Health News at Your Fingertips

Iran has reported a reduction in coronavirus infection rates, revealing that that 89 of 160 cities were out of the designated high risk category.

The health ministry also said that public adherence to coronavirus guidelines was at about 90%.

“I thank our dear people for taking the appropriate precautions and tolerating the restrictions,” deputy health minister Alireza Raisi said on state TV.

Despite the progress, the government announced the closure of most non-essential government offices, to continue curbing the spread of the virus.

A health ministry spokeswoman reported a further 13,402 coronavirus cases on Saturday, pushing the national tally to 935,799. The death toll rose by a further 391 in the past 24 hours, to an official total of 7,486.

Iran has been the worst hit country in the Middle East.

Boris Johnson has appointed Nadhim Zahawi as a health minister responsible for the deployment of the coronavirus vaccine, Downing Street has announced.

The new arrangement is temporary, and due to last until at least next summer. Zahawi will focus on distribution of the vaccine, and report to health secretary Matt Hancock.

The news marks the latest sign of progress on a vaccine against Covid-19.

Zahawi, Conservative MP for Stratford-on-Avon since May 2010, was appointed as parliamentary undersecretary of state at the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy (BEIS) in July 2019. He also served as parliamentary undersecretary of state at the Department for Education from January 2018 to July 2019.

“The Queen has been pleased to approve the appointment of Nadhim Zahawi MP as a parliamentary undersecretary of state at the Department of Health and Social Care,” Downing Street said in a statement, adding that he will stay in his role at BEIS.

Coronavirus deaths passed the grim milestone of 400,000 in Europe today, the world’s second worst-hit region, according to an AFP tally.

The UK claims the unenviable title of the highest death toll in Europe, followed by Italy, then France.

However, shops across Europe are preparing to open ahead of Christmas. Shutters rose in France today, with Poland opening shopping centres, and Belgium following on 1 December.

It is worth noting that different trackers may record marginally different numbers for cases and deaths across the world. This is due to variation in sources, criteria, and reporting methods.

Russia has reported 27,100 new coronavirus cases, including 7,320 in Moscow.

This takes the national total since the start of the pandemic to 2,242,633.

A further 510 deaths related to coronavirus were confirmed in the last 24 hours, pushing the official national death toll to 39,068.

Avanti West Coast has axed its peak travel restrictions over the festive period, slashing the cost of many journeys.

Passengers travelling on weekdays with off-peak tickets are usually prohibited from boarding trains before around 9.30am or between 3pm and 7pm, but this will not apply from December 18 until the end of the year.

This will mean significant price reductions for travel during periods where off-peak tickets are usually invalid. For example, passengers buying a fully-flexible fare for a trip from Manchester to London during the period will be charged £64.40 instead of £180.

More than 2.5 million at-risk people in England will be offered a free supply of vitamin D, the government has said today.

Care homes in England will automatically receive supplies of the supplement for their residents, and people who are classed as clinically extremely vulnerable to coronavirus will be offered the chance to opt in for a supply to their homes.

The free deliveries will start in January, and provide four months worth of vitamin D to up to 2.7 million people.

Public Health England advises everyone to take 10 microgrammes of vitamin D per day between October and early March, particularly elderly people, people who do not go outside and those with dark skin.

Research is ongoing to investigate the link between vitamin D and Covid-19 protection.

More than 1,300 people were wrongly told they had coronavirus because of a lab error with the government’s test and trace service.

The Department of Health and Social Care (DHSC) said 1,311 people who took a test from 19-23 November across the UK were incorrectly told they received a positive result. It said there was an issue with a batch of testing chemicals that meant their results were void.

A DHSC spokesman said: “Swift action is being taken to notify those affected and they are being asked to take another test, and to continue to self-isolate if they have symptoms. This laboratory error was an isolated incident and is being fully investigated to ensure this does not happen again.”

The first minister of Wales, Mark Drakeford, has urged people to “play our part by showing compassion for our most vulnerable,” amid high coronavirus hospital case rates in the country.

A Christmas travel tsar has been appointed in an effort to avoid transport chaos during the festive period.

Sir Peter Hendy, the chairman of Network Rail, will scrutinise whether train, air and road networks are ready for millions of people making trips during the five-day window when coronavirus restrictions are eased, the Department for Transport said.

There are concerns that transport systems could be overwhelmed as people travel for Christmas, with services reduced because of social distancing measures.

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A petition calling for the government to reverse a pay freeze on civil servants has gathered more than 100,000 signatures.

The Public and Commercial Services (PCS) Union called for a parliamentary debate in the light of the public support, demanding that civil servants receive a decent wage rise after a “decade of pay restraint”. According to the union, civil service pay has fallen in value by about 20% over 10 years, while government workers have been “overpaying” to their pension contributions.

The calls follow an announcement from Rishi Sunak that there would be a pay freeze across the public sector, except for doctors and nurses, because of the economic impacts of the coronavirus pandemic.

PCS general secretary Mark Serwotka said the number of signatures was “a fantastic achievement” and showed there was “real appetite amongst the public to see the pay freeze lifted.”

He said: “Civil servants and government workers deserve to be rewarded properly for all their professionalism and dedication throughout Covid-19. Government attempts to play private sector and public sector staff against one another is doomed to failure and we demand they reverse their pay freeze immediately.”

Prof Neil Ferguson, whose modelling led to the original lockdown in the UK back in March, said “individual judgment” would be important in deciding whether to see elderly relatives this Christmas.

While Ferguson said that celebrating with family would “increase transmission compared with everyone staying at home not mixing at all”, he said the real question was that if everyone was told to stay home, “what proportion of the population would actually go along with it?”

“I think you have to bring the population with you,” he told BBC Radio 4’s Today.

“I think the measures at Christmas, they do pose some risks and I think individual judgment is important in deciding whether to see elderly relatives. But I think they strike a balance – expanding the bubble system limits the extent to which if people adhere to that transmission can really take off,” he said.

“Then what happens in January will depend on what the data is showing, and we don’t have the ability to predict precisely what the impact of both the tier system which will start next week and activity over Christmas.”

The University of Surrey has announced that it will reduce its entry requirements by one grade for most undergraduate courses next year, in recognition of the impact of the coronavirus pandemic on education.

The university said the lowering of grade requirements aimed to help “relieve the pressure and anxiety”, faced by young people whose learning has been disrupted by the pandemic across two academic years.

The reduction in grade requirements will not apply to applicants for Veterinary Medicine, foundation year courses, four-year integrated masters programmes and audition-based performance courses.

Earlier this month, the University of Birmingham also revealed it planned to reduce entry requirements for 2021 by one grade in recognition of the impact of Covid-19 on A-level students.

One of the rebel Conservative MPs that Michael Gove was trying to pacify on Saturday is Craig Mackinlay, who said he will vote against the tiered system on Tuesday.

Mackinlay, MP for South Thanet, questioned whether the measures were working: “given that we’ve been through this before, we have to ask ourselves, is this the cure, is this actually working?”

He told BBC Breakfast that instead of tiered restrictions, he would favour natural “self-regulation” which he claimed happens when people see the R-rate in their local area starting to rise.

“There was a report out on Friday that was suggesting there were 40,000 less cancer diagnoses this year than there were last year,” he said. “I don’t suppose for one minute there’s less cancer out there, but what it means is we are building up in the system, a lot of people who are too fearful to go into a medical arena, possibly struggling to see their GP for the first appointment.”

“These are going to be built up for the future, with more intensive treatment required… or indeed death,” he added.

Mackinlay has previously voted to block coronavirus legislation including the 10pm curfew for the hospitality industry in October and England’s second lockdown in November.

Germany’s partial lockdown measures could go on until early Spring if infections do not reduce, economy minister Peter Altmaier has said, warning that the country had “three to four long winter months ahead of us.”

Altmaier told Die Welt newspaper that it was not possible to end the measures while there were incidences of more than 50 infections per 100,000 inhabitants in large parts of Germany.

Germany imposed a “lockdown light” in early November, which closed bars and restaurants but saw schools and shops stay open. While the measures have stopped exponential growth in cases and the number of infections has stabilised, this is at a high rate.

On Wednesday, Chancellor Angela Merkel agreed with leaders of Germany’s 16 federal states on to extend and tighten measures against the coronavirus until at least Dec. 20.

The chief executive of NHS Providers has urged the government to “take precautions now” to ensure hospitals are not overwhelmed in January, which is the busiest time of the year for the healthcare service.

Chris Hopson said that “winter emergencies” like slipping on ice and breaking bones caused massive demand on the NHS in January, and that if there is “a cold snap, there will be a danger that the NHS gets overwhelmed.”

“So what we’d say to MPs is, just think forward, think what it might be like in January, and you need to take the precautions now to ensure that the NHS doesn’t get overwhelmed at what is always it’s busiest time of year,” Hopson said.

He also urged people to follow coronavirus regulations over Christmas, saying that if “people go beyond the rules”, “we could trigger a third phase” of coronavirus.

However, there was some cause for hope.

Hopson said that while the NHS was still under heavy strain, infection rates were “definitely dropping” in areas like Manchester and Liverpool, which had been under sustained and strict lockdown measures.

He also said he expected the Pfizer vaccine to reach regulatory approval by “early to mid December”.

“This a huge logistical task that we’re doing at real pace, so I can’t believe there won’t be some bumps in the road,” he said. “But look how brilliant the NHS is in terms of being innovative and adapting to ensure it can fight this coronavirus, that’s exactly what we’ll be doing to ensure that we can deliver the vaccine.”

Every hospital in England could be overwhelmed with coronavirus cases if new tier restrictions are not introduced, Michael Gove has said.

Gove said the decision to impose the restrictions was necessary to “pull the handbrake” and avoid the “disaster” of NHS hospitals reaching capacity with coronavirus patients.

The move was an apparent attempt to prevent a Tory backbench rebellion, amid a backlash from some Conservative MPs against the stringent measures introduced in parts of the country. Cornwall, the Isle of Wight and Isles of Scilly will be the only areas under Tier 1 restrictions when the national lockdown in England ends on 2 December, with the rest of the country under stricter tier 2 and 3 restrictions.

The chairman of the backbench Conservative 1922 Committee, Sir Graham Brady, was among the critics. He accused the government of infringing people’s “fundamental human rights”.

But Gove urged MPs to “take responsibility for difficult decisions”.

“Keeping our hospitals open, available and effective was not just crucial to dealing with Covid-19. It was imperative for the health of the whole nation,” Gove wrote in an article for the Times. “But the only way to ensure we can take care of cancer patients, administer radiotherapy and chemotherapy, and help stroke victims and treat heart attacks is by protecting the NHS.

“And just as we want to reduce Covid-19 infections to save lives, so reducing them is the key to saving the economy. Think for a moment what would happen to our economy if we allowed infections to reach such a level that our NHS was overwhelmed.”