The Brick Castle: COVID-19 Coronavirus UK and World News update 17th July 2020.

COVID-19 Coronavirus UK and World News update 17th July 2020.

The UK added 687 cases today and now has reported a total of 293,239 positive cases of COVID-19. We completed 165,966 tests yesterday. 1,835 people were in hospital on Wednesday 17th, with 142 using a ventilator.

In the 24 hours up until 5pm yesterday, we lost another 114 people who have tested positive to COVID-19. We now very sadly have a total of 45,233 officially reported losses of life in all settings.

England 252,117 / 40,640

Northern Ireland 5,834 / 556

Scotland 18,401 / 2,491

Wales 16,887 / 1,546

Rep. Of Ireland 25,698 cases and 1,749 losses of life. (Not yet reported today.)

There have now been a total of 14,059,170 reported cases worldwide. The number of people who have lost their lives worldwide to COVID-19 is 595,005. Already 8,360,756 people have recovered.

Local Government changes from 18th July 2020

𝘞𝘦 𝘩𝘢𝘷𝘦 𝘨𝘪𝘷𝘦𝘯 𝘪𝘵 𝘰𝘶𝘳 𝘢𝘭𝘭. 𝘞𝘦 𝘩𝘢𝘷𝘦 𝘸𝘰𝘳𝘬𝘦𝘥 𝘵𝘰 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘣𝘳𝘪𝘯𝘬 𝘰𝘧 𝘦𝘹𝘩𝘢𝘶𝘴𝘵𝘪𝘰𝘯...

𝘈𝘯𝘥 𝘰𝘯𝘤𝘦 𝘢𝘨𝘢𝘪𝘯 𝘸𝘦 𝘩𝘢𝘷𝘦 𝘶𝘯𝘥𝘦𝘳𝘴𝘵𝘰𝘰𝘥 – 𝘮𝘢𝘺𝘣𝘦 𝘣𝘦𝘵𝘵𝘦𝘳 𝘵𝘩𝘢𝘯 𝘦𝘷𝘦𝘳 – 𝘸𝘩𝘺 𝘸𝘦 𝘤𝘩𝘰𝘴𝘦 𝘵𝘩𝘪𝘴 𝘱𝘳𝘰𝘧𝘦𝘴𝘴𝘪𝘰𝘯: 𝘵𝘰 𝘤𝘢𝘳𝘦 𝘧𝘰𝘳 𝘱𝘦𝘰𝘱𝘭𝘦 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘵𝘰 𝘴𝘢𝘷𝘦 𝘭𝘪𝘷𝘦𝘴...

𝘞𝘦 𝘩𝘢𝘷𝘦 𝘣𝘦𝘦𝘯 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘮𝘦𝘴𝘴𝘦𝘯𝘨𝘦𝘳𝘴 𝘰𝘧 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘭𝘢𝘴𝘵 𝘨𝘰𝘰𝘥𝘣𝘺𝘦 𝘵𝘰 𝘰𝘭𝘥𝘦𝘳 𝘱𝘦𝘰𝘱𝘭𝘦 𝘸𝘩𝘰 𝘥𝘪𝘦𝘥 𝘢𝘭𝘰𝘯𝘦, 𝘩𝘦𝘢𝘳𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘪𝘳 𝘤𝘩𝘪𝘭𝘥𝘳𝘦𝘯’𝘴 𝘷𝘰𝘪𝘤𝘦𝘴 𝘰𝘯 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘵𝘦𝘭𝘦𝘱𝘩𝘰𝘯𝘦.

...𝘞𝘦 𝘩𝘢𝘷𝘦 𝘮𝘢𝘥𝘦 𝘷𝘪𝘥𝘦𝘰 𝘤𝘢𝘭𝘭𝘴, 𝘸𝘦 𝘩𝘢𝘷𝘦 𝘩𝘦𝘭𝘥 𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘪𝘳 𝘩𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘸𝘦 𝘩𝘢𝘷𝘦 𝘩𝘢𝘥 𝘵𝘰 𝘧𝘪𝘨𝘩𝘵 𝘣𝘢𝘤𝘬 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘵𝘦𝘢𝘳𝘴 𝘸𝘩𝘦𝘯 𝘴𝘰𝘮𝘦𝘰𝘯𝘦 𝘴𝘢𝘪𝘥, ‘𝘋𝘰𝘯’𝘵 𝘭𝘦𝘵 𝘮𝘦 𝘥𝘪𝘦 𝘢𝘭𝘰𝘯𝘦.

𝘐 𝘸𝘢𝘯𝘵 𝘵𝘰 𝘢𝘴𝘬 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘢𝘶𝘵𝘩𝘰𝘳𝘪𝘵𝘪𝘦𝘴 𝘵𝘰 𝘥𝘦f𝘦𝘯𝘥 𝘦𝘷𝘦𝘳𝘺𝘰𝘯𝘦’𝘴 𝘩𝘦𝘢𝘭𝘵𝘩 𝘤𝘢𝘳𝘦 & 𝘵𝘰 𝘳𝘦𝘮𝘦𝘮𝘣𝘦r...𝘵𝘩𝘢𝘵 𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘳𝘦 𝘪𝘴 𝘯𝘰 𝘣𝘦𝘵𝘵𝘦𝘳 𝘵𝘳𝘪𝘣𝘶𝘵𝘦 𝘵𝘰 𝘵𝘩𝘰𝘴𝘦 𝘸𝘩𝘰 𝘢𝘳𝘦 𝘯𝘰 𝘭𝘰𝘯𝘨𝘦𝘳 𝘸𝘪𝘵𝘩 𝘶𝘴 𝘵𝘩𝘢𝘯 𝘵𝘰 𝘱𝘳𝘰𝘵𝘦𝘤𝘵 𝘰𝘶𝘳 𝘩𝘦𝘢𝘭𝘵𝘩 & 𝘦𝘯𝘴𝘶𝘳𝘦 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘥𝘪𝘨𝘯𝘪𝘵𝘺 𝘰𝘧 𝘰𝘶𝘳 𝘱𝘳𝘰𝘧𝘦𝘴𝘴𝘪𝘰𝘯𝘴.”

Aroa López, Nurse, Madrid, Spain.

"So far, about 10% of all COVID19 cases globally are among health workers."

Dr Tedros, Head of WHO (World Health Organisation).

As a surprise, and so they can knock off early for the weekend, the England briefing today was at 11am. It was Boris - he looks older. He didn't have scientists with him, just Dido Harding, the Head of Test and Trace.

- We have reported less than 1,000 cases a day for the last week.

- Latest from SAGE suggest the R level across THE WHOLE UK is 0.7-0.9

- The number of infections is shrinking between 1-5% every day.

- ONS figures show everything is dropping. The numbers of people in hospital and using a ventilator have shrunk by 90% from the peak in early April.

He explained "At the start of the pandemic we knew far less about the virus and we had to take blanket national measures. National lockdown was undoubtedly the right thing to do and has saved many thousands of lives"(very true). 'Now we know more about the epidemiology, we can move to taking local action.'

(Now, strictly speaking, what he should have said is that 'we can take local targetted action because we haven't got unknown free spread peppered all over the UK any more').

- 17th July. From today anyone can use public transport.

- 18th July. From tomorrow, local authorities will have the power to close premises, open spaces, events or pretty much anything when there's a localised outbreak.

- 18th July. Local authorities can introduce local stay-at-home or movement restrictions. (For example Australia has closed the state border between Victoria and New South Wales.)

{This is all really new to us - but it is standard behaviour worldwide in response to covid, including in all of the countries which have suppressed it and got back to virtually normal life.}

- 25th July. We've already announced that gyms and indoor swimming pools can reopen.

- 1st August. 'You should work from home if you can' is replaced and employers can decide whether to continue with work from home, or bring people back. This should be in consultation with staff. "If employees are productive at home they can stay there."

- 1st August. Bowling, Leisure Centres, Skating Rinks, Casinos etc can reopen

(Night clubs and soft play will remain closed under review).

- 1st August. Close contact beauty treatments can resume.

- 1st August. Some outdoor performances with audiences can return

- 1st August. Wedding receptions with up to 30 people.

- September. All schools, nurseries and colleges reopen to all pupils full time.

- October. They will raise the number of Antigen (do I have it?) tests to 500,000 heading towards Winter, because far more people will have symptoms and need a test.

- October - events in stadia and conferences may be able to return (subject to successful outcomes of pilots).

- November - We are hoping for far more normality, if at all possible by Christmas.

- Throughout this time, we hope to continue to reduce restrictions on friends and family and socialising, but we are expecting some levels of social distancing may have to continue until Spring.

- Shielding will be restarted at any point if required.

- The Nightingale Hospitals will remain in place and maintained until the end of March 2021

From May 11th onwards this plan has been conditional, and it remains conditional. (Behave, and it'll all be over more quickly.)

Dido Harding did speak. She was honest and said every week the NHS test and trace gets better. It does, but it's a way to go (around 25% of people testing positive aren't even contacted). You can be confident you'll get a test result the next day. (I hope that's true.) Coronavirus hasn't gone, but it is under control. (I hope that's true too.)

UK Rebuild framework from July to Christmas

Russia say they didn't attempt to steal the vaccine data. (We guessed they'd say that.)

The Centre for Evidence-Based Medicine (CEBM), Oxford University, have pointed out a 'statistical anomaly' which means that "no one can ever recover from COVID-19 in England" (thanks to Vivienne for pointing that out last night). Public Health England's own page states that they search through records of deceased people to find out who had a confirmed positive test result, and add them to the numbers. Clearly by this method, you could have mild COVID in March and be hit by a bus in July, and be added to the figures. Likewise, you could die from complications of COVID (stroke, heart, lung, kidney or brain injury etc) and it will be rightly counted.

Matt Hancock has promised an urgent review.

Will this mean our loss of life from COVID drops dramatically? Sadly not. When you add on suspected cases, including those who died in care homes with outbreaks, it still looks pretty grim. Office for National Statistics publish data weekly, 12 days in arrears, and it's a lot more accurate. Up until 3rd July ONS had registered 50,548 deaths with Coronavirus mentioned on the death certificate.

There is an official release from Public Health England in the images.

Donald Trump has passed the baton. His press secretary, the one-woman tongue twister, Kayleigh McEnany, actually said these words aloud in public, on camera. Officially. In regards to schools reopening:

"The science should not stand in the way of this."

She did later say:

"The science is on our side here, and we encourage localities and states to just simply follow the science."

The damage was done Kayleigh, sorry. And anyway, what science?

Timeline for people shielding in England UK Government

Scientists are getting agitated by a new paper from respected experts. 'The impact of host resistance on cumulative mortality and the threshold of herd immunity for SARS-CoV-2' is getting horrific peer-reviews. It uses a model which presumes 50% of people are fully resistant to COVID and can't transmit it.

Ha, we wish...

Illegal Columbian gangs are on the face of it taking COVID very seriously, and imposing stricter restrictions on the population than the government, in at least 11 of the 32 provinces. In some cases they're even enforcing lockdowns and stay at home orders by shooting people.

There may be just a teeny tiny possibility that they are actually using it to their advantage, removing people they don't want around and controlling the population.

“When you get into a particular setting, a very overcrowded situation in an indoor environment then effectively all bets are off, because so many of the modes of transmission come into play: the aerosol route, the airborne route, the fomite or contamination route”, Dr Mike Ryan, WHO.

The information on face coverings in England has been updated. There is a £100 fine for non-compliance, which is enforced by Police and Transport for London Officers.

Shop staff and Police/ TfL Officers can ask you to temporarily remove a face covering for identification / age check purposes.

Shop staff are not obliged to wear a face covering (they'd be wearing it for up to 4 hours at a time, day in, day out). Screens, visors and our behaviour protects them.

You don't have to wear a face covering if you have legitimate reason, including:

- Young children under the age of 11

- Not being able to put on, wear or remove a face covering because of a physical or mental illness or impairment, or disability

- If putting on, wearing or removing a face covering will cause you severe distress

- If you are travelling with or providing assistance to someone who relies on lip reading to communicate

- To avoid harm or injury, or the risk of harm or injury, to yourself or others

- To avoid injury, or to escape a risk of harm, and you do not have a face covering with you

- To eat or drink, but only if you need to

- To take medication

- If a police officer or other official requests you remove your face covering

- If speaking with people who rely on lip reading, facial expressions and clear sound.

Please be mindful and respectful of such circumstances. The public should not challenge people who aren't wearing masks.

So basically if you go on the bus with your nan and she's not great at hearing, you wear a mask, but can remove it to talk. If she relies on lipreading to communicate, then you don't have to wear a mask.

Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi said at the United Nations Economic and Social Council (ECOSOC) today:

“Be it earthquakes, cyclones, ebola crisis or any other natural or man-made crisis, India has responded with speed and solidarity. In the joint fight against COVID-19, India has extended medical and other assistance to over 150 countries.”

The Toronto Star has a good article asking 'Is there any valid reason not to wear a mask?' (They're talking general majority population, not people who don't have a head or other genuine reasons). It ends with the words "...just wear the damn mask” from Dr. Ken Chapman, professor of medicine at the University of Toronto. I think that gives you the gist.

Photo from Matt Hancock's Twitter feed

Sir Tom Moore, the 100 year old man who is attempting to solve the 20 year old NHS budget deficit single-handedly (by raising nearly £33m /US $40m for NHS charities), was knighted today by Elizabeth R, the 94 year old titular ruler of the United Kingdom and the Commonwealth realms. It's actually the sweetest thing you'll see this week. It was outside on the lawns, in glorious sunshine. That sword looks mighty heavy, but luckily she didn't drop it on him. They are cuter than toddlers. Well worth the 20 second watch.

That's my laptop off until Sunday - have a good weekend. Whatever you do, don't be reckless.

Some numbers. They would all ask you to look out for your health, and wear the damn mask:

Countries / Cases / Losses of life (some states /provinces in larger countries yet to report):

USA 3,721,917 (+26,892) 141,457 (+339)

Brazil 2,021,834 (+7,096) 76,997 (+175)

India 1,037,249 (+31,612) 26,273 (+664)

Russia 759,203 (+6,406) 12,123 (+186)

Peru 341,586 not yet reported today 12,615

Chile 326,539 (+2,841) 7,290 (losses not yet reported)

South Africa 324,221 not yet reported today 4,669

Mexico 324,041 (+6,406) 37,574 (+668)

Spain 307,335 (+1,400) 28,420 (+4)