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These are the UK coronavirus stories you need to know today.
GPs are the ‘right professionals’ for the vaccination campaign
GPs are the “right professionals” to lead England’s coronavirus vaccination campaign, the BMA said.
An agreement has been reached with NHS England and NHS Improvement to administer the strokes once the vaccines are approved, possibly next month.
BMA GP committee chair Dr. Richard Vautrey commented: “Family physicians and their teams are in a unique position to ensure that their communities are adequately protected from this deadly virus.”
He continued: “But we have no illusions that it will be an easy task. Not only are these vaccines very complex, for example, they need special storage conditions, but a campaign of this scale will be a great undertaking for the practices that are already struggling. for addressing the impact of the pandemic, as well as supporting the large number of patients with other health concerns. “
And he said, “The campaign is likely to lead to changes in the way practices operate as they prioritize this vital work for our nation.”
Money for hits?
Governments should consider incentives to encourage adoption of the coronavirus vaccine, argues ethics professor Julian Savulescu, University of Oxford, in The Journal of Medical Ethics.
He writes that mandatory vaccination may not be “ethically justified.”
“Yet another way of looking at this is that low-risk people are being asked to do work that carries some risk, even if it is very low. Therefore, they should be paid for the risk they are taking with it. in order to provide a Public Good. “
Keith Neal, Emeritus Professor of Infectious Disease Epidemiology at the University of Nottingham, commented, “Paying people to get vaccinated would set a very dangerous precedent.”
He added: “If we did this people would wait for it for other vaccines and also social media falsehoods would have a field day suggesting it can’t be safe if … you need to get paid to have it.”
Birmingham cancels planned operations
University Hospitals Birmingham has postponed many planned operations and procedures due to the “significant increase in the number of very sick patients (COVID and non-COVID) admitted to our hospitals as an emergency.”
However, cancer treatment and life-saving operations will continue. A statement from the hospital continued: “This is an extremely difficult decision and has not been made lightly. We know that affected patients will be distressed and upset with this decision, and for this we can only apologize. However, we must ensure that everyone those in need of urgent care can access treatment safely. “
ONS infection survey
The latest data from the Office of National Statistics Infection Survey shows some early signs that infection rates are stabilizing in England. “The rate of increase is less steep compared to previous weeks,” ONS said in a press release.
An estimated 618,700 people in England had COVID-19 from October 25 to 31, the equivalent of around 1 in 90 people.
There were around 8.38 new COVID-19 infections for every 10,000 people per day, which equates to around 45,700 new cases per day.
“This incidence rate appears to have stabilized at around 50,000 new infections per day,” ONS said.
In Northern Ireland, 24,900 people had COVID-19, which is equivalent to 1 in 75 people.
In Wales, ONS estimated that 27,100 people in Wales had COVID-19, which is equivalent to 1 in 110 people.
In Scotland, an average of 47,300 people in Scotland had COVID-19 for 2 weeks, which is equivalent to around 1 in 110 people.
The UK R number is unchanged this week at 1.1-1.3.
The growth rate is + 2% to + 4% per day.
In today’s daily data, a further 23,287 positive tests were reported in the UK and 355 deaths.
There are 12,999 COVID-19 patients in the hospital and 1,181 ventilation beds are in use.
Liverpool’s massive tests begin
Massive city-wide coronavirus testing began today with military support.
Rapid lateral flow tests that give results in one hour are offered in conjunction with existing swab tests.
The city’s Director of Public Health Matt Ashton said in a statement: “This is a pilot plan and we will not do everything right, but it is a great opportunity to reduce transmission rates and get life back to normal more. quickly”. “
Meanwhile, The Guardian reported that the 20-minute coronavirus tests used for Operation Moonshot missed more than 50% of positive cases in a pilot program in Manchester and Salford last month.
He noted that the Department of Health and Social Care said the test had been validated in other trials, but the data has not been made public.
Damaged babies
About 64 babies have been deliberately injured, with eight deaths, as family tensions rose under the lockdown, ITV News reported.
He said Amanda Spielman, Ofsted’s chief inspector, will tell the National Conference on Child and Adult Services that local law enforcement professionals must be “aware of this hidden danger” to help protect vulnerable young children.
Statistics regulator criticizes CMO data
The UK Statistics Authority has criticized the way Professor Chris Whitty presented the data at the Downing Street press conference last Saturday in support of England’s second national lockdown.
He called for more transparency about the data and how the predictions were being made.
Also critical was Professor Carl Heneghan of the University of Oxford, writing in The Telegraph (paywall): “The use of data by the government is not only confusing, the errors are positively misleading.”
Business Minister Nadhim Zahawi told Sky News that the government “will do its best to improve” its data.
Ethnicity and risk of stroke
Asian ethnicity is strongly linked to COVID-related stroke risk, according to first wave data from England and Scotland published in The Journal of Neurology Neurosurgery and Psychiatry.
The authors of the study led by UCL and UCLH wrote: “Ischemic stroke cases were more likely than ischemic controls to occur in Asians (18.8% vs. 6.7%).”
Stroke and COVID-19 patients also appear to be left with greater disability.
They concluded: “Our study provides the most compelling evidence yet that ischemic strokes associated with COVID-19 are more severe and more likely to lead to severe disability or death, although the outlook is not as bleak as they have suggested. previous studies”.
Commenting via the Science Media Center, Dr. David Strain, Senior Clinical Professor at the University of Exeter, said that an earlier risk of stroke had already been established in people from South Asia: “The only surprise in this, therefore, it is the fairly large incidence of stroke in those of South Asian descent. However, a major confounding factor that is not mentioned is the geographic location from which the data was collected. This data was collected, the regions of the country with the largest South Asian populations were also those with the highest prevalence of COVID-19. “
Nursing Home Staff Testing
Northern Ireland is increasing the frequency of COVID-19 testing for nursing home staff, Medscape’s Univadis reported.
Regular care staff tests will now be done once a week instead of every 2 weeks. The new cycle will be implemented starting next week.
Health Minister Robin Swann emphasized that nursing homes remain a key area of focus in the battle against COVID-19 and are under immense pressure. He also clarified that the logistical challenges associated with expanding testing are not underestimated.
Swann said: “No one should have a false assurance of the welcome drop in positive cases that we have seen in Northern Ireland in recent days. The more prevalent the virus is in our community, the greater the risk that it will spread to our watch out”. homes “.
UK tracking apps work together
UK COVID-19 tracking apps can now ‘talk’ to each other.
Previously, anyone traveling from England and Wales to Scotland, or Northern Ireland, needed different apps.
Gaby Appleton from England’s Test and Trace program wrote on her blog: “While most of us will not be traveling under the current restrictions, this update will provide protection for those who have to continue traveling to other areas of the UK for essential reasons, as work.”
See more global coronavirus updates on Medscape Coronavirus Resource Center.
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