UK daily death figure dips to lowest since day after lockdown

May 18, 2020

The UK’s daily figure for coronavirus deaths has dropped to 170 – the lowest since the day after lockdown began.

The announcement comes a week after the first easing of restrictions in England – and while numbers are typically lower on Sundays, the figure is almost 100 fewer than the 268 reported a week ago.

But the overall death toll remains the highest in Europe, and is now 34,636.

Meanwhile in Spain, the daily number of deaths dropped below 100 for the first time since its lockdown started.

The UK death numbers announced on Sundays and Mondays are typically lower than the other five days of the week, due to fluctuations in how quickly deaths are reported by hospitals and care homes.

Sunday’s figure is the lowest since 24 March, when 149 deaths were reported. The evening before that, Prime Minister Boris Johnson had introduced the lockdown.

Spain, which introduced a strict lockdown on 14 March, announced 87 new deaths on Sunday. At its peak on 2 April, there were 961 deaths in a 24-hour period.

Italy has also reported its lowest figure since its lockdown began, with a total of 145.

Liker other government ministers during the week, Business Secretary Alok Sharma said the country was moving towards level three of the coronavirus alert system, which would see the gradual relaxation of restrictions, but “to definitively conquer this disease we need to find a safe workable vaccine”.

Speaking at Sunday’s Downing Street briefing, he said the clinical trial for a Covid-19 vaccine at the University of Oxford was progressing well and announced £93m to speed up a new vaccine research lab.

The government has already invested £47m in the Oxford vaccine and Mr Sharma committed to a further £84m of new funding.

He added that pharmaceutical firm AstraZeneca had finalised a “global licensing agreement” with Oxford and the government.

It means if the trial is successful, 30 million doses will be available for the UK by this September, as part of a 100 million-dose agreement.

Mr Sharma said this would put the UK at the front of the queue for getting the vaccine.

Business Secretary Alok Sharma says research to find a vaccine for coronavirus is progressing at unprecedented speed and with the UK leading it, British people should be at the front of the queue for getting the jab.

Pharmaceutical giant AstraZeneca has signed a licensing agreement to make 30 million doses available by this September.

But that’s incredibly ambitious and is conditional on immunisation actually working.

Experts admit an effective coronavirus vaccine may never be found. Trials are under way with volunteers being vaccinated.

It will take months to be sure of success.

That’s why researchers are also backing another horse – finding existing drugs and therapies that can be used to improve the survival odds of patients who become extremely ill with coronavirus.

The business secretary also said the opening of the UK’s first vaccine manufacturing innovation centre is expected to take place in the summer of 2021, a year ahead of schedule, after the government’s funding pledge.

“The centre, which is already under construction, will have capacity to produce enough vaccine doses to serve the entire UK population in as little as six months,” he said.

“But if, and it is a big if, a successful vaccine is available later this year, we will need to be in a position to manufacture it at scale and quickly. So whilst assent is being built, the government will establish a rapid deployment facility thanks to a further investment of £38m.”

In other developments:

Boris Johnson has acknowledged frustration over the “complex” easing of England’s coronavirus lockdown
Schools are safe to reopen but “you can never eliminate risk”, Michael Gove has insisted
Councils need a £5bn “income guarantee” to stop cuts to services, it has been warned

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Source: BBC

Brazil records highest daily rise in deaths

May 13, 2020

Brazil has recorded its highest daily rise in the number of deaths from the coronavirus, health officials say.

It registered 881 new deaths on Tuesday, the health ministry said. The total death toll now stands at 12,400.

It means Brazil, which is at the centre of the Latin American outbreak, is now the sixth worst affected country in terms of recorded deaths.

And experts say the real figure may be far higher due to a lack of testing in the country.

“Brazil is only testing people who end up in the hospital,” Domingo Alves from the University of Säo Paulo Medical School told AFP news agency.

“It’s hard to know what’s really happening based on the available data,” he said. “We don’t have a real policy to manage the outbreak.”

Mr Alves is one of the authors of a study that estimated the real number of infections was 15 times higher than the official figure.

The number of confirmed cases in the country currently stands at 177,589, officials say. It rose by more than 9,000 on Tuesday and overtook Germany’s tally of 170,000.

Brazil’s total is second only to the US in the Western Hemisphere. The World Health Organization (WHO) says the Americas are currently at the centre of the pandemic.

The outbreak is expected to accelerate over the coming weeks, experts say, and there are fears the pandemic could overwhelm Brazil’s health system.

But far-right President Jair Bolsonaro has repeatedly downplayed the threat of the coronavirus and criticised governors and mayors for adopting strict restrictions to curb its spread.

Earlier this week, he issued a decree that classified businesses such as gyms and hairdressers as “essential” services that are exempt from lockdowns. But at least 10 governors said they would not comply with the order.

“Governors who do not agree with the decree can file lawsuits in court,” Mr Bolsonaro wrote on social media.

It comes after researchers said the first recorded coronavirus-related death in Brazil happened almost two months earlier than previously thought.

Scientists at the Oswaldo Cruz Foundation said that molecular tests suggested one patient who died in Rio de Janeiro between 19 and 25 January had Covid-19.

The scientists also said their research suggested the virus was being spread from person to person in Brazil in early February – weeks before the country’s popular carnival street parties kicked off.

Health Minister Nelson Teich said he needed more information before he could comment on the research carried out by the Oswaldo Cruz Foundation, which has been published online but not yet been peer-reviewed.

If confirmed, the cases would considerably change the timeline of how the virus spread in Brazil.

In other global developments:

The top US infectious diseases doctor has warned of “needless suffering and death” if the country reopens too soon. Dr Anthony Fauci also said the real death toll is probably higher than the official figure of 80,000
Russia has recorded another spike in cases – more than 10,000 over the last 24 hours – bringing the total number to 242,271. It has the second highest number of infections in the world after the US
Also in Russia, healthcare officials suspended the use of a certain model of ventilator that is believed to have caused a fire that killed five patients at a St Petersburg hospital on Tuesday
Staff at Twitter have been told they can continue working from home for as long as they see fit. The social media giant said its work-from-home measures had been a success
India has announced a 20 trillion rupee ($264bn; £216bn) economic package to help the country cope with its prolonged coronavirus lockdown
And the UK economy has contracted by 2% in the first three months of the year, official figures show. People in England who cannot work from home are also being encouraged to return to their workplaces

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SOURCE: BBC!