Health News at Your Fingertips

A new three-tier lockdown system is being planned for England, with leaked government documents paving the way for potential harsher restrictions including the closure of pubs and a ban on all social contact outside of household groups.

The draft traffic-light-style plan, seen by the Guardian, is designed to simplify the current patchwork of localised restrictions, which apply to about a quarter of the UK. It also reveals tougher measures that could be imposed by the government locally or nationally if Covid cases are not brought under control.

Called the “Covid-19 Proposed Social Distancing Framework” and dated 30 September, it has not yet been signed off by No 10 and measures could still be watered down.

Read more here:

In Ireland, the National Public Health Emergency Team has recommended the entire country transitions to the highest level of restrictions, Level 5.

The three party leaders in government are expected to have a meeting with the chief medical officer tomorrow to discuss the recommendation, RTE reported.

It follows a Sunday meeting by the group, which oversees the country’s coronavirus response, as concerns grows over Ireland’s rising number of infections.

Here is a graphic, courtesy of the Irish Times, showing the different restrictions each level entails.

Global coronavirus cases have passed 35 million, with the Johns Hopkins University coronavirus tracker showing 35,008,447 infections recorded.

The milestone was topped while the number of deaths stood at over one million. 1,034,818 fatalities have been registered around the world.

Here are the countries that have reported the highest numbers of cases and deaths:

Cases

• US: 7,411,716
• India 6,549,373
• Brazil: 4,906,833
• Russia: 1,209,039
• Colombia: 848,147

Deaths

South Africa’s health minister said a further 1,573 coronavirus cases were confirmed on Sunday, bringing the total up to 681,289, according to the Cape Times.

An additional 38 Covid-19 related deaths were also registered, Zweli Mkhize said, taking the country’s toll to 16,976.

As we continue to wait for the UK government to publish Sunday’s coronavirus statistics, there are concerns about the impact of the reporting backlog on the efficacy on Test and Trace.

Canada’s chief public health officer said Canada is racing against the clock to prevent a massive coronavirus resurgence, as Ontario and Quebec continue to report some of their highest daily infection counts in months, CBC reported.

The chance to avoid a large comeback of the virus “narrows with each passing day,” Dr Theresa Tam said in a statement.

“It is clear that without all of us making hard choices now to reduce our in-person contacts and maintain layers of personal protections at all times, it won’t be enough to prevent a large resurgence,” Tam said.

Her statement comes as Canada’s two most populous provinces – Ontario and Quebec – move toward stricter measures in coronavirus hotspots.

France reported 12,565 new coronavirus cases on Sunday.

This is down from the record number of new infections registered on Saturday, which saw cases jump by 16,972 in one day.

The total number of infections since the start of the epidemic rose to 619,190 cases, the French health ministry said.

The health ministry said there had been a further 32 deaths from Covid-19 in the past 24 hours, taking the toll to 32,230.

There were 4,264 new cases of people being hospitalised over the last seven days, including 893 in intensive care units. That is slightly higher than the previous report on Saturday, Reuters reported.

The rate of positive coronavirus tests in France keeps rising, reaching 8.2% on Sunday, up from to 7.9% the previous day.

Bill de Blasio, the mayor of New York City, said on Sunday he is moving to shut schools and non-essential businesses in nine neighbourhoods where coronavirus clusters have been identified from Wednesday.

He also said another 11 neighbourhoods in the city are on a “watch list” because of rising positivity rates.

The lockdown is dependent on state approval. If New York governor Andrew Cuomo approves the shutdown, about 100 public schools and 200 private schools would be closed for anywhere from two to four weeks, de Blasio said. Students will have to return to remote-only learning.

New York is one of only 18 states where cases have not risen over the past two weeks, according to a Reuters analysis.

Nine states have reported record increases in Covid-19 cases over the last seven days, mostly in the upper Midwest and West where colder weather is forcing more activities indoors.

Ireland reported 364 new coronavirus cases on Sunday, with no new deaths related to the condition, according to the Irish Times.

It brings the total number of cases in the country to 38,032, while deaths remain at 1,810.

Ireland’s National Public Health Emergency Team reportedly had a last-minute midday meeting on Sunday as concern grows over the rising numbers of infections, according to a report the same newspaper.

The meeting is understood to be the first weekend meeting since spring, reportedly triggered by increasing levels of hospitalisations alongside rising caseloads.

In the UK, a health minister has been urged to apologise after he said the country will look back at its response to the coronavirus pandemic “like the Olympics” and be “extremely proud”.

The UK has reported the fifth highest number of deaths globally, with 42,407 fatalities logged by the Johns Hopkins University coronavirus tracker.

Labour condemned Lord Bethell’s comments as “tasteless and offensive”.

The peer made the remarks at a Conservative Party conference fringe events, after being asked where the thought the UK would rank in regards to its tackling of the pandemic.

He said: “I think there have been some outstanding pieces of delivery that have not been fully appreciated.

“And I think it will be like the Olympics, that’s when it’s all over and we look back and reflect, we will actually be extremely proud of ourselves.”

Shadow health secretary Jon Ashworth said: “We have witnessed a level of suffering from this virus that was incomprehensible at the start of the year.

“For a health minister to suggest we will look back with pride and compare it to a time of national celebration is tasteless and offensive. He should apologise.”

Greece reported 229 new coronavirus cases on Sunday, bringing the total to 19,842. The country has registered a further four deaths, taking the toll up to 409.

Japanese fashion designer Kenzo Takada, better known as Kenzo, died Sunday from Covid-19, his spokesperson told several French media outlets.

Aged 81, Takada was at the American Hospital of Paris in Neuilly-sur-Seine, a residential suburb on the western outskirts of the French capital, the spokesperson said.

Kenzo, the house he founded in the 1970s, is owned by LVMH , the world’s biggest luxury group. Takada brought a “gust of color and fresh creativity” to Paris in the 1970s, fashion news website WWD.com said.

“I was a fan of the brand in the Seventies when he started. I think he was a great designer,” WWD quoted Sidney Toledano, CEO of LVMH Fashion Group, as saying. “I’m very sad. He was a great guy.”

Reuters

As we wait for the government to publish Sunday’s UK coronavirus figures, a quick refresher on why Saturday’s stats were so alarmingly high, with 12,872 new infections reported.

This is from the government’s coronavirus dashboard:
“Due to a technical issue, which has now been resolved, there has been a delay in publishing a number of COVID-19 cases to the dashboard in England. This means the total reported over the coming days will include some additional cases from the period between 24 September and 1 October, increasing the number of cases reported.”

So it looks likely that Sunday’s figures will be higher than usual, as unreported cases from the past week will be added to the day’s tally.

This could have implications for the government’s ability to control the spread of the virus, according to Prof Devi Sridhar, chair of global public health at Edinburgh University and an adviser on coronavirus to the Scottish government.

She said: “A lot of these results from yesterday were backdated and that means your tracing is not going to work rapidly enough because for the test, trace, isolate system to work, test results have to be returned within 24 hours.”

Over in the US, Donald Trump’s doctor, Sean Conley, is giving an update about the president’s condition. There has been confusion surrounding the state of the president’s health, with conflicting reports emerging about his
condition. While Conley has been upbeat about Trump’s condition, White House chief of staff Mark Meadows said there was a high-level of concern.

Here’s the gist of what we’ve heard so far today:

• Conley said Trump’s condition has “continued to improve” from Saturday
• The president was given supplemental oxygen for an hour on Friday – when asked if he has been given oxygen since, Conley said he’d “have to check with nurses” – despite being the White House physician
• Another doctor, Sean Dooley, said Trump had not had a fever since Friday morning and may even “be discharged tomorrow”
• Asked about the “confusion” around the conflicting reports – i.e. Conley vs. Meadows’ versions of events – Conley claimed Meadows was referring to Trump’s condition before his hospitalisation.

More as we get it over on the US blog: