The Brick Castle: COVID-19 Coronavirus UK and World News update 30th Sept / 1st October 2020.

COVID-19 Coronavirus UK and World News update 30th Sept / 1st October 2020.

The UK added 6,914 cases today and now has reported a total of 460,178 positive cases of COVID-19. We completed 255,915 tests yesterday.

2,276 people were in hospital on Tuesday 29th, with 332 using a ventilator on Wednesday 30th.

In the 24 hours up until 5pm yesterday, we officially reported the loss of another 59 people who have tested positive to COVID-19 within 28 days. We now very sadly have a total of 42,202 officially reported losses of life in all settings.

Rep. Of Ireland 36,597 (+442) cases and 1,806 (+2) losses of life.

There have now been a total of 34,330,504 reported cases worldwide. The number of people who have lost their lives worldwide to COVID-19 is 1,021,295. Already 25,543,210 people have recovered.

Matt Hancock has announced that Liverpool, Warrington, Hartlepool and Middlesbrough are the latest places in the UK which will face extra restrictions - from 10pm on Saturday:
"We will bring in regulations, as we have in the North East, to prevent in law social mixing between people in different households in all settings except outdoor public spaces like parks and outdoor hospitality.
"We also recommend that people should not attend professional or amateur sporting events as spectators in the areas that are affected.
"We recommend that people only visit care homes in exceptional circumstances and there will be guidance against all but essential travel. Essential travel, of course, includes going to work or school."

No real surprises that the UK's Coronavirus Act was renewed in parliament with an overwhelming majority of 330 for, and 24 against. They have said that discussions and even voting will take place in future, before important national measures are enforced.

Matt Hancock has confirmed Bolton will finally be brought into line with the rest of Greater Manchester regarding local restrictions. Close contact beauty treatments have resumed, take away can deliver after 10pm.
Pubs and other hospitality will FROM SATURDAY be able to open for customers to drink and eat-in. It was a tadge harsh considering other places in England actually do now have more cases (sadly not because Bolton got lots better, it's stayed roughly the same and has been overtaken)...

There's been a major outbreak of coronavirus at the Royal Glamorgan Hospital in Llantrisant, Wales. 89 cases and 10 losses of life are already associated with the outbreak. Some hospital services have had to be temporarily paused in an effort to stop the outbreak.

UK Prime Minister Alexander Boris De Pfeffel Johnson's father was caught shopping without a mask by a reporter from the Daily Mirror. He claims he 'isn't quite up to speed with regulations'. I claim he's an entitled prig, who knows the regulations perfectly well and doesn't believe they apply to him. Seems to be a familiar pattern with those and such as those...

Ex-opposition leader and White Stripes lyric, Jeremy Corbyn, has also broken the rules. He was photographed having dinner in a kitchen with his wife and 6 other people. How on Earth they expect any member of the general public to take this seriously is beyond me. The dinner attendees are all now liable for a 'first offence' £200 fine. Turned out to be an expensive meal.

Latest interim data from the Imperial College REACT study (over 80,000 samples taken 18-26 September) estimates that 1 in every 200 people in the UK right now have COVID, and young people aged 18-24 were twice as likely to test positive - 1 in every 100.
More positively, although the number of infections is going up, they believe that rate of growth is slowing, and the R might be as low as 1.1 (each infected person infects another 1.1 people on average).

UK Test & Trace have released some statistics on all contact tracing to date. Since it launched:
- 7.1 million individuals tested at least once
- 588,036 people reached by NHS Test and Trace
- 86% of identified close contacts who provided contact details reached
Sadly it isn't actually getting reliably better though:
"Of those transferred to the contact tracing system between 17 September and 23 September, 71.3% were reached and asked to provide information about their contacts. This has declined from 80.8% in the previous week and the percentage of people reached has returned to similar proportions seen when Test and Trace launched."
I can't understand what they're doing wrong with contact tracing, but maybe they should give it up and let local NHS Contact Tracers run the show. Or at least let them give you some training. They've been doing this with all sorts of communicable diseases for years, they're the actual experts.

Advice for older adults World Health Organisation

India has conducted a massive study, looking at the contacts of almost 85,000 people who tested positive. They found:
- children aged 5-17 passed the virus on to 18% of their contacts.
- Just 8% of people with COVID were responsible for over 60% of new infections.
- 71% of people did not infect anyone else.
- Same-age contacts were associated with the greatest infection risk.
- Secondary attack rate (chance of infected people passing it on) estimates ranged from 1.2% in healthcare settings to 2.6% in the community and 9.0% in the household. (You are most likely to pass the virus to your own household.)
- Case-fatality ratios spanned 0.05% at ages 5-17 years to 16.6% at 85 years or over.

Superspreading is a feature and always will be. For every single asymptomatic person with covid wandering about being a bit complacent, there'll be absolutely loads being cautious. Thank heavens for the cautious.

Luxury Cruise News:
There are reports that Robert Redfield, head of the US CDC, wanted to extend a ban on cruise ships into next year, but the White House have overruled. Cruises are big business in Florida, a hotly contested state in the upcoming election.

slow the spread with a drop of soap uk government

Slovakia have declared a State Of Emergency for the next 45 days, after a sharp rise in cases.

Over 14m people have already downloaded the new COVID app. in England and wales.

North Korea have until now not reported a single case of COVID. Last week they shot dead a South Korean defector trying to land on their coastline, and immediately burned his body in case he was contaminated. I think it's fair to say they're a bit worried about COVID. Yesterday the often-reported-dead leader Kim 'live and well' Jong Un held a COVID meeting to discuss pandemic measures with party leaders. They closed the border with China in January, and have not yet reopened. Cases have been rumoured near borders, but nothing officially acknowledged.

Previously people coming to work in the UK on a visa mostly had to pay a healthcare surcharge as part of their immigration application. That has now been scrapped FOR HEALTH AND CARE WORKERS, and from today they can apply for a refund for previous payments.

There was a virtual crowd at the first final of the US NBA season. Unlike lots of sporting events who currently have unknown faces in the stands, this virtual crowd included sporting legends, and other famous fans, including Barack Obama.

It's a wrap on the first movie to be entirely filmed during the pandemic, and it was filmed in the UK, mostly Glasgow I believe. Bell Bottom is a Bollywood spy thriller set in the 1980's, and is due for release in April 2021.

Today is the International Day of Older Persons. To mark the day Dr Tedros, native Ethiopian and Head of the World Health Organisation, had a zoom call with Captain Sir Tom Moore, one-man saviour of the NHS and partially deaf centenarian.
The first 6 minutes just covered why he's called Tom. It involved lots of repetition, and Dr Tedros calling The Queen "erm... Elzabet". It was however incredibly sweet. Dr Tedros asked why Sir Commander Lord Tom wanted to raise the money for the NHS:
"All these nurses and doctors have given up their time, and put themselves into mortal danger to an unseen enemy"...

Right now, all around the world, older people are among the most vulnerable, the most scared and the most lonely. Give your own older people a call, check they're doing okay.

Some people. Every one understands what it's like to feel alone:

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

USA 7,468,356 (+21,074) 212,147 (+407)

India 6,368,363 (+58,096) 99,298 (+590)

Brazil 4,820,116 (+6,530) 144,103 (+141)

Russia 1,185,231 (+8,945) 20,891 (+169)

Colombia 829,679 not yet reported today 25,998

Peru 814,829 not yet reported today 32,463

Spain 778,607 (+9,419) 31,973 (+182)

Argentina 751,001 not yet reported today 16,937

Mexico 743,216 (+5,053) 77,646 (+483)

South Africa 674,339 not yet reported today 16,734