CategoryPPE

Covid deaths Reduce to lowest Saturday figure in 6 months in UK

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Covid deaths reduce to lowest Saturday figure in 6 months in UK. Britain has recorded additional 58 covid-related deaths on Saturday and this has risen the figure death within 28 days of a covid positive test to 126,573.

Another 4,715 people were tested positive for the virus, which makes 16% lower than last Saturday’s figure ,5,587, and a figure of 4,329,180 in total.

A week back, Britain recorded 96 deaths. This implying that death cases have dropped by 40% in 7 days and this makes the lowest Saturday record in 6 months.

https://relayvibes.co/covid-deaths-reduce-to-lowest-saturday-figure-in-6-months-in-uk/

UK Covid Stats as of 24th March 2021

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UK Period of ‘excess deaths’ from second wave has come to an end – ONS figures

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The period of “excess deaths” which has characterised the second wave of COVID-19 has now come to an end, according to figures from the Office for National Statistics (ONS).

For the first time since September, the number of people dying of all causes in England and Wales has dropped beneath the five-year average.

According to the figures, 10,987 people died in the week ending 12 March, which was 511 below the historical average for that week, the 10th week of the year.

https://news.sky.com/story/covid-19-period-of-excess-death-from-second-wave-has-come-to-an-end-ons-figures-12254247

Coronavirus in Israel: I don’t expect another wave says Coronavirus Commissioner

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Israel is not going to experience another wave, Coronavirus Commissioner Prof. Nachman Ash said Sunday, as the number of cases dropped below 350, the lowest level since November.

“I’m glad to see a decline in all indices,” Ash said in a press briefing. “I want to remind everyone that we have not yet reached the low numbers that we registered between the second and third waves, so there is still a long way to go. However, the encouraging detail is that the decrease is happening despite a wide opening of the economy, which occurred about two weeks ago as the third stage of the exit strategy from the lockdown began.”

Some 337 new cases of the novel coronavirus were identified on Saturday, with only 1.8% of tests returning positive, the Health Ministry reported.

While the number of tests administered on Saturdays is consistently lower than on weekdays, the decrease remains meaningful as on the previous Saturday some 783 fewer cases were reported, and on the previous one to that, some 1,878 cases were seen. The last time Israel registered such a low number of cases was, once again, on a Saturday, but in November.

The R rate, or reproduction rate, also continued to decrease, standing at 0.62. The figure reflects how many people each coronavirus carrier infects on average. When the number is lower than 0.8 the disease is considered to be receding. Experts have been closely monitoring the rate, to see how lifting restrictions have impacted the ability of the disease to infect. While the vast majority of activities have resumed for at least two weeks, the R rate is steadily declining.

In addition, only four people succumbed to the virus on Saturday, the lowest daily toll in months. Some 6,085 have succumbed to the virus since the beginning of the pandemic.

https://www.jpost.com/breaking-news/coronavirus-in-israel-285-new-cases-17-percent-of-tests-return-positive-662662

Fauci says Covid guidelines ‘will be much more liberal’ by July 4 if US cases drop

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Federal Covid-19 guidelines “will be much more liberal” by the Fourth of July if US cases drop as more Americans are vaccinated, Dr. Anthony Fauci said Sunday.

“If by the time we get to the Fourth of July, with the rollout of the vaccine, we get the level of infection so low — I’m not going to be able to tell you exactly what the specific guidelines of the (US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention) are, but I can tell you for sure (guidelines) will be much more liberal than they are right now about what you can do,” the director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases told CNN’s Jake Tapper on “State of the Union.”

Asked whether people will return to a degree of normal without masks and distancing by the summer holiday, Fauci, President Joe Biden’s chief medical adviser, replied: “Yes … there will be a greater degree of confidence” in that.

The comments from Fauci come nearly a week after the CDC released new guidance saying people fully vaccinated against Covid-19 can safely visit with other vaccinated people and small groups of unvaccinated people in some circumstances.

https://edition.cnn.com/2021/03/14/politics/anthony-fauci-fourth-of-july-covid-guidelines-cnntv/index.html

UK – Vaccines for all over-40s by Easter after ‘bumper boost’ to supplies

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Everyone over 40 should be offered their first Covid-19 vaccine by Easter, with a “bumper boost” to supplies allowing the programme to rapidly expand next week, The Telegraph can reveal. 

Stocks are expected to more than double, allowing the NHS to administer up to a million doses a day in coming weeks, government sources said. 

It means that all over-50s are expected to receive an invitation for a jab over the next week – around three weeks ahead of the Government’s target.

The Prime Minister had promised that jabs would be offered to all over-50s by April 15, and to everyone over the age of 18 by the end of July.

However, senior government sources said the programme was already far ahead of expectations and about to accelerate dramatically.

As a result, there is growing confidence that all adults over 40 will have been offered a first dose of the vaccine before Easter, which falls on April 4. It will also increase pressure on the Government to speed up the exit from lockdown.

On Friday night, Tory MPs said the progress, combined with continued falls in cases and hospitalisations, meant pubs and restaurants should be allowed to open from Easter. The current plan allows only “al fresco” hospitality to open a week later, with indoor eating and drinking not allowed until May.

The UK’s R number has now dropped to between 0.6 and 0.8, down from 0.7 to 0.9 a week ago, with prevalence of coronavirus in England now the lowest it has been since September, according to the Office for National Statistics.

https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2021/03/12/exclusive-vaccines-40s-easter-bumper-boost-supplies/

US – Amount of people hesitant to get Covid-19 vaccine dropping rapidly

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The release of Johnson & Johnson’s Covid-19 vaccine and its partnership with Merck means that President Joe Biden expects the US to have enough Covid-19 vaccines delivered to cover every adult by the end of May.

If Johnson & Johnson and fellow vaccine makers Moderna and Pfizer meet their vaccine pledges, the bigger question we may soon be facing isn’t whether we have enough doses of Covid-19 vaccines, but whether people will actually take them.

Recent polling suggests a continued drop in the vaccine hesitant population as more and more people get vaccinated in the US.

The past two weeks alone, there were two polls that show just how much vaccine hesitancy has declined. The Kaiser Family Foundation poll found that 55% of adults say they now want a Covid-19 vaccine as soon as possible or have already received their first dose. That’s up from 47% in January and 34% in December.

While the percentage of hardline “get it only if required” or “definitely not” has remained fairly consistent at or just north of 20%, the hesitant population of “wait and see how it’s working” has dropped by nearly half during the last two months from 39% to 22%.

Axios/Ipsos polling shows a similar trendline. A mere 13% of adults said in September they would get a Covid-19 vaccine as soon as it was made available to them. That jumped to 27% in early December to 43% in early January. Now, 57% say they have already received the vaccine or will get it as soon as possible.

https://edition.cnn.com/2021/03/06/politics/covid-vaccine-analysis/index.html