COVID-19 Coronavirus UK and World News weekend update 5th/6th September 2020.
The UK added 2,988 cases today and now has reported a total of 347,152 positive cases of COVID-19. We completed 175,687 tests yesterday. 756 people were in hospital on Thursday 3rd, with 69 using a ventilator on Friday 4th.
In the 24 hours up until 5pm yesterday, we reported the loss of another 2 people who have tested positive to COVID-19 within 28 days. We now very sadly have a total of 41,551 officially reported losses of life in all settings.
Cases / confirmed losses within 28 days of a positive test:
England 299,647 (+2,576) / 36,894
Northern Ireland 7,727 (+106) / 564
Scotland 21,397 (+208)/ 2,496
Wales 18,381 (+98) / 1,597
Rep. Of Ireland 29,672 (+138) cases and 1,777 losses of life.
There have now been a total of 27,211,849 reported cases worldwide. The number of people who have lost their lives worldwide to COVID-19 is 885,900. Already 19,292,235 people have recovered.
"We can't open up at this time. If we were to we would lose control very quickly... I want a Christmas that is as close to normal as possible and this is the only way.... these steps are the only way that we will get to that point."
Daniel Andrews, State Premier of Victoria, Australia (includes the Melbourne area).
England are targeting testing in the North West, hence they don't have enough tests elsewhere, so fingers crossed the increase in numbers is just that they are stamping down hard and catching many more low or no symptom cases. Never forget that back in March we only tested people who ended up in hospital - we didn't add the majority of cases to the numbers. Yes, almost 3,000 is bad, but it's better than 80 new cases and 2,980 unknown cases wandering around infecting people.
Good news for areas of the North West - casinos, soft play, conference and events centres, close contact beauty treatments and ice skating can finally reopen on Tuesday. Sadly you still can't have friends or relatives over to visit unless they are coincidentally being paid to do a job. I'm honestly not sure the English Government understand just how mixed the messaging is that they put out. After a day commuting to Manchester for work in a building with 200 people, bikini wax and pub at lunch, gym and swim after work, bob into Tesco, quick fiver at the Casino - how likely is it that someone will take "don't see your Nan / brother / best mate, not even in their garden 6 metres away" very seriously.
I'd go sooner rather than later... the North West accounted for almost 1/4 of all cases today.
"COVID19 has preyed on people with non-communicable diseases (NCDs): cancer, cardiovascular disease, diabetes & respiratory disease.
NCDs & their risk factors are increasing vulnerability to COVID-19 infection & the likelihood of worse outcomes, including in younger people.
The odds of developing severe COVID19 have been found to be as much as 7 times higher in patients with obesity.
Smokers have been found to be 1.5 times more likely to have severe complications from COVID19
And a systematic review has shown that people with diabetes are between 2-4 times more likely to have severe symptoms or die from COVID19.
The COVID19 pandemic has underscored the urgency of addressing non-communicable diseases and their risk factors."
Dr Tedros, Head of the WHO.
The Greater Melbourne area of Australia is facing increased restrictions as they feel cases are not dropping quickly enough. Current in-person school, shop and business closures remain, there is a 3 mile travel limit and a curfew 9pm to 5am. These measures are likely to remain place until case numbers drop below 50 per day. They don't want to relax the curfew until cases are under 5 per day.
Giving people a clear aim, and a target, means they have something to achieve, and can be proud of themselves if they get there. They understand what the goal is and how their own behaviour can spoil it for everyone.
UK Health Minister Matt Hancock has made a public error - he said that losses of life to suicide during the pandemic fell from 10.3 to 6.9 per 100.000 population. It's actually not possible to tell from the data he was using. The ONS record the information, but because a death from suicide requires an inquest, it's usually reported many months later - there is a huge delay. It is more likely that losses to suicide fell during the 6-12 months before COVID-19 existed.
This is still an incredibly positive change, and I am glad for every single person who is still here, and sad for every person who has lost someone. I wish you all strength going forward.
A Level 2 Media Freedom Alert has been issued by the Council Of Europe - against the UK Government. It's over the Ministry of Defence press office refusing to talk with an environmental activism group. While it seems something unrelated and distant from COVID-19, it has to be taken seriously because right now we are really struggling to get clear information from government bodies anyway. Refusing to even entertain requests for information is not a good road to go down.
The New York Times is reporting that students in Latin America are struggling to continue studies. In Bogota there are even hunger strikes asking for the government to cover course fees. With so many people out of work for so long, finances are exhausted.
TV and film is attempting to restart in Hollywood and elsewhere, and it's having the same issues as every other business. Filming on The Batman has ground to a halt after someone on set tested positive. Rumours are that it's a Famous Person With COVID, Robert Pattinson.
Trump of the Other Day:
Donald mocked Presidential opponent Biden, as usual, but he mocked him for wearing a mask. *sigh* Because wearing a mask means you aren't a big, strong man?
"But did you ever see a man that likes a mask as much as him... And then he makes a speech, and he always has it. Not always, but a lot of times, he has it hanging down. Because, you know what, it gives him a feeling of security. If I were a psychiatrist... right? I'd say, this guy's got some big issues."
No Donald, you wouldn't, because if you were academic enough to be able to qualify as a psychiatrist, you'd actually begin to understand that some people don't necessarily want to take that risk for funs.
France and Spain are reporting massive numbers of daily cases. They are among many countries struggling to regain control of their current wave. It is Autumn already and the majority opinion among medics and scientists was that a second wave, or a series of waves, would come. Numbers are likely to continue to rise for a while, until all strands of the infection spiderweb have been found and stopped. And although it's really not what we hoped, it is what we expected.
We have come a long, long way, and we have a way to go yet, but we WILL see an end. The whole world is on it.
Some people. They look like numbers, but I can't spell all of their names:
Countries / Cases / Losses of life (some states /provinces yet to report):
USA 6,444,645 (+13,493) 193,020 (+202)
India 4,196,616 (+85,777) 71,739 (+1,060)
Brazil 4,123,000 not yet reported today 126,266
Russia 1,025,505 (+5,195) 17,820 (+61)
Peru 683,702 not yet reported today 29,687
Colombia 658,456 not yet reported today 21,156
South Africa 636,884 not yet reported today 14,779
Mexico 629,409 (+6,319) 67,326 (+475)
Spain 517,133 not yet reported today 29,418
Chile 422,510 (+2,076) 11,592 (+41)
Iran 386,658 (+1,992) 22,293 (+139)
UK 347,152 (+2,988) 41,551 (+2)
Bangladesh 325,157 (+1,592) 4,479 (+32)
France 324,777 (+7,071) 30,724
Turkey 279,806 (+1,578) 6,673 (+53)
Italy 277,634 (+1,297) 35,541 (+7)
Germany 251,226 (+170) 9,401
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Sources:
Richard RP131: https://twitter.com/RP131
https://www.worldometers.info/coronavirus/
https://www.bbc.com/news/amp/world-australia-54045102
https://coronavirus.data.gov.uk/
https://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/politics/press-freedom-uk-government-council-europe-alert-boris-johnson-priti-patel-a9706741.html
https://edition.cnn.com/2020/09/03/politics/trump-biden-coronavirus-mask/index.html
https://twitter.com/MarinaNigrelli/status/1302339603383414786?s=19
https://apnews.com/1edcb7de8edac813bea9f407058981cb
https://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/americas/us-election/trump-biden-face-mask-coronavirus-pennsylvania-us-election-event-a9704831.html
https://twitter.com/WHO/status/1301905178770116608?s=19
https://twitter.com/nytimes/status/1301983399033344001?s=19
https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/m000m608
https://twitter.com/FullFact/status/1301550524983115783?s=09
The rules are now ridiculous. I just don't get that you can't have people in your house, but I can go to the pub with them? I think we are getting extra restrictions in place this week. It was threatened at the weekend. We aren't too far from Glasgow.
ReplyDeleteI can't even have my son in the garden. I really do appreciate they need to fine tune, but if they try to fine tune for business and forget anything else, they aren't going to get the right result. We're all humans first. Fingers crossed you don't get too many restrictions - at least you can see the point to yours, and they make proper sense :)
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