The Brick Castle: COVID-19 Coronavirus UK and World News update 1st June 2020.

Monday, 1 June 2020

COVID-19 Coronavirus UK and World News update 1st June 2020.

The UK added 1,570 cases today (lowest number since 25th march) and now has reported a total of 276,332 positive cases of COVID-19. We completed 128,437 tests yesterday. 7,541 people are in hospital, down from 8830 this time last week.

In the 24 hours up until 5pm yesterday, we lost another 111 people who have tested positive to COVID-19. We now very sadly have a total of 39,045 losses of life in all settings.

England 152,470 / 34,813

Northern Ireland 4,728 / 523

Scotland 15,418 2,362

Wales 14,054 / 1,347

Rep. Of Ireland 25,062 (+72) cases and 1,652 losses of life.

There have now been a total of 6,315,908 reported cases worldwide. The number of people who have lost their lives worldwide to COVID-19 is 374,955. Already 2,875,258 people have recovered.

Turns out the director of Primary Care for NHS England, Nikita Kanani, wasn't made aware of changes to shielding before the government announced it - her advice is no change, remain shielded.

Thank you to all of the teaching and school support staff in England, who no doubt had a very emotional day today, however many pupils you taught. I hope all of the children and grown ups had a really good start to an excellent week.

Everyone else, depending where you are, you can meet up with some people who hopefully live less than 5 miles away, to watch live TV horse racing or snooker, or visit an outdoor market, but remember you are still socially distancing from anyone who isn't in your own household.

Today's England briefing was with Matt Hancock, Health Minister and Coronavirus main man for England, and Professor John Newton, coordinator of the national testing effort.

He started by stressing that if you have symptoms of coronavirus, you have to go for a test. Go online or call 119. We need to stop spread.

Press are reporting that contact tracers are doing nothing. Matt said that's because cases have gone down. John said it's all working well, plenty of contacts are being contacted. Press asked for numbers, we didn't get any.

John explained that we are likely going forward to find for example hospital departments closed, or local areas locked down, when outbreaks are discovered.

Press asked about anxious shielded people who thought it was all a bit sudden. Matt said it wasn't rushed through and it was important for shielded people.

Press asked John how come devolved governments had the same advice, but have done something different? John blathered about eventually it'll iron out and it's very similar. In effect he pretty much admitted it was a political decision.

Democratic Republic of Congo could hardly be having a worse time. One of the very poorest countries in the world, it has not only coronavirus, but also the world's largest measles outbreak, and very sadly a new Ebola outbreak has been confirmed. 6 people are known to have been infected so far, 4 have already succumbed. Ebola is an incredibly nasty virus.

The situation in America has gone from bad to apocalyptic. Protests and riots are taking place everywhere. Some are very peaceful and alongside police, but wherever it's getting violent, it's completely without regard to any social distancing. It also exhausts hospitals, and emergency services, and destroys public trust in authority. It combines to create a situation ideal for a nasty COVID-19 spike, and frankly, civil war.

Donald Trump took to his bunker when protesters managed to get into the White House grounds. White House lights were also all turned off - traditionally this is a symbol the President is dead. He's been tweeting about how he's doing in the polls, so it's likely he's still alive.

The situation in Brazil is a little way past bad too. Protests are gathering against President Bolsonaro and his authorities, and emotions are high regarding racism, after the death of a 14 year old boy. It's another country with a massive undercurrent of COVID-19 infections, and this could lead to a huge spike in cases.

I'll say it for you, "what the hell is happening?".

Lets have some science. In a not yet peer-reviewed study, scientists from Yale have suggested the best way to forecast how many people have COVID-19 in your area, is to study the poo!

For 6 weeks they looked at how much COVID-19 RNA was in the sewage from New Haven, Connecticut. They found levels increased and decreased on a par with numbers of cases, but a few days earlier, before people even became ill. The poo results were around 7 days ahead of positive test results, and 3 days ahead of hospital admissions. They suggest a refined method of the trial could be used as an early warning for hospitals.

Latin America is now the epicentre of the crisis, with over a million cases confirmed currently. It's well-known this will not reflect the true situation, as limits to testing capacity are far below the number of people who should be tested.

South Africa has delayed reopening of schools by a week, to allow time for teachers to prepare and learn the new safety guidelines.

The US has 'kindly' sent Brazil more than 2 million doses of the drug Hydroxychloroquine - which has been pulled from trials in several countries, after preliminary results show it increases the mortality rate for COVID-19 patients. (Regift! Give it to a country which has a malaria problem.)

IKEA reopened today in England, because they luckily already designed the entire store in a snake formation to avoid people wandering unnecessarily. Judging by the aerial photos, around 3 million people had run out of tealights and spent their day in the queue.

South Africa's ban on alcohol is lifted today.

Australian cafes, restaurants, bars and beauty salons have re-opened today.

The Philippines have moved to General Community Quarantine (GCQ) and resumed Public Transport - with these restrictions:

- Wearing of face masks at all times

- Implementation of no-contact measures such as cashless payments.

- Use of thermal scanners

- Availability of alcohol and sanitizers in Public Utility Vehicles (PUVs)

- Disinfection of high-touch surfaces of vehicles

- Establishment of disinfection facilities in various public transport terminals

- Contact Tracing

The Show Must Be Paused Black Lives Matter

There's a very peaceful and silent protest tomorrow in support of #BlackLivesMatter and every person who has suffered because of the colour of their skin. 'Blackout Tuesday' will see a pause throughout the music industry, so your favourite radio programme or podcast may not happen. #TheShowMustBePaused

Some people - all with their own favourite song:

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

USA 1,842,844 (+5,674) 106,322 (+127)

Brazil 514,992 (+143) 29,341 (+27)

Russia 414,878 (+9,035) 4,855 (+162)

Spain 286,509 not yet reported today 27,127

UK 276,332 (+1,570) 39,045 (+111)

Italy 233,197 (+200) 33,475 (+60)

India 197,808 (+7,199) 5,603 (+195)

France 188,882 not yet reported today 28,802

Germany 183,596 (+102) 8,610 (+5)

Chile 105,159 (+5,471) 1,113 (+59)