COVID-19 Coronavirus UK and World News weekend update 11th / 12th July 2020.
The UK added 650 cases today and now has reported a total of 289,603 positive cases of COVID-19. We completed 134,890 tests yesterday. 2,172 people people were in hospital on Thursday 9th, down from 2,838 that time last week.
In the 24 hours up until 5pm yesterday, we reported the loss of another 21 people who have tested positive to COVID-19. We now very sadly have a total of 44,819 losses of life in all settings.
England 249,510 / 40,234
Northern Ireland 5,772 / 544
Scotland 18,359 / 2,490
Wales 15,962 / 1.541
Rep. Of Ireland 25,611 cases and 1,746 losses of life. (Not yet reported today.)
There have now been a total of 12,935,527 reported cases worldwide. The number of people who have lost their lives worldwide to COVID-19 is 569,208. Already 7,535,262 people have recovered.
The press have caught on to the fact we have been building up towards making face coverings mandatory in shops in England. Michael Gove said on the telly this morning that he doesn't believe it should be mandatory, but it is his advice. It's actually been government advice now since lockdown, but they have rarely mentioned it.
At first there was a real risk we'd completely run out of PPE, and the UK government, like many, said not to wear medical masks. They hadn't really thought of 'face coverings' or washable masks, and were so scared, they even went slightly the other way, suggesting that it could be more dangerous. Evidence wasn't available at the time to support the use of face coverings by untrained public, but it is now (although we were always capable of looking at Asian countries and saying "how come they don't have so many cases, what could possibly be the big difference?"). Now we have study results, we see face coverings can protect others by up to 85%, and can also help protect YOU. Learn how to remove it safely (by the loops).
The Australian area of Victoria is having problems. They've stopped inter-area travel, locked down parts of the Melbourne area and from July 20, 700,000 students in the wider metropolitan Melbourne and Mitchell Shire catchments will return to remote learning until at least August 19.
Victoria reported 273 new cases yesterday. Australia is just approaching Winter and there are fears this outbreak could be worse than their first.
A Spanish antibody/ did I ever have it? study of 60,000 random people has had disappointing results - as have most of these studies so far. It's not unexpected.
- Very few people in the population had antibodies. Only 5·0% by the point-of-care test (standard antibody test) and 4·6% by immunoassay (giving a larger sample of blood for lab analysis)
- Men and women showed similar levels of participants with antibodies
- Less children under 10 years had antibodies (<3·1% by the point-of-care test).
- There was substantial geographical variability, with higher prevalence around Madrid (>10%) and much lower in coastal areas (<3%).
- Of those people who knew they had previously had COVID (proven with a positive test at the time), only 87·6% (both tests positive) to 91·8% (either test positive) had measurable antibodies. (This may mean 8-13% of people who catch COVID don't develop antibodies. It may also mean antibodies for something else helped their body fight COVID, it could also mean COVID antibodies are hard to spot. Or all of the above, or something else.)
- In 7273 individuals reporting they had anosmia (loss of smell/taste) or at least three COVID symptoms, only 15·3% to 19·3% had antibodies.
- Around a third (21·9% to 35·8%) of those with antibodies reported no symptoms at any point.
- Of those who said they'd had symptoms and tested positive to antibodies by both tests, only 19·5% had previously had a positive test for COVID. So over 80% (4/5) of people who had mild symptoms, and actually had COVID at the time, went for a COVID test. Book a test if you have symptoms. Today.
Trump of the day:
He wore a mask in public!!! Yeeeay. See, that didn't hurt did it. Well done. Next time keep it over your nose the whole time, but thank you Donald. I'll let you be today.
Three doctors and a nurse are the first 4 confirmed cases of COVID in Idlib's IDP refugee camps in Northwestern Syria (IDP = internally displaced people. They are Syrian, but have fled away from areas where there is fighting). It's suspected that one of the doctors caught the virus while visiting family in Turkey. EVERYONE who has visited the hospital since 20th June is being contacted, and all staff are quarantining.
The Guardian have reported that cases of child malnutrition in England have doubled in the last 6 months. Almost 2,500 children have been admitted to hospital already this year.
Schools don't need more exams, they need that time to teach your children how to cook, how to budget and basic nutrition. It is possible to healthily feed your family cheaply, even without having lots of time to cook - but you need know how to do it. Lets learn those genuine life skills.
The WHO have reasserted their assessment of risk to pregnant women. Maria Van Kerkhove:
Pregnant women "don't seem to develop a different type of disease than women of the same age who are not pregnant". 'But the risk for severe disease is higher in pregnant women with underlying conditions'.
There's a bloke on Twitter called Richard (@ RP131) who publishes daily UK figures and graphs which are actually more precise than the English government reported figures, and show the actual daily movement in the number of people testing positive and succumbing. The Government's daily reported figures are a bit misleading at times, because of delays adding patients to the count, including as today, a Sunday.
 |
| Source: @RP131 |
Houston, Texas, really does have a problem and it's heartbreakingly catastrophic. Cases started visibly rising exponentially around 5 weeks ago and, doubling every 3 or so days, have very swiftly reached massive proportions. Hospitals have been almost at capacity for the last couple of weeks, and now the lag time for losses of life has elapsed and they are starting to rise rapidly too. Deaths at home have doubled since February. Houston has a population of 6.4m people, and 10,000 patients currently in hospital with COVID.
For the first time since April, losses of life in the US is rising again. Some states are showing big rises in numbers of positive tests and hospitalisation, and could be about to follow Texas. They include Pennsylvania, Virginia, Missouri and Oklahoma. Florida is really in a bad place, reporting over 15,000 new daily cases today. .
At today's Grand Prix, Aston Martin have placed a screen on every seat in an entire grandstand, and will change the display depending on tweets tracked throughout the race, giving the audience an interactive experience from home - which is where pretty much all fans would have been anyway. It fills the seats and stops it looking empty, and it's almost as good as the Korean baseball crowd comprised of inflatable 'adult' dolls.
Some people, all very much like you, and all made from stars:
Countries / Cases / Losses of life (some states /provinces yet to report):
USA 3,382,508 (+26,862) 137,581 (+178)
Brazil 1,846,249 (+5,437) 71,584 (+92)
India 873,816 (+23,458) 23,102 (+415)
Russia 727,162 (+6,615) 11,335 (+130)
Peru 322,710 not yet reported today 11,682
Chile 312,029 not yet reported today 6,881
Spain 300,988 not yet reported today 28,403
Mexico 295,268 (+6,094) 34,730 (+539)
UK 289,603 (+650) 44,819 (+21)
South Africa 264,184 not yet reported today 3,971
Iran 257,303 (+2,186) 12,829 (+194)
Pakistan 248,872 (+2,521) 5,197 (+74)
Italy 243,061 (+234) 34,954 (+9)
Saudi Arabia 232,259 (+2,779) 2,223 (+42)
Bangladesh 183,795 (+2,666) 2,352 (+47)
Canada 107,589 (+242) 8,783 (+10)
Qatar 103,598 (+470) 147 (+1)
Iraq 77,506 (+2,312) 3,150 (+95)
Indonesia 75,699 (+1,681) 3,606 (+71)
Belarus 64,932 (+165) 464 (+5)
Oman 56,015 (+1,318) 257 (+9)
Kuwait 54,894 (+836) 390 (+4)
UAE 54,854 (+401) 333 (+2)
.
.
.
Sources
Richard the stats man - https://twitter.com/RP131/status/1282334349032132608/photo/1
https://coronavirus-staging.data.gov.uk/
https://twitter.com/kakape/status/1281627059891195910?s=19
https://twitter.com/charlesornstein/status/1281986261482377216?s=19
https://twitter.com/redbullracing/status/1282269676295290881?s=19
https://amp.theguardian.com/society/2020/jul/12/cases-of-child-malnutrition-double-in-last-six-months
https://www.9news.com.au/national/coronavirus-victoria-students-return-to-remote-learning-during-second-lockdown/30dbc8d3-6a2d-4845-9bdf-87b057756880
https://cccmcluster.org/
I like what Aston Martin have done, that is using technology and making the most of the situation. Trump, what can we say. He is a worry. I am not really sure where we are this weekend, had a few things going on, so I've loved your update. Thank you xx
ReplyDelete