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Wednesday 24 June 2020 19:11
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Medical experts have warned the UK must prepare now for the “real risk” of a second wave of coronavirus amid growing fears of a renewed outbreak this winter.
The warning came in an open letter published in the British Medical Journal after prime minister Boris Johnson announced the two-metre social distancing rule would be reduced to “one-metre plus”, allowing pubs, restaurants, hotels and cinemas to reopen from 4 July. Fitness bosses have criticised the decision to leave gyms out of the next stage of England’s lockdown easing, with the chief executive of David Lloyd Clubs blasting the move as “completely illogical”.
Australia has reported its first death in more than a month, sparking concerns about a second wave which saw thousands in Victoria queue for Covid-19 tests and supermarkets impose new restrictions.
A pub where police found drinkers hidden in wardrobes during the height of lockdown has lost its licence.
The Pitsmoor Hotel in Sheffield was found by the city’s council to have breached the terms of its licence by serving people when pubs had been ordered to shutter.
The Staffordshire Arms, which had the same licence holder, has also had its licence revoked.
The head of the World Health Organization says the agency has been working with partners to increase the access to medical oxygen for people sickened by the new coronavirus in developing countries.
Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said at a Wednesday press briefing the WHO estimated that at the current rate of about 1 million new Covid-19 cases every week, the world would need about 88,000 large cylinders of oxygen every day.
Mr Tedros added that the WHO has purchased 14,000 oxygen concentrators that will be sent to 120 countries in the coming weeks. WHO has identified another 170,000 concentrators, valued at $100 million, that will be available in the next six months.
Former Children’s Laureate Michael Rosen has returned home from hospital following a battle with coronavirus.
The poet and author, 74, was treated in intensive care by doctors after he was admitted to hospital in March.
He said on Twitter that healthcare workers and hospital staff went to “huge efforts” to keep him alive.
“They saved my life and have got me from horizontal to hobbling.
“Forever grateful to you all.”
Football fans will be allowed in limited numbers at stadiums in the Netherlands after the summer, as long as they keep a safe distance and do not sing or yell, Dutch Prime Minister Mark Rutte has said.
It was part of a widespread easing of restrictive measures following a slowdown in coronavirus infections and hospital admissions, he added.
Iran’s death toll from Covid-19 has risen to nearly 10,000 – with 133 new fatalities in the past 24 hours, the health ministry said following the nation’s lockdown easing
There were 2,531 new coronavirus infections reported in the past 24 hours, raising the total number of cases to 212,501, along with 9,996 deaths in all, the ministry said on Wednesday.
The daily death toll has regularly topped 100 in the past week for the first time in two months, mirroring a sharp rise in new infections since restrictions on movement began to be lifted in mid-April.
Beaches rammed on sweltering day
As the mercury rose to its highest levels of the year, people have been out on beaches attempting to cool off on beaches – with some appearing to struggle to remain socially distanced.
Police fear that as people flock back to their locals, the government’s “1m plus” social distancing rules could increase tensions over queueing, capacity and requirements for customers’ contact details to be taken.
One officer likened the oncoming revelry to “weeks of New Year’s Eves”, calling the timing and conditions a “perfect storm”.
Our Home Affairs Correspondent Lizzie Dearden has the story:
For those who had grown accustomed to Matt Hancock, Boris Johnson or Rishi Sunak appearing at around dinnertime, today may seem a little odd.
Today marks the first weekday since the 16th of March there has not been a televised address from Downing Street – a change announced by the Prime Minister yesterday.
The briefings had been a centre point of the government’s public information campaign, and will now take place only to confirm major policy initiatives.
The World Health Organization (WHO) said that it expects to see the number of cases of Covid-19 reach 10 million within the next week.
Dr Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, WHO director general, told a press briefing in Geneva: “More than 9.1 million cases of Covid-19 have now been reported to WHO, and more than 470,000 deaths.
“In the first month of this outbreak, less than 10,000 cases were reported to WHO. In the last month, almost four million cases have been reported.
“We expect to reach a total of 10 million cases within the next week.
“This is a sober reminder that even as we continue R&D (research and development) into vaccines and therapeutics, we have an urgent responsibility to do everything we can with the tools we have now to suppress transmission and save lives.”
Regular testing of all NHS and social care staff is a “key element” to safely easing Covid lockdown measures, shadow health secretary Jonathan Ashworth has said.
Speaking at the start of Labour’s Opposition Day Commons debate on testing of NHS and social care staff, he said: “We have brought this motion in order to put to the Government a constructive, practical suggestion that we consider now necessary to prepare our NHS to meet the monumental growing burden of unmet clinical need and what we think is also necessary to prepare us in case of a second wave of the virus.
“The key to resetting the NHS and the safe easing of lockdown measures announced yesterday is a fully effective system that finds cases, tests cases, traces contacts, isolates and then properly financially supports those who have been asked to isolate.
“We believe a key element of that must now be the regular testing, weekly if necessary, of all NHS and social care staff. This is what we are suggesting to the Government today and we hope the Government will accept our constructive suggestion and find a way to make this work.”
One of India’s best-known yoga gurus has been told to stop advertising a new herbal product that he claims can cure Covid-19.
Baba Ramdev, founder and head of the major traditional medicine manufacturer Patanjali, held a grand event on Tuesday unveiling a tablet called “Coronil” which, he claimed, had cured 100 per cent of coronavirus patients within seven days.
More below:
Police will keep the powers to break up “large and irresponsible” gatherings in England following the latest easing of the lockdown regulations, Downing Street has said.
The prime minister’s official spokesman said while many of the rules and regulations will now become guidance, some powers will remain.
“What the police will be able to do is break up large and irresponsible gatherings of over 30 people,” the spokesman said.
“Police can also continue to enforce the wearing of face coverings on public transport. Other regulations that remain are to help enforce that people arriving in the UK quarantine for 14 days and also the powers the authorities have to detain someone considered a public health risk.
“If you have a very big gathering taking place in a park or the sort of raves we have seen taking place in parts of the country in recent weeks, police would have the power to break those up.”
The spokesman added that if businesses fail to follow health and safety regulations, local authorities would have powers to temporarily close them or impose unlimited fines, while there is also the possibility of jail sentences.
PA
Ground handling giant Swissport is set to cut up to 4,556 jobs – more than half its UK workforce – as air companies struggle to deal with the fallout caused by the coronavirus crisis.
The company told staff on Wednesday the company needed to reduce the size of its workforce to survive.
Pubs, hairdressers and cinemas will be able to open in Scotland from July 15 if coronavirus continues to decline in the country, Nicola Sturgeon has announced.
The first minister said while the pace of easing lockdown in Scotland is “slower than England’s”, it is “right for our circumstances and, I hope, more likely to be sustainable than if we went faster”.
Laying out an updated route map out of lockdown, Ms Sturgeon said from July 3 travel distance restrictions – with people forced to stay within five miles of their home for recreation – will be relaxed and self-catering accommodation will be able to open.
From July 6, outdoor hospitality areas such as beer gardens will be able to open.
If Covid-19 cases continue to reduce, Scotland will enter phase three of lockdown on July 9.
From July 10, people can meet in extended groups outdoors, with physical distancing and households can meet indoors with up to a maximum of two households, with physical distancing.
From July 13, organised outdoor sports for children will resume and nonessential shops within indoor shopping centres will reopen.
The tourism sector and all holiday accommodation will then be able to reopen from July 15.
Switzerland’s government has announced it will pay for coronavirus testing, as it approved the launch of its proximity tracing app from tomorrow to prevent a resurgence of the coronavirus as restrictions are relaxed.
The government said it would take over all costs for virus and antibody tests, and would simplify the system for testing, effective from Thursday, the same day its Covid-19 tracing app – with which it hopes to alert people potentially infected with the virus – will go live.
Dozens of migrants rescued in the Mediterranean have tested positive for the new coronavirus while held in a quarantine ship off the southern Italian coast, Sicily’s regional leader Nello Musumeci has said.
In April Italy banned migrant rescue ships from docking in its ports until July 31 due to the Covid-19 pandemic. It now transfers all those saved at sea onto large ferries which must wait off its coast.
After saving more than 200 people stranded at sea last week, the Sea-Watch 3 charity boat arrived on Sunday in the Sicilian town of Porto Empedocle.
The mainly African passengers were immediately moved to the Italian ferry Moby Zaza, where 28 of them tested positive for coronavirus.
Official data suggests Africa has been less badly affected by Covid-19 than other parts of the world. However, Libyan health authorities reported a surge in cases in June, blaming the repatriations of nationals from abroad.
Fitness bosses have criticised the decision to leave gyms out of the next stage of England’s lockdown easing, writes Zoe Tidman.
The chief executive of David Lloyd Clubs blasted the move as “completely illogical” after Boris Johnson said more businesses could reopen on 4 July – but not indoor gyms and swimming pools.
travel correspondent Simon Calder reports.
He told MPs on the Transport Select Committee: “We want to make sure we are reprioritising how local authorities think about road space.”
Coronavirus testing needs to be done in a “matter of hours rather than days” to prevent a second wave, an expert has said.
Infectious disease specialist Professor David Heymann said that a second wave, or a resurgence of the virus, is not “inevitable” and could be mitigated with certain requirements.
Rapid diagnostics and contact tracing, quarantining of contacts and isolation of sick people – including isolation in health facilities – will interrupt the chain of transmission of the virus, according to Prof Heymann, who helped shut down the Sars outbreak in 2003.
Another way is to closely monitor different sectors or localities for infection rates followed by swift lockdowns, he told a Chatham House briefing on Covid-19.
“A second wave is not inevitable if countries, such as the UK, begin contact tracing which is necessary to detect patients and to evaluate their contacts,” he said.
“They need to then be rapidly diagnosed – and that means within hours rather than in days – and then contacts of those patients need to be identified and they need to be asked to self-quarantine.”
PA
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