The Brick Castle: COVID-19 Coronavirus UK and World News update 14/15 September 2020.

COVID-19 Coronavirus UK and World News update 14/15 September 2020.

The UK added 3,105 cases today and now has reported a total of 374,228 positive cases of COVID-19. We completed 227,075 tests yesterday. 972 people were in hospital on Sunday 13th, with 106 using a ventilator yesterday, 14th September.

In the 24 hours up until 5pm yesterday, we officially reported the loss of another 27 people who have tested positive to COVID-19 within 28 days. We now very sadly have a total of 41,664 officially reported losses of life in all settings.

Rep. Of Ireland 31,192 cases and 1,784 losses of life. (Not yet reported today.)

There have now been a total of 29,617,178 reported cases worldwide. The number of people who have lost their lives worldwide to COVID-19 is 935,946. Already 21,419,484 people have recovered.

Images of one person urinating on another, with and without trousers, to demonstrate why we should wear masks

"As we often say, there is no zero risk. But with the right combination of measures, we can keep our kids safe and teach them that health and education are two of the most precious commodities in life."
Dr Tedros, Head of the WHO.

I completely forgot to mention these, so I am sorry if it affects you:
"French Polynesia, Hungary, Portugal and Réunion removed from the travel corridors list at 4am Saturday 12 September 2020. Sweden added to the list at 4am Saturday 12 September."
Confusingly that means you DO need to quarantine if you come back from French Polynesia, Hungary, Portugal and Réunion, and you now don't when returning from Sweden.

English COVID Testing is now in an even worse mess. Lab capacity is so overwhelmed, we've been sending tests to Germany and elsewhere, and it appears all of them won't be making it safely home.
Personally I know someone who's been waiting on a COVID result for 9 days and been told there's no-one available to chase lost results (it's clearly never coming). My kids have temperatures and despite trying for 2 days, we haven't been able to book anyone a test. Far worse than our situation, NHS workers can't even get tested, so they're at home when they're really needed.
Expect an announcement very soon about rationing tests, because they're trying to play catch up with time-sensitive samples, and they're falling further behind by the day.

Adar Poonawalla, CEO of The Serum Institute of India, the world's largest vaccine manufacturer, has stated (and he's probably the guy to ask) that with the capacity we have, and the extra capacity planned, we still won't have enough doses of Covid-19 to vaccinate everyone on the planet until the end of 2024 at the earliest.
Ideally herd immunity will be around 80% of a population. Vaccination alone cannot stop COVID. Social distancing etc. will be a part of our lives for a while yet.

Meanwhile in America, Pfizer CEO Albert Bourla has said that the status of their COVID-19 vaccine would be known by end of October. If it's found to be safe and effective, and is approved by the US Food and Drug Administration, it could be distributed to Americans before the end of 2020.

Dr Tedros saying we need to learn from what has happened and work together

"The NIHR (National Institute for Health Research) & UKRI (UK Research and Innovation) funded RECOVERY trial has announced the inclusion of a new investigational antiviral antibody treatment, REGN-COV2 - the first specifically designed COVID-19 drug to be assessed through this flagship treatment trial."
The UK RECOVERY trial is the biggest test of therapeutics in the world. Fingers crossed that this brand new drug treatment helps reduce number of patients needing intensive care or ventilation, and ultimately reduces mortality.

Trump of the Day:
Science denier Mr D Trump has blamed poor forest management on the immense fires raging across California. Wade Crowfoot, California Secretary for National Resources, tried to point out it is actually to do with global warming, and gave examples of how temperatures have changed.
"If we ignore that science, put our heads in the sand and think it's all about vegetation management, we're not going to succeed in protecting Californians."
Mr Trump smiled and put his mind at ease:
"Okay. It'll start getting cooler. You just watch."
Yeah, like COVID disappeared. Lets be honest, Mr Trump's record for disagreeing with scientists hasn't really gone well this year....

"The Department for Education wants to build temporary educational psychologist capacity in England to support schools and colleges returning in September."
This is a great thing. Mental health will be soooooo important. Oh, hang on, it's already mid-September... Let's hope they can build quickly then, eh.

66 Wetherspoons employees have tested positive for coronavirus - with 50 pubs affected. Last month owner Tim Martin said "It is clearly not the case that pubs are 'dangerous places to be'."
Like the cheapest from-an-optic table wine, that quote was never going to age well.
To be fair they have 41k employees, in 861 pubs, so it's only 1 in every 621 staff, which equates to roughly 161 per 100,000. That's about the risk of being in Bolton. Nah, I'm kidding, Bolton is 171 per 100,000. My sincere apologies to any barstaff from Bolton....

150920 World continents Situation Report WHO

Israel is the first developed country to announce a 2nd national lockdown - and it's a hard one. They have a small population of 9m people and almost 41,000 active cases (currently positive), which is the 2nd highest infection rate in the world.
From this Friday 2pm they will close all restaurants, shops, recreational facilities and schools. Movement will be limited to no more than 500 metres away from home.
From a purely scientific viewpoint I love limits on movement as a way to combat COVID-19. 500m is very strict. The lockdown comes into force on the eve of Rosh Hashana, Jewish New Year. I am so sorry for all of you. Fingers crossed guys.

Adar Poonawalla, CEO of The Serum Institute of India, gets a second mention because of the fact that in April he put in an order for 600 million glass vials. I bet the rep who booked that one has a fancy telly...

The BBC have discovered that Sir Patrick Vallance did want the UK to lock down earlier, and was 'told off' by senior government officials. The article claims we have since discovered that cases grew rapidly in the week before we locked down. Not really. We knew that at the time - that's how exponential growth works. If we had waited another 10 days, we'd have filled the Nightingale Hospitals.

Rwanda is using drones to monitor busy, dangerous and hard-to-reach areas, and deliver information about COVID. Many people in these areas didn't really have a clue what was going on, and were unaware of the need for distancing when possible. (I can see why, but it does seem a bit 'Big Brother'...)

Talking of Big Brother.. Policing Minister Kit Malthouse was interviewed on Times Radio, and said if you see a group of eight people together "you should think about calling the non-emergency number and letting the police know." This has upset a lot of people who protect human rights, because of the "grass on your neighbours" nature. It's very much not the usual style in the UK.

Probably best to just speak to them nicely first if you know them. From a 2m distance. You don't want to fall out with someone you have to exist with, just because they made a bubble or had someone move in to be in their household for the duration.

Popular music favourites Noel Gallagher (ex-Oasis) and Ian Brown (ex- Stone Rose) have both spoken out about their refusal to wear masks. I personally don't usually check if someone can pen a Glastonbury crowd-pleaser before following their medical advice.
Noel is quoted as refusing to wear a "pointless mask". Maybe Countdown have some he could wear?

Northern Ireland Complacency costs lives

Today the British Medical Association held a Virtual Memorial Ceremony, to remember all healthcare workers that have died in the UK during the Covid-19 pandemic.

A report by Amnesty International found that over 7,000 health workers have died after contracting COVID-19, and that is a significant underestimate due to under-reporting, and out-of-date information. The countries with the highest numbers of health worker deaths so far included Mexico (1,320) the USA (1,077), the UK (649), Brazil (634), South Africa (240) and India (573).

We must never forget that these people ARE frontline, they are risking a massive viral load on their bodies, and even losing their lives, to care for us. Thank you, all of you.

Some people. They all have someone they would say thank you to:

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

USA 6,761,559 (+12,270) 199,436 (+436)

India 5,016,182 (+89,268) 82,075 (+1,267)

Brazil 4,356,690 (+7,146) 132,297 (+180)

Russia 1,073,849 (+5,529) 18,785 (+150)

Peru 733,860 not yet reported today 30,812

Colombia 721,892 not yet reported today 23,123

Mexico 671,716 (+3,335) 71,049 (+228)

South Africa 650,749 not yet reported today 15,499

Spain 603,167 (+9,437) 30,004 (+156)

Argentina 565,446 not yet reported today 11,710