Saturday 4 April 2020

COVID-19 Coronavirus UK and World News update 4th April.

COVID-19 Coronavirus UK and World News update 4th April.

The UK added 3,735 cases today and now has reported a total of 41,903 positive cases of COVID-19. We had in total tested 183,190 people as of 9am this morning.

As of 5pm yesterday, of those hospitalised in the UK, we have lost another 708 people to COVID-19. We now sadly have a total of 4,313 losses of life.

Total cases are: England 34,707, Scotland 3,345, Wales 2,853 and Northern Ireland 998. Already (many more than) 135 of the UK's positive testing cases have recovered.

Rep. Of Ireland have 4,604 cases and 137 losses of life.

There have now been 1,181,134 reported cases worldwide. The number of people who have lost their lives worldwide to COVID-19 is now 63,894. Already 243,871 people have recovered.

WHO children emulate stress be calm

At today's UK briefing we had the pleasure of Michael Gove's company.
The NHS has 15,073 COVID-19 patients admitted to hospital. In the last day Yorkshire and the NE admissions have gone up by 35%, in the Midlands admissions have gone up by 47%.
7 health care professionals have lost their lives to COVID-19.
A 5 year old child with underlying health conditions has died from COVID-19.
Many different projects are underway, including Mercedes-Benz producing oxygen delivery systems and 300 ventilators today arrived from China. The MOD are organising delivery (cheers for your work people).
School attendance last week was 2%. Children need to be considered and there is more news to come next week.

Professor Steve Powis, Medical Director of NHS England was asked about the 13 residents of a single nursing home who have died without being tested for COVID-19. They will not be added to the regular figures, but will be reported by the Office Of National Statistics (ONS), as will all deaths in the community. Those numbers will be available soon (and it will be very ugly. This is your warning that the number is likely to be substantial because of the nature of COVID-19).
They explained the 5G hoax is rubbish. These are the phone networks which are used by our emergency services and have no relationship to COVID-19 whatsoever. People have been damaging them and putting lives at risk.
He reminded us that if you have symptoms of any health emergency, such as a stroke or heart attack, you should call 999 as you would normally. The NHS Is still caring for all patients.


Watford General Hospital is currently closed to all patients except delivering mothers, having declared a Critical Incident as they have almost run out of oxygen.

The Justice Secretary Robert Buckland is planning a "phased programme of controlled release" of up to 4,000 prisoners who have only 2 months left of their sentence, and were not convicted of sexual offences or violent offences with a 12m sentence or longer. All around the world prisons have struggled to contain outbreaks and very quickly hundreds of prisoners can be affected, filling local hospitals.

Google are publishing data on public movement in order to help governments assess whether their public are indeed 'staying home'. Don't panic, the 'Community Mobility Reports' only show the larger picture. Individual movements aren't a feature... and it's actually quite fascinating.

Don't go out this weekend UK govt

The USA has been accused of modern piracy after admitting they have taken custody of almost 200k N95 respirator masks, 130k surgical masks and 600k gloves. Trump invoked the Defence Production Act, which means US owned companies are obliged to alter what they are making if ordered to, and barred from exporting certain items to other countries.

The Berlin Police Force are rather angry that a shipment of 200k N95 respirator masks manufactured by US owned company 3M was intercepted while changing planes in Thailand.
There's something familiar sounding about this story.

Canada is missing a shipment of medical supplies and fears it may have been diverted to the US. In an interview with Sky News, Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said he is "very concerned"
"We understand that the needs of the United States are real, but the needs of Canada are also real. And we need to work together to that end,"

More than half of Africa’s 54 countries have closed their land, air and sea borders to fight the spread of the coronavirus. Fears are growing that this will make it far more difficult to deliver aid.

Turkey has intercepted 150 ventilators destined for Spain. Spanish authorities have attempted for 2 weeks to recover their property, but have had to give up. Turkey have restricted exports of medical equipment and the 3€m of ventilators remain in customs.

Ecuador are having a disaster. Port city Guayaquil has registered about half of all Ecuador's 3,368 cases and patients have overwhelmed the city's hospitals and undertakers. After being left for a week in some cases, households have been left no choice but to take them outside.

We are 3 days behind France and 3 weeks behind Italy. We always have been. What we don't know is how long we will be at our peak for  - and that depends on all of us. Stay home. Observe physical distancing if you have to go out.

The Grand Canyon is now closed after the Navajo Nation spent weeks pleading for people to stop bringing COVID-19 to them. Tribal officials said last Wednesday last week that 214 people had tested positive, with 7 deaths.

An Irish hardware store is leaving gifts of pots of hand sanitiser on local people's doorsteps.

The EU is suspending tariffs on imported medical equipment and PPE (personal protective equipment).

Spain's cases and losses of life have plateaued, but still aren't dropping. PM Pedro Sánchez announced today that the government intends to extend the state of alarm until April 26th.

The US CDC have recommended people wear face coverings in public as a voluntary measure. Donald Trump has said he won't be doing it. Melania doesn't agree. She's tweeted out her own advice asking everyone to take social distancing and wearing face covering seriously.

The CDC have a brilliant video on Twitter for how make a simple cloth face covering, or you can go Ninja with a t-shirt.

In Northern Italy, 60 volunteers who thought they'd never suffered COVID-19 gave blood. 40 of them tested positive for antibodies to the virus. This is further proof that many people catch COVID-19 and don't have any noticeable symptoms.

Follow social Distancing UK Govt

Lost Their Fight:
Detroit bus driver Jason Hargrove, who featured in a viral video complaining about a coughing passenger. He said in the video "some folks don't care". 

Egypt has just sent a plane loaded with equipment and their Health Minister to Italy.

Prime Minister Imran Khan has announced Pakistan will be re-opening their construction sector:
"with a high rate of poverty, we are faced with the stark choice of having to balance between a lockdown necessary... & ensuring people don't die of hunger & our economy doesn't collapse. So we are walking a tightrope."

Australian scientists have discovered anti-parasitic drug Ivermectin kills COVID-19 in a test tube within 48 hours. Don't get too excited though, this is a dose way above human safety levels and a lot more testing is necessary to find out if it can be any use in the human fight against COVID-19.

Fetishware clothing company MedFetUK have donated their entire stock of disposable scrubs to the NHS. They have however commented on how disturbing this is, as they have been contacted by NHS procurement from all over the country asking if they can help. It looks like the UK's lack of  manufacturing industry may not be helpful right now.

Repeatedly admirable rock star Pink has said she and her 3 year old have suffered and recovered from COVID-19. She's donated $500k to Temple University Hospital in honour of her mother, who worked there, and another $500k to the Los Angeles Mayor's COVID-19 Crisis Fund. She has also blasted her government for not making testing free and accessible to all, and urged everyone to Please. Stay. Home.

Jon Bon Jovi is currently working as dishwasher at his JBJ Soul Kitchen restaurant in New Jersey, which is feeding those in need during the crisis. You Sir are a star who rocks. And also a rock star.

Older adults advice from the World Health Organisation

When you look at official figures then you can take most as a guide, but be pretty sure that there are many reasons they aren't as precise (high) as we might expect.
When a country has a large number of losses compared to the number of cases, they aren't usually officially testing very many people. When a country has a massive number of cases and less losses than those around them, they are usually testing lots of people, finding contacts of those who test positive and testing them. So they have counted cases wilth no symptoms, as well as mild and severe symptoms, and isolate them, and can begin treatment straightaway if it becomes necessary.

Some countries which stand out, as having a large number of patients succumbed to COVID-19 compared to reported number of cases, may be about to discover the true extent of their problem. These include Hungary, Algeria, Indonesia, Denmark, Sweden, The Netherlands, Belgium and the UK.

Some people. I've shown them as numbers because I don't know all of their names:

Country / Case / Losses of life

USA 300,625 (+23,464) 8,157 (+753)
Spain 124,736 (+5,537) 11,744 (+546)
Italy 124,632 (+4,805) 15,362 (+681)
Germany 92,150 (+991) 1,330 (+55)
France 89,953 (+7,788) 7,560 (+1,053)
China 81,639 (+19) 3,326 (+4)
Iran 55,743 (+2,560) 3,452 (+158)
UK 41,903 (+3,735) 4,313 (+708)
Switzerland 20,278 (+672) 641 (+50)
Belgium 18,431 (+1,661) 1,283 (+140)
Netherlands 16,627 (+904) 1,651 (+164)
Sweden 6,443 (+312) 373 (+15)
Denmark 4,077 (+320) 161 (+22)
Indonesia 2,092 (+106) 191 (+10)
Algeria 1,251 (+80) 130 (+25)
Hungary 678 (+55) 32 (+6)


Sources:

https://www.google.com/covid19/mobility/
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/amp/world-52161995
https://www.google.com/amp/s/amp.theguardian.com/world/2020/apr/03/mask-wars-coronavirus-outbidding-demand
https://twitter.com/Yascha_Mounk/status/1246240181440540672?s=19
https://www.npr.org/sections/coronavirus-live-updates/2020/04/03/826675439/corpses-lie-for-days-as-ecuador-struggles-to-keep-up-with-covid-19-deaths
https://www.buzzfeednews.com/amphtml/juliareinstein/detroit-bus-driver-dead-coronavirus-viral-video
https://www.sanmiguelcountyco.gov/CivicAlerts.aspx?AID=513
https://elpais.com/sociedad/2020-04-03/turquia-retiene-un-cargamento-de-respiradores-para-espana.html
https://www.lastampa.it/topnews/primo-piano/2020/04/02/news/coronavirus-castiglione-d-adda-e-un-caso-di-studio-il-70-dei-donatori-di-sangue-e-positivo-1.38666481/amp/?__twitter_impression=true
https://m.khaleejtimes.com/coronavirus-pandemic/combating-covid-19-anti-parasitic-drug-killed-coronavirus-within-48-hours-in-lab
https://twitter.com/BBCDanielS/status/1246410735720202241?s=19
https://twitter.com/DannyShawBBC/status/1246365318664126465?s=19
https://english.elpais.com/politics/2020-04-04/spanish-government-prepares-to-extend-state-of-alarm.html
https://twitter.com/ImranKhanPTI/status/1246321369467494401?s=19
https://www.theglobeandmail.com/world/article-at-least-32-african-nations-close-borders-raising-fears-about/
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-essex-52151694
https://news.sky.com/story/coronavirus-canada-investigates-reports-medical-supplies-shipment-diverted-to-us-11967702



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