The UK added 4,339 cases today and now has reported a total of 186,599 positive cases of COVID-19. We completed 76,496 tests yesterday. The UK has 14,284 people in hospital, down from 14,695 yesterday.
In the 24 hours up until 5pm yesterday, we lost another 315 people to COVID-19. We now sadly have a total of 28,446 losses of life. The UK are now adding ALL positive-testing loss of life to the daily totals, wherever it occurs.
England 124,861 / 25,528
Northern Ireland 3,767 / 376
Scotland 12,097 / 1,559
Wales 10,329 / 983
Rep. Of Ireland have 21,506 cases and 1,303 losses of life.
There have now been 3,531,120 reported cases worldwide. The number of people who have lost their lives worldwide to COVID-19 is now 246,825. Already 1,131,423 people have recovered.
Today's UK briefing was with Michael Gove, Chancellor.
Boris will explain our plans for easing restrictions next week, but just because we have a plan, won't change the fact the 5 tests need to be met before we can enact it.
Well over a billion items of PPE have been distributed. 20m were delivered on 2nd May alone.
The test, track and trace app will pilot next week on the Isle Of Wight.
He went back over what they've done to support schools. Over 60% of schools have been open every day. 49% of pupils in schools at the moment are classed as 'vulnerable'. Laptops are on order for vulnerable children taking exams.
Extra money is pledged to adult social care, to support vulnerable adults.
The COVID Support Force of the MOD is now of 20,000 people and is supporting local authorities.
200,000 calls a day are being made to shielded people.
Prof Steve Powis, of NHS England reminded us of the 5 tests yet again. New slides showing what IOS users have been up to. Numbers, even with much more testing, are down - good evidence that numbers genuinely are declining. Can you imagine how high they'd have been a month ago?
Critical Care bed use is around 30% or less across the UK.
Public asked what lessons we've learned, and will we be prepared for a 2nd wave? Mike said we are learning all the time, and so are other countries. This is very true. Steve said we have everything in place and we will keep it in place alongside the services we are now restarting. We weren't overwhelmed, we are ready in case it happens. He took a lot longer - I've used my own words.
Public and press asked about balance between the positive and negative effects of lockdown. Basically if we all come out too early, we have to start over again, so it is not worth doing. (Lockdown has a negative effect on a lot of people's mental health, but so does watching people you care about dying, and afterwards the former will be far easier to cope with. It is a fine line, but there has to be a line. Keep going, this time will pass.)
Press asked about the changes the lockdowns make. It's hard to say exactly, but the predictions have been fairly accurate, which makes us believe what could have happened without lockdowns, and we can be hopeful about what will happen next. (Remember we were always around 3-4 weeks behind Italy, and our peak lasted a little longer, so we should be a good 4 weeks behind now. That's how slowly we will come down the curve).
Press asked if we could have saved lives if we'd tested more at the beginning? (The answer is a firm YES). Mike said we will of course look back and reflect (ahhhh, memories. Remember that time when the World Health Organisation kept saying "test, test, TEST"). Then he rambled about how good we are now. They have done really well to raise testing levels - now.
One member of press actually asked, "when was the exact date and time we passed through the peak?" and "what is the R number now?" and "when will the lockdown end?". Mike nipped to Knaresborough and dug up Mother Shipton, who gave the answer "Wednesday", and everyone went away happy. (The last bit didn't happen).
Press asked about the large numbers of people from BMI groups who are losing their lives. Michael Gove said we do need to look at biological reasons, and also socio-economic. Yes, we do. Is it because of physical differences, or is it because BMI groups are more likely to be low-paid, deprived, and /or frontline?
A poll by Opiniom for the Observer has found only 17% of people think it's time to lift the lockdown. Judging by the press questions at the UK briefings and the Sunday morning headlines, most of that 17% are reporters or just someone desperate to sell newspapers.
Abu Dhabi Stem Cell Centre have treated 73 patients with a spray containing activated stem cells from their own blood. All patients have recovered, despite about 25% being in intensive care. More trials will take place.
The Marion Correctional Institution in Ohio has an horrific outbreak. More than 80% of its nearly 2,500 inmates, and 175 of the staff, have tested positive for COVID-19.
Around 20% of seriously ill COVID-19 patients in the UK have had to be treated for kidney failure. We may not now need more ventilators, but we do need more kidney machines.
Previously it was thought possible that some drugs for heart and blood pressure treatment might make you more likely to become severely ill or die from COVID-19. It looks like that isn't the case.
A study of 8910 patients published in New England Medical Journal has found no indication that ACE Inhibitors or ARBs have any negative effect on outcome. (Although many heart conditions do themselves carry an increased risk, as does hypertension.)
India know they have no chance of keeping up with COVID-19 testing, so they are examining wastewater (sewage) for signs of virus, to try and assess how widespread the outbreak is.
The UK's Contact Tracing app. is already under fire before it's been released. It appears that pro-leave backers have been employed to create it, which has annoyed some people - and lowered their level of trust.
It seems to rely on bluetooth being on all the time, using up your battery, and word is it also uses your data.
Google and Apple have both already offered their own apps. for any country worldwide, which don't need bluetooth turned on and don't use your data allowance.
The US have given Swiss drug manufacturer Roche emergency approval from the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) for their antibody test. In tests it has an accuracy of 99.8% and gives very few false positives, and no false negatives.
Nothing to do with COVID, but Kim Jong-Un is alive and appears well, but sadly North and South Korea have been exchanging gunfire.
Following the US a few days ago, Japan plans to approve Remdesivir for use with COVID-19 patients. It was originally created to treat Ebola, and seems to improve recovery time by around 4 days.
Madagascar have a herbal drink named COVID-ORGANICS which they claim can protect you from severe effects of COVID-19, and according to about half of Twitter, they've sent tons of the stuff to 15 other African nations.
If you are waiting for money back from flights, you aren't alone. Airlines are looking at a bill which would fund a small country for years. Many are offering vouchers instead of cash at this point, and several are asking for local laws to be temporarily relaxed due to the pandemic, to remove requirements for cash reimbursements.
Some governments are also keen to change rulings - Belgium, Bulgaria, Cyprus, the Czech Republic, Greece, France, Ireland, Latvia, Malta, the Netherlands, Poland and Portugal have signed a joint letter to the EU Commission.
I mentioned yesterday that if you are in a situation of domestic abuse, you can ask to go into the consultation room in Boots and you'll be able to get help. I have a correction that this is also available in some other pharmacies, and other large pharmacy chains are being encouraged to take part.
Malaysia will start lifting some restrictions on May 4th, but they have an incredibly comprehensive list of activities that will still be banned, including:
Forestry training
Fruit festivals
Clothes folding in a public laundry
Cruise ships
Wedding exhibitions
Busking
In West Texas, a group of more than 1,000 amateur aviators have come together, to voluntarily transport essential medical supplies to remote areas.
The largest number of Leatherback Sea Turtles seen for 20 years have
returned to Thailand's deserted beaches. They are considered a vulnerable species, at risk of becoming endangered, so this is an excellent result.
With India locked down, hundreds of thousands of pink flamingos have ventured into Mumbai, filling the rivers and creating a really spectacular sight.
Today Churches across the country, of many different Christian denominations, came together to sing a blessing. If God or uplifting music are your thing, it's probably well worth a watch. You can find it by searching The UK Blessing.
In Iran, one of the very worst and longest hit countries, they now feel able to reopen schools and mosques in some of the lower risk areas.
Some people. They're shown as numbers, but they are all people:
Countries / Cases / Losses of life (some states yet to report):
USA 1,170,184 (+9,410) 68,002 (+558)
Spain 247,122 (+1,533) 25,264 (+164)
Italy 210,717 (+1,389) 28,884 (+174)
UK 186,599 (+4,339) 28,446 (+315)
France 168,396 Yet to report 24,760
Germany 165,183 (+216) 6,812
Russia 134,687 (+10,633) 1,280 (+58)
Turkey 126,045 (+1,670) 3,397 (+61)
Iran 97,424 (+976) 6,203 (+47)
Brazil 97,100 (+541) 6,761 (+11)
China 82,877 (+2) 4,633
Canada 57,148 (+434) 3,606 (+40)
Belgium 49,906 (+389) 7,844 (+79)
Peru 42,534 not yet reported today 1,200
Netherlands 40,571 (+335) 5,056 (+69)
India 40,263 (+564) 1,323
Switzerland 29,905 (+88) 1,762
Qatar 15,551 (+679) 12
Greece 2,626 (+6) 144 (+1)
.
Sources:
https://www.hindustantimes.com/world-news/covid-19-mosques-and-schools-to-reopen-in-iran-s-low-risk-areas/story-Q5FOBdhszwy12YwDmcPTwJ.html
https://www.reuters.com/article/us-health-coronavirus-testing-roche-hldg-idUSKBN22F02Q
https://twitter.com/AMRAF18/status/1256952038329630721
https://twitter.com/drsubramanians/status/1246875266179198976
https://t.co/Vi9dPaXst2
https://www.nejm.org/doi/full/10.1056/NEJMoa2007621
https://www.texastribune.org/2020/04/30/west-texas-volunteer-pilots-deliver-medical-supplies-hospitals/amp/?__twitter_impression=true
https://news.yahoo.com/coronavirus-sweeping-massive-us-prison-population-015334032.html
https://twitter.com/Jonathan_MBanks/status/1256652327748067328?s=19
https://twitter.com/ASEAN/status/1256780615216779265?s=19
https://www.nippon.com/en/news/yjj2020050200238/
https://amp.thenational.ae/uae/health/coronavirus-uae-medics-to-ramp-up-stem-cell-trials-after-encouraging-results-1.1013972
https://amp.theguardian.com/world/2020/may/02/fearful-britons-oppose-lifting-lockdown-schools-pubs-restaurants-opinium-poll
https://www.indiatoday.in/science/story/sewage-coronavirus-surveillance-1673298-2020-05-01
https://euobserver.com/coronavirus/148219
https://www.rojakpot.com/malaysia-economic-reopening/
https://twitter.com/drsubramanians/status/1246875266179198976
https://www.hestia.org/news/press-release-campaign-launches-safe-space-in-boots-stores-for-victims-of-domestic-abuse-across-the-uk
What we do and don't know about
COVID-19 deaths - fullfact
https://fullfact.org/health/covid-deaths/
It is good to see the stats go down, but I am really worried about the pressures on the government to relax lockdown. I fear we do too much too soon. Time will tell xx
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