These are the UK coronavirus stories you need to know about today.
‘Milestone’ vaccine
The first formal vaccine statistics from NHS England show that 521,594 people received their first COVID-19 injection in England in the first 13 days of the program.
Of these, 70.3% were over 80s. Other priority groups were health and care workers, and care home residents.
There are nearly 80 hospital vaccination hubs. More than 500 centers are run by GPs, and teams have also visited care homes.
National Medical Director, Professor Stephen Powis, said: “This vaccine presents a number of complex challenges but the NHS response has come as no surprise, with hundreds of local hospitals and vaccination centers. standing across the country. “
Responding to the figures, Dr Richard Vautrey of the BMA said the “milestone” vaccine was “a testament to the great work that is going on in health care settings across the country”.
He continued: “However, some GPs have told the BMA in recent weeks that they are experiencing delays in delivering the vaccine, and that they are doing their best to To work around this, these procurement issues need to be resolved as a matter of urgency. .
“When practices have been working so hard to prepare, it is difficult to hear reports of some vaccine deliveries being postponed, but we expect all sites to be operational in early January. This may be of particular concern to some patients who have rescheduled appointments, but we hope they will realize that their routines are doing their best to get them vaccinated as soon as possible. possible.
“Every effort must also be made to ensure that staff have the right priority for the vaccine and that those most at risk are protected in an emergency. “
In Scotland, 56,676 people received the vaccine 8-20 December.
The US CDC said 1,008,025 doses of COVID-19 vaccines have been given over 10 days since Wednesday morning, and have dispensed 9,465,725 doses.
Additional steps for a new variety
The London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine has published a preview study modeling the additional transmission of the novel SARS-CoV-2 variable VOC 202012/01.
He concludes that a major vaccine rollout and school closures in January may be needed to prevent COVID-19 and hospital deaths in 2021 from being higher than those in 2020.
Lead author Nick Davies commented Twitter: “We will only examine a few scenarios in this introduction to show what might happen under different control strategies. Deciding which policies are most effective can provide more work than was possible in the 5 days gone by. “
Infectiousness study
The latest infection survey data from the Office for National Statistics (ONS) shows that in the most recent possible period (14-18 December), London, the South East and the east of England have the percentage highest of advanced cases consistent with the genetic makeup of the new variant of the virus.
Overall, there was a steady increase in the percentage of people testing positive in England with around 645,800 people with COVID-19 (12-18 December), equating to around 1 in 85 person.
The survey tests participants regardless of their symptoms.
Significant increases were again seen in London, the east of England and the South East. London has the highest percentage of people taking a positive test.
In Wales, a sharp increase was seen in 52,200 people with COVID-19, equivalent to around 1 in 60 people.
There was also an increase in Northern Ireland, with COVID-19 at 10,100 people, equating to around 1 in 180 people.
In Scotland, the percentage of people positive in Scotland fell by 37,100 people with COVID-19, or 1 in 140 people.
Test and find
The English Test and Trace service reported a 58% increase in the number of advanced coronavirus cases detected 10-16 December compared to the previous week.
It reached 92.6% of contacts of positive cases.
They reported that more than 4.9 million tests had been processed across the UK since trials began. The Department of Health and Social Care said that is more than any other comparable European country.
Interim Managing Chair, National Institute for Health Protection, Baroness Dido Harding said: “NHS Test and Trace has become one of the largest communications detection and testing systems anywhere in the world and the COVID-19 contract discovery app we launched in September has now been downloaded more than 20.7 million times. “
Individual Public Health England study data show that case rates have risen across all age groups, with the highest rate at 434.6 per 100,000 population in those aged 30-39.
The COVID-19 hospital admission rate was 18.66 per 100,000 in week 51, compared with 15.18 per 100,000 in the previous week. The highest entry rate remains in people aged 85 and over.
Flu activity, including GP consultations and hospital admissions, remains low.
Winter pressure
The NHS is working “flat out” on COVID-19 and winter pressures, said NHS Providers’ Saffron Cordery, citing the latest performance figures for England.
“Trust leaders tell us against the pandemic, with the resulting pressure on space and staff, bed occupancy at 85% feels like 95%, and we are currently run at 88% so that really raises problems, “she said.
“These pressures are adding to manual delays for patients arriving by ambulance, which means crews cannot respond as quickly as other calls where they are needed.
“It’s good that bed closures due to norovirus are still relatively low – because that can exacerbate problems at this time of year.”
There were 13 A&E redirects in the last week.
Ambulance delays of more than an hour ranged from 222 to 555 per day between 17-20 December.
Boxing Day Series
The BMA supports the decision to add more parts of England to Boxing 4 from Boxing Day due to high levels of the new virus variant.
Council Chairman Dr Chaand Nagpaul said in a statement: “The number of rocket cases means that more movement of the country into Stage 4 is a necessary step to control the virus, and preventing the NHS from going to the point where local services are able to meet the needs of critically ill patients.
“With a third potential pressure emerging in South Africa, the second strain in the UK gaining ground and some GPs here reporting delays in vaccine delivery, we are in The situation is fragile, and as the pace of the increase, further setbacks may be necessary in the coming days and weeks, and the Government must be prepared to act swiftly if the science supports this. “
Travel
Concerns about the South African-related B1.351 variant (also known as 501Y.V2) have banned travel in the UK on South African travelers. British and Irish Nationals, visa holders and permanent residents coming from South Africa will be able to enter but must separate for 10 days with their families.
The border with France is open again for passengers and truck drivers who can show a negative test result.
Concerns about the variety circulating in the UK prompted New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio to force every visitor from the UK quarantine to receive a $ 1000 fine. “We can’t take chances,” he said.
Fauci
Dr Anthony Fauci, director, US National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, has been discussing various UK viruses in an interview with WebMD.
“We don’t know for sure – but it looks like it has a better ability to transmit, from being passed from person to person. There is no evidence that it has any effect. is the real feeling or, that is, it makes people sicker.
“The other important issue is whether it avoids vaccine protection, and that doesn’t seem to be the case at all. So what we need to do is look at it carefully, and we need to be vigilant. made in this country [US]. Then there’s a debate about: If it’s not already here – something that may be and we don’t know yet – what do you do? I know that the European Union bans travel from the UK. I think that’s probably too much pressure now. I would not oppose ensuring that people who fly here, or come to the United States from the UK, must be tested before getting on the plane so that you know they are negative when they get here. That, I think, is something that could be considered. I’m not saying we should do it, but we should consider it. “
Brexit
Details are yet to emerge of the UK’s new relationship with the EU from 1 January following today’s trade deal.
Agreement on science collaboration came to fruition Twitter from the Government ‘s Chief Scientific Adviser Sir Patrick Vallance: “We are delighted to now be joining forces with science programs in the EU. Science is an international effort and our partnership with our colleagues a strong and important Europe for us all. “
English Health Secretary Matt Hancock tweet: “There are great opportunities for our renowned region of life sciences and an even greater place for our global regulator @MHRAgovuk.”
Xmas Movements
At times ONS data is surprising but not so much today. Health and care workers are the professions most likely to work at Christmas.
In total, 1.1 million employees worked on Christmas Day 2018. The main professions were:
-
Care staff and home carers (166,000)
-
Banaltraman (112,000)
-
Nursing Assistants and Assistants (66,000)
-
Chefs (36,000)
-
Medical Doctors (31,000)
Speaking, ONS ‘s David Freeman said: “Our country’ s health and care workers have been very thoughtful this year, but these numbers are a reminder that people who are work in these areas often overcomes things like spending Christmas Day with their families even in a more normal year. “
See more global coronavirus updates in Medscape’s Coronavirus Resource Center.