COVID-19 Coronavirus UK and World News update 15th June 2020.
The UK added 1,056 cases today and now has reported a total of 296,857 positive cases of COVID-19. We completed 93,163 tests yesterday. 395 people are in critical care, down from 556 on 5th June. We have 5,507 people in hospital, down from 6,826 last week. (Today's numbers will be affected by weekend reporting, so are artificially low, but still show important progress week on week.)
In the 24 hours up until 5pm yesterday, we lost another 38 people who have tested positive to COVID-19. We now very sadly have a total of 41,736 losses of life in all settings.
England 157,293 / 37,299
Northern Ireland 4,852 / 541
Scotland 15,687 / 2,448
Wales 14,804 / 1,448
Rep. Of Ireland 25,321 (+18) cases and 1,706 losses of life. (No deaths in the whole of Ireland were reported today.)
There have now been a total of 8,058,676 reported cases worldwide. The number of people who have lost their lives worldwide to COVID-19 is 436,996. Already 4,164,472 people have recovered.
Shops reopened in England today (it was Northern Ireland's turn on Friday), and they must have been giving away gold bars with every purchase, judging by the photos of scrums and queues outside Nike, Primani, Bicester Village etc etc. We are not alone. There were also massive queues of people when they reopened in Germany, The Netherlands, Denmark and pretty much any country you care to mention. It seems the world revolves on shopping.
Today's England briefing reminded us of all the changes to guidelines over the last 3 days, including bubbles, private prayer, shops, school children, safari parks etc. We are reminded that social distancing must always be adhered to, we should abide by one-way markers, queue spacing, use hand sanitizer stations etc.
Public asked how key workers with children are meant to manage over Summer? Dominic Raab didn't really have an answer to this, but mentioned schools several times (lets hope he doesn't forget teaching staff need holidays too).
Dominic Raab was asked why he didn't have scientists with him today? He said we continue to follow the science and didn't give a reason he was alone today.
We will be conducting a comprehensive review of the 2 metre rule - some other countries use 1.5 or 1 metre. (It's worth noting that a lot of countries started with 2m or 1.5m and reduced to current physical distancing restrictions once cases had reduced.) We will be looking closely at what happens now that shops have reopened, and if we continue to make good progress, then restrictions can be reduced again.
Of UK businesses which responded to an Office for National Statistics (ONS) survey, 84% said they were continuing to trade between 1 and 10 June 2020 (16% had temporarily closed or paused trading).
A (not yet peer-reviewed) study by Los Alamos National Laboratory has looked at early infections in China and estimated the basic unrestricted R rate - reproductive rate / number of people infected by each case, to be 5.7 (95% CI 3.8–8.9). Previously it was assumed to be 3-4.
"Results show that the doubling time early in the epidemic in Wuhan was 2.3–3.3 days. Assuming a serial interval of 6–9 days, we calculated a median R0 value of 5.7 (95% CI 3.8–8.9). We further show that active surveillance, contact tracing, quarantine, and early strong social distancing efforts are needed to stop transmission of the virus."
(A serial interval is the time between the start of symptoms in the initial patient and start of symptoms in a person they infected.)
Norway is deleting it's Track and Trace app. and all collected data, after criticism from the Norwegian Data Protection Authority. The decision was made as there are now very few cases and the app. is not necessary to track them, so the potential privacy problems didn't outweigh social health needs.
Beijing is incredibly unhappy with their new outbreak, which they have already traced back to a large market. Wu Zunyou, chief expert in epidemiology at the Chinese Center for Disease Control and Prevention, said it was "...unexpected and the situation is still severe."
They have already determined that the strain is more like the 'European strain' of Coronavirus which has affected, and is affecting, Europe, Russia and the United States, rather than the strain first found in Wuhan, and which Beijing previously managed to suppress. Over 50 new cases have been discovered, most currently have no symptoms (asymptomatic or pre-symptomatic).
It is mandatory for passengers and drivers to wear face coverings in an Uber ride-share from today in the UK.
COVID-19 is spread by 'respiratory droplets', i.e. we breathe it out. It gets onto our hands and bodies, and the surfaces around us, because we breathe it out and it goes everywhere. Each breath only usually travels a few feet, but shouting and singing will spread it further - usually only to a maximum of around 6ft/1.8m. Very rarely it has been found to become aerosol - and then the droplets are so tiny and light that they can blow around the room for a long time.
If the average number of people infected by a single COVID-19 sufferer, without physical distancing, is around 5.7 (3.8–8.9). Once a virus becomes aerosol, that number rises to 10 or more.
Examples of when COVID has potential to become aerosol include when a patient pulls off their pressurised BiPap mask, or if a dentist uses a drill, and it has been found in changing areas where hospital staff take off uniforms. It's the reason why some seemingly random things won't currently happen, and why some medical treatments are not taking place.
Every step of Cancer patients' treatment has been affected by COVID, from referrals to treatment. Figures released by NHS England suggest that urgent referrals dropped in April by 60% on the year before. Now that clinics are starting to reopen, that backlog will take some while to recover. It is estimated that over the next 12 months, around 18,000 extra people in the UK with Cancer will not survive.
The UK Government have published soooooooo many images about wearing face coverings when shopping that I cannot believe they've not yet made it mandatory. It may well be on it's way...
Iceland open up further today:
Public gatherings can now be up to 500 people.
Swimming pools and fitness centers can operate at full capacity.
Restaurants, night clubs, bars and game rooms still have to close by 11 pm. Lottery machines can open, as long as they are disinfected after each use.
2 metre social distancing is optional, but restaurants, theaters and movie theaters are required to offer several seats to customers who wish to keep to a 2 metre distance.
The next review will be on July 5th. Iceland have mass tested around 1/6 of their population so far, and currently only have 4 active cases. In total they have reported 1,810 cases and lost 10 people.
This week is Loneliness Awareness Week. We are all far more aware of loneliness now, and hopefully being able to form a support bubble will make that a lot easier on thousands of people, but it won't change the fact we all miss the other humans in our lives. You don't have to be alone to feel lonely.
Send a letter, call someone up, message, arrange a video 'pub night'. Don't be on your own if you don't want to be. There's always someone to talk to. They may not be able to give you a hug, but we are blessed with technology that can make this far less painful, and it's all very easy nowadays too...
Some numbers. Every one with a favourite meal, and a favourite person to eat it with:
Countries / Cases / Losses of life (some states /provinces yet to report):
USA 2,170,722 (+8,494) 117,959 (+101)
Brazil 873,963 (+6,081) 43,485 (+96)
Russia 537,210 (+8,246) 7,091 (+143)
India 342,291 (+9,508) 9,884 (+364)
UK 296,857 (+968) 41,736 (+38)
Spain 291,008 not yet reported today 27,136
Italy 237,290 (+301) 34,371 (+26)
Peru 229,736 not yet reported today 6,688
Iran 189,876 (+2,449) 8,950 (+113)
Germany 187,854 (+183) 8,875 (+5)
Chile 179,436 (+5,143) 3,362 (+39)
Kazakhstan 14,809 (+313) 81 (+4)
Serbia 12,367 (+57) 255 (+1)
Denmark 12,217 (+24) 598 (+1)
Djibouti 4,501 (+36) 43
Haiti 4,309 (+144) 73 (+3)
North Macedonia 4,157 (+100) 193 (+5)
Hungary 4,076 (+7) 563 (+1)
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Sources:
https://www.worldometers.info/coronavirus/
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Basic_reproduction_number#cite_note-5
https://twitter.com/Will_Radley/status/1272480525303853056/photo/1
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-53019227
https://www.england.nhs.uk/statistics/statistical-work-areas/cancer-waiting-times/
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/health-52985446
https://www.bloomberg.com/opinion/articles/2020-06-15/coronavirus-is-having-a-massive-impact-on-cancer-care-in-the-u-k?sref=iF3fCXi9
https://twitter.com/KelseyMarshalll/status/1272557012619005953
https://uk.reuters.com/article/us-health-coronavirus-norway-apps/norway-to-halt-covid-19-track-and-trace-app-on-data-protection-concerns-idUKKBN23M18T
Another great update and I am just not sure what is going on up here or when it will change, hopefully soon x
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