Scotland and Wales put half a million more people under local lockdown after spike in cases

09/07/2020 Entertainment, Health, Sports, UK, World

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Local closures will take effect in parts of Wales and Scotland starting tomorrow, after the areas experienced large spikes in coronavirus cases.

Renfrewshire and East Dunbartonshire in western Scotland will see further restrictions imposed starting at midnight tonight, with a similar crackdown on Caerphilly county in South Wales going into effect from 6pm tomorrow.

Prime Minister Nicola Sturgeon has warned that Scotland must ‘step up’ its efforts to stop the spread of the coronavirus or perhaps have to ‘slow down’ the return to more normalcy.

The 180,000 people living in the Renfrewshire council area and the 110,000 in East Dunbartonshire have been told not to enter other people’s homes following an increase in the number of coronavirus cases.

Prime Minister Nicola Sturgeon warned that Scotland must ‘step up’ its efforts to stop the spread of the coronavirus as two more Scottish councils face a local lockdown.

The areas join Glasgow, East Renfrewshire and West Dunbartonshire, where improved restrictions were introduced last week.

The area’s 1.1 million residents have also been told not to visit homes in other parts of the country, while only “essential” internal visits to hospitals and residences will be allowed.

Other plans to relax restrictions on live sports and reopen entertainment venues have also been called into question due to the resurgence of the virus.

Ms Sturgeon said: ‘In recent weeks, we have seen a continued increase in new Covid-19 cases in the Greater Glasgow and Clyde health board area.

‘Having analyzed where the cases are being identified, the advice from the public health experts handling this outbreak is that restrictions on indoor gatherings should be extended to Renfrewshire and East Dunbartonshire and continue for at least seven more days in Glasgow, East Renfrewshire and West Dunbartonshire.

Renfrewshire and East Dunbartonshire in the west of Scotland will see further restrictions imposed from midnight tonight.

‘It is necessary to help us limit the spread of Covid-19. Acting now gives us the time and space to protect people and have more control over the virus. “

The latest daily figures showed an additional 146 people tested positive for coronavirus yesterday, a day after cases soared to the highest number in nearly four months.

No new coronavirus deaths have been reported in Scotland in the past 24 hours, but 146 new cases have been recorded.

A total of 2,496 patients have died in Scotland after testing positive for coronavirus.

Speaking during the Scottish government’s daily coronavirus briefing, the Prime Minister said that 21,543 people tested positive for the virus in Scotland.

People living in the Caerphilly County district will not be able to enter or leave the area without a reasonable excuse when the restrictions take effect from 6pm on Tuesday, the Government of Wales said.

There have been 133 new cases of Covid-19 in the Caerphilly County district over the past seven days, equating to a rate of 55.4 cases per 100,000 residents.

Of the new cases, 78 are in Greater Glasgow and Clyde, 19 in Lanarkshire and 13 in Lothian.

Scotland’s latest revision of lockdown restrictions will take place on Thursday, but Sturgeon said “we may have to slow down some additional changes.”

Matt Hancock Says Coronavirus Vaccine Is Most Likely To Arrive In “ First Months ” Of 2021

Oxford University’s coronavirus vaccine will likely launch in the ‘first few months’ of next year, according to Health Secretary Matt Hancock.

The jab was expected at the end of 2020, but its creators have tempered expectations and delayed it until next year.

Hancock said today that he still has some optimism that the most vulnerable people will get the vaccine in the next few months at the “best of times.”

But he admitted that the most likely outcome would be a 2021 release of the jab, known as AZD1222, which was created by Oxford and owned by British pharmaceutical giant AstraZeneca.

The Health Secretary revealed that manufacturing was already underway in the UK for 30 million doses, enough to vaccinate half the population.

He said keeping them on hold meant they could be distributed to those most in need as soon as regulators gave the vaccine the green light.

Speaking on LBC radio today, Mr. Hancock said: ‘We already have 30 million doses contracted with AstraZeneca.

“ They’re actually starting to make those doses already, in fact, before approval, so in case approval gets, and it’s still not certain, but it’s getting better, if that approval comes in, then we’re ready to go. implement ”.

‘The best case is that it happens this year. I think it is most likely the first part of next year; In the first months of next year it is most likely

“But we also bought vaccines before they were approved from a completely different series of international vaccines.”

The Oxford vaccine has not yet been shown to work, but early trials have announced promising results, with evidence showing that the vaccine is safe for use in humans and appears to elicit an immune response. But no data showing that it protects people is expected until later this year.

More than 50,000 people around the world are participating in ‘phase 3’ studies to see if the Oxford jab can actually prevent people from becoming infected with Covid-19.

In these tests, the vaccine is given to tens of thousands of people in real-world settings to see if it prevents them from contracting Covid-19 in the community.

The scientists behind the jab had to move their studies abroad over the summer, to South Africa, Brazil and the United States, where Covid-19 is still rife, to speed up testing.

There are no longer enough people contracting the virus in the UK to be able to reliably test if the jab is working.

“We must take this trend seriously and if we want to avoid having to shut down parts of our economy again, and I think we all want to avoid that, we must step up our other ways of keeping Covid in check,” he said.

“This is really a watershed moment and therefore I want to be quite frank with you in my assessment today.”

All people over the age of 11 will be required to wear face covers in stores, marking the first time this will be mandatory in Wales.

As in Scotland, gatherings with other people indoors and extended homes will not be allowed, and overnight stays will also be prohibited.

There have been 133 new cases of Covid-19 in the Caerphilly County district over the past seven days, which equates to a rate of 55.4 cases per 100,000 residents.

This is the highest rate in Wales and one of the highest in the UK, and the number of cases is expected to increase, the Government of Wales said.

Health Minister Vaughan Gething said: ‘We have seen a significant increase in cases in the Caerphilly district in a very short period of time, which are related to holiday trips abroad and people socializing indoors and not following social distancing guidelines.

Community testing was introduced in Caerphilly over the weekend.

On Saturday, 450 people were tested and 19 had the virus, yielding a positivity rate of 4 percent, indicating that Covid-19 is circulating in the community.

The Caerphilly Council has already introduced measures such as suspending nursing home visits and introducing weekly tests for nursing home staff, in response to the increase in cases.

Philippa Marsden, Leader of the Caerphilly Council, said: ‘We need to create a break in the cycle of infection that we are seeing in the Caerphilly district at the moment and unfortunately that means introducing new stricter restrictions.

“I urge everyone who lives in the area to follow these new measures; follow social distancing guidelines and wash your hands regularly.

On Monday, Public Health Wales reported the highest number of positive Covid-19 cases in months and warned of a “significant” increase in the Caerphilly area.

He said that another 133 people had tested positive for coronavirus, representing the highest daily number since June 27, when 140 cases were reported.

There were no further deaths of people with coronavirus, and the total in Wales since the start of the pandemic stood at 1,597.

Numerous schools have been affected by the coronavirus since the beginning of the fall term, including a class of 21 students at an elementary school in the Caerphilly area that was told to isolate itself for 14 days.

Dr Giri Shankar from Public Health Wales called on everyone in the Caerphilly area to use a local test drive at the town’s leisure center if they were experiencing ‘even the slightest symptoms’ or were feeling ‘generally wrong without explanation’.

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Scotland and Wales put half a million more people under local lockdown after spike in cases

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