always on the data.
"In step 2, at the earliest by June 1st, after half term, we believe we may be in a position to begin the phased reopening of shops, and to get primary pupils back into school, in stages, beginning with Reception, Year 1 and Year 6. It is our ambition that secondary pupils facing exams next year will get at least some time with their teachers before the holidays."
Step 3 at the earliest by July, we will hope to reopen at least some hospitality and other public places, as long as it's safe, socially distanced and the numbers support it.
Quarantine for arrivals to the UK by air will occur when cases here are lower.
If we can't proceed on those dates, we will simply wait until the time is right.

3 New York children have now died from the unknown multi-system inflammatory disease which we believe has a connection to COVID-19, and at least 73 children are now known to have the condition there. All of the children have tested positive for COVID-19 or it's antibodies, and many had no respiratory symptoms - shortness of breath, coughing etc.
The disease presents as very similar to Kawasaki Disease or Toxic Shock, with symptoms including prolonged fever, severe abdominal pain, change in skin color, racing heart and chest pain.

England have a new slogan,  Stay Alert. Control The Virus. Save Lives. I'm not sure if that's a message for us or the government? Will there be bells and whistles? Flashy lights? What am I being alert to? Gonna be tricky with a disease where around 30% or more don't get any noticeable symptoms. We need big pus-filled buboes for Stay Alert to make any sense.
Don't get me started on Control The Virus...

Scottish, Welsh and Irish leaders took around 20 seconds today to make it known they ARE NOT IMPRESSED with the English government's new green-for-go edged purposefully ambiguous slogan.
Nicola Sturgeon, First Minister for Scotland:
"The Sunday papers is the first I’ve seen of the PM’s new slogan. It is of course for him to decide what’s most appropriate for England, but given the critical point we are at in tackling the virus, #StayHomeSaveLives remains my clear message to Scotland at this stage."
Mark Drakeford, First Minister for Wales:
"My message to the people of Wales hasn’t changed.
Staying at home is the best way you can protect yourself and others.
If you do need to leave the house for essential purposes, including exercise, it is vital that you keep 2 metres apart from others."

Brazil has reported over 10,000 losses of life in 6 weeks. National newspaper O Globo has the names of every one of the victims in today's paper.
President Bolsonaro still refuses to believe there is any great risk. 

The Hackney Police yesterday tweeted a photo of tons of people enjoying the park in the sunshine.
"OpPIMA and sadly we’re fighting a losing battle in the parks today. Literally hundreds of people sitting having pizza, beers, wines. As always a big thank you to those that are observing the guidelines #StayHomeSaveLives #ProtectOurNHS #lockdownuk".
They had literally given up.

3 members of the White House coronavirus task force are self-quarantining, after being in contact with someone who later tested positive. Dr. Robert Redfield - director of the CDC, Stephen Hahn - commissioner of the FDA, and Anthony Fauci - lead member of the task force.

Nigeria don't mess about. Governor Wick has demolished hotels in Port Harcourt for flouting lockdown rules. Non-essential travel is banned. Anyone found flouting rules has their vehicle impounded and auctioned.

Thanks to everyone who replied or messaged about water infections after having COVID-19. You are thankfully a small, but still not insubstantial, number.
The COVID-19 virus has this week been extracted alive from a single sample of urine by scientists in China, but an earlier study couldn't even find it in the urine of 72 patients, so it's probably not a primary cause.
You are more susceptible to secondary bacterial infections when your immune system is already working flat out to beat something else, so it's something to watch out for during recovery - including in children, who may not have any idea what a urine infection feels like, and be unable to explain where the pain is.

A 70-year-old patient, who has been quarantined in a hospital in China since April 9, and had tested negative 7 times, has finally tested positive on May 9.

An article in German media claims Dr Tedros, head of the World Health Organisation, was asked by China to delay announcing human-to-human transmission and declaring a Pandemic. The WHO have said:
"Statement on False Allegations in Der Spiegel: Reports of a 21 Jan phone call between DrTedros & China's President Xi are unfounded & untrue. They didn’t speak on 21 Jan & have never spoken by phone.
Such inaccurate reports distract & detract from WHO's & the world’s efforts to end COVID19."
It's worth noting that China publicly declared human-to-human transmission on 20th Jan themselves.

Poland had elections today, except they didn't. Their government and opposition couldn't decide whether to postpone or cancel, and legally it became too late to do either. No-one is able to open polling stations or vote due to the lockdown. Zero turnout.

A new study has found SARS-CoV-2, the virus that causes COVID-19, in the semen of 6 out of 38 men studied, including 2 who were in recovery. Well done to all of them for providing a sample while ill!
Viruses can be carried in semen, we know of 27, including obviously those which we consider to be 'sexually-transmitted'. We don't yet know if COVID-19 in semen is alive, let alone in good enough shape to infect someone else, and if you are that close then you're likely to catch it from their breath anyway.
It's obviously going to be a while before we find out if it has any affect on a subsequent foetus, or fertility when you are ill. Nothing tragic is anticipated, but it's usually best to just wait until you're at full health anyway. 

This is how contact tracing works. As I've mentioned the last couple of days, South Korea have a cluster outbreak of around 40 cases, because of a single night out enjoyed by someone who was infectious and visited 3 clubs in Seoul.
An alert has gone out on their contact tracing app. and now human contact tracers are trying to locate around 7,200 people who were in the same clubs on the same night.
Everyone who comes forward will be tested and have to isolate until officials are sure they aren't infected.
All clubs and bars in South Korea have sadly been shut again, until further notice.

5 players from Spain's top 2 football divisions have tested positive.

China has reported their first case in a month in Wuhan, where COVID-19 is first known to have broken out.

China are not messing about with COVID-19. They are determined to stamp it out and have a risk level system in place. Cases in your area can mean non-essential transport bans, shops and schools shutting, and even full stay at home lockdown.

An Iranian government spokesman says Tehran is "ready to exchange prisoners with the US, because of corona outbreak in US prisons & concerns regarding Iranian citizens in those jails. no preconditions. no intermediation needed, could all go thorough Iran representative at UN".
Iran has also struggled with prison outbreaks. It would help both countries.

According to the World Health Organisation, there are still no known cases of anyone becoming infected by food or food packaging. Good stuff.

Greece are lifting lockdown restrictions. They locked down early and have really done an excellent job of keeping COVID-19 under control. They have reported 2,716 (+6) cases, and lost 151 people.

Some people. I've shown them as numbers because I don't know all of their names:

Countries / cases / losses of life (some states yet to report):

USA 1,353,534 (+6,225) 80,351 (+314)
Spain 264,663 (+1,880) 26,621 (+143)
UK 219,183 (+3,923) 31,855 (+268)
Italy 219,070 (+802) 30,560 (+165)
Russia 209,688 (+11,012) 1,915 (+88)
France 176,658 not yet reported today 26,310
Germany 171,704 (+380) 7,549
Brazil 156,604 (+543) 10,697 (+41)
Turkey 138,657 (+1,542) 3,786 (+47)
Iran 107,603 (+1,383) 6,640 (+51)
China 82,901 (+14) 4,633
Canada 68,003 (+301) 4,728 (+35)
India 65,021 (+2,213) 2,153 (+52)
Peru 65,015 not yet reported today 1,814
Belgium 53,081 (+485) 8,656 (+75)
Netherlands 42,627 (+245) 5,440 (+18)
Saudi Arabia 39,048 (+1,912) 246 (+7)
Mexico 33,460 (+1,938) 3,353 (+193)
Pakistan 30,334 (+1,598) 659 (+23)
Switzerland 30,305 (+54) 1,830
Portugal 27,581 (+175) 1,135 (+9)
Sweden 26,322 (+401) 3,225 (+5)
.
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Sources

https://www.worldometers.info/coronavirus/
https://coronavirus.data.gov.uk/
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