CORONAVIRUS
UK DEATH TOLL RISES TO 11, WITH A JUMP IN CASES TO 798 AS MANY
AS 25,000 DEATHS POSSIBLE IN WALES, WARNS HEALTH MINISTER
NON-URGENT HOSPITAL CARE INCLUDING SURGERY SUSPENDED
PRESSURE FORCES WRU TO CALL OFF WALES V SCOTLAND
SCHOOLS EXAMINE TEACHING AND CLOSURE PLANS
CAROLYN HITT: WHAT CAN WE DO TO HELP?
THE death of the first patient in Scotland was confirmed yesterday as health authorities also recorded another big jump in positive tests for coronavirus.
The total number of cases in the UK as of 9am yesterday was 798 – up from 590 at the same time on Thursday.
In Wales, the total rose to 38 with 13 new cases confirmed – four in Caerphilly local authority area, two in Swansea, one each in Anglesey, Cardiff, Carmarthenshire, Flintshire, Monmouthshire, Newport and Powys.
At a press conference yesterday afternoon, Welsh Government Health Minister Vaughan Gething said the worst-case scenario estimate from scientists was for 20,000 possible deaths in Wales with a maximum figure of 25,000.
“Of course we hope it would be less of an impact than that but we have to plan for that,” said Mr Gething.
To allow the Welsh NHS to prepare for the additional demand for care, Mr Gething announced that nonurgent outpatient and surgical care would be suspended.
He added that it will be “months” before we reach the peak of activity.
As the global death toll passed 5,000, the World Health Organisation said Europe has now become the epicentre of the pandemic.
Dr Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus told countries to use aggressive measures, community mobilisation and social distancing to save lives.
“Europe has now become the epicentre of the pandemic, with more reported cases and deaths than the rest of the world combined, apart from China,” he said. “More cases are now being reported every day than were reported in China at the
height of its epidemic.”
The developments came as experts defended the Government’s response to the virus amid criticism from former Health Secretary Jeremy Hunt and others.
The UK’s chief scientific adviser said it was hoped the Government’s approach to tackling coronavirus will create a “herd immunity” to the disease.
Sir Patrick Vallance said some of the social distancing measures put in place, including self-isolating for seven days if symptoms develop, are “actually quite extreme”.
His comments came as Mr Hunt questioned the UK Government’s decision not to cancel large gatherings.
But many sports bodies did not wait for a directive and suspended competitions anyway.
And Wales’ Six Nations match against Scotland today was called off at the last minute after overwhelming pressure. It was said on Thursday that it would go ahead.
A WRU statement read: “The Welsh Rugby Union has maintained an open dialogue with, and continued to seek advice and direction from, the National Assembly for Wales and other stakeholders, including the Six Nations, on this fast-moving issue.
“Whilst medical advice remains consistent, we have decided that it is in the best interests of supporters, players and staff to fall in line with recent measures taken across the UK and global sports industries.”
The Wales Under-20s match versus Scotland went ahead last night behind closed doors at Colwyn Bay.
The Premier League and English Football League also confirmed plans to suspend the football season until April 3 and the FAW suspended all adult and youth football in Wales. It means all matches, including grassroots junior football, have been suspended until April 4.
Wales’ upcoming friendly with Austria on March 27 was cancelled just as the proposed clash with the
USA on March 30 has been.
Further afield, this weekend’s Australian Formula One Grand Prix was also cancelled and England’s cricket tour of Sri Lanka was called off.
Boris Johnson announced that local and mayoral elections in England in May were being postponed for a year.
In Wales the Police and Crime Commissioner elections that were also due to take place on the same day in May were postponed, and many other events were also rescheduled.
The 2020 London Marathon, originally planned to take place on April 26, was postponed until October 4.
Disneyland closed its parks, including Disneyland Paris, until the end of the month, suspended new departures on its Disney cruises and delayed the release of its Mulan remake.
In other developments:
The Queen’s upcoming visits to Cheshire and Camden were postponed and the Prince of Wales and the Duchess of Cornwall pulled out of their spring tour to Bosnia and Herzegovina, Cyprus and Jordan.
A London Underground tube driver tested positive, while London’s St Patrick’s Day parade and celebrations this Sunday were cancelled.
The first cases of community transmission of Covid-19 not linked to travel were detected in Northern Ireland.
The Foreign Office advised against all but essential travel to the Spanish regions of Madrid, La Rioja and the municipalities of La Bastida, Vitoria and Miranda de Ebro
France became one of the latest European countries to close all schools, universities and nurseries, while in the US, all major sport was suspended
In Wales teachers are said to be exploring home-schooling if children need to self-isolate, and possible closures.
But Wales Education Minister Kirsty Williams said the Welsh Government was clear that there is no scientific reason to close schools at this stage.
Public Health England advised people not to visit care homes, care home visits are restricted in Carmarthenshire and Ceredigion Day Centre announced it will temporarily close there doors because of the virus.
Carmarthenshire county council said in a statement: “These actions are purely precautionary to ensure that the people we care for are protected. We continue to take advice and guidance from Public Health Wales and Welsh Government, and our position will be reviewed daily.
“We appreciate this decision may cause inconvenience and some distress, but please be assured that we are acting in the best interests of our residents and service users.
The day centre said in a statement: “The health and safety of our service users and staff are our main priority and we don’t want to put them in any unnecessary risk.”
Leader of Cardiff Council, Councillor Huw Thomas, said it is likely the council will have to deliver services with a “vastly reduced workforce” due to the spread of coronavirus.
Meanwhile, delivery hours for supermarkets are to be extended to ensure the food industry is able to respond to increased consumer demand.
The Welsh Government has relaxed planning conditions restricting night-time and early morning deliveries, allowing retailers to accept deliveries throughout the day and night where necessary.
Plans are being made in case schools have to close over coronavirus concerns. Meetings were called at schools across Wales on Thursday afternoon, and it is understood teachers are being advised to start preparing online lessons for pupils who will have to stay at home.
It has been announced that schools will not be closed as part of the new plans.
But teachers in most areas have been told to start planning for closures and some councils have asked headteachers to consider rearranging any events that would involve large gatherings of pupils, staff and guests.
Eithne Hughes, director of the Association of School and College Leaders (ASCL) Cymru, said: “We support the decision of the government to keep schools open at this stage of the coronavirus emergency.
“Schools are carrying out contingency planning in the event of closures taking place at a later date, and they are providing reassuring and calm leadership during this difficult time.
“We would particularly emphasise the importance of students continuing to prepare for their examinations without worrying about what may or may not happen.
“Everybody will be focused on trying to make sure that exams take place within the normal exam window, and that any disruption is managed without any disadvantage to students.”
Welsh minister for education Kirsty Williams said the Welsh Government was clear that there is no scientific reason to close schools at this stage.
She said: “The decision is based on the best scientific advice from the chief medical officer and our chief scientific officers working collectively across the UK. There very clear advice is there are no reasons why schools should close and we will be throughout this process and public health emergency we will be guided by the science and the advice of our professionals.
“At the moment we have no plans to close schools but of course it would be prudent for schools to think about how they can make themselves resilient going forward and we are communicating with schools using our usual channels to think about what they could do if a closure was necessary but we’re absolutely clear there is no scientific reason at all that schools should close.
“Schools should be following all the basic advice provided by Public Heath Wales in terms of ensuring people are encouraged to wash their hands or other methods of keeping their hands clean. People should be sneezing into a tissue and discarding that in a safe way.”
Dr Rob Orford, the Welsh Government’s chief scientific adviser for health, said: “We know that when we bring in a control measure it’s going to be in for quite some time, it might be there for three months. If we do that to schools it would be very disruptive. A lot of people will have to stay at home to look after their children and a lot of these people are going to be doctors, nurses, social car workers so really important frontline work.
“If we close schools then children will invariably looked after by older adults, granmothers, granfathers, aunts, uncles, and they’re the ones who are most vulnerable. The evidence we have got suggest children don’t really get affected by the disease so we’re doing this in a really deliberate way and at the moment the advice is we’re not shutting the schools.
“It’s really important that the schools are playing a really big part in ensuring that we can cope with this outbreak and that the NHS can cope with it.”
Many parents are concerned about sending their children to school but are also worried they will get fined if they don’t.
Elaine Wyatt, from Pembrokeshire, says: “I am concerned about sending my children to school as my seven-year-old has got asthma that flares up with just a normal cold.
“Then there are my two elderly parents. One with suspected vascular dementia. A simple cold gives them massive issues with the chest.
“We can not quarantine them in their rooms and repeat hand wash hygiene because they struggle with memory.
“The schools should be giving options on whether parents can keep their children off.
“For the benefit of vulnerable children, vulnerable parents and vulnerable older people that might be cared for within the same house as a child in school.
“It should be all about options without punishment. It is not fun having to weigh up the risks of the health of a young child and an older person because we are not being given a choice.”
Addressing this issue, Ms Williams said: “Children should continue to attend school as usual unless of course a child finds themselves with a new or persistent cough or raised temperature. The advice is the same for both adults and children, and in those circumstances those individuals should stay home from work and school and self-isolate for a period of seven days.”
The minister also spoke about what schools should be doing when it comes to overseas and domestic trips.
She said: “The advice is very clear from the Foreign and Commonwealth Office, all (overseas) school trips involving children and young people under 18 need to be cancelled and schools need to heed that advice now and tale the appropriate steps to adhere to that advice. With regards to insurance individual schools I’m sure will be needing to speak to the companies or organisations that provided that opportunity with them.
“As regards to UK trips, the advice is there is no reason why the normal business of schooling can’t continue and should that advice change we will communicate that to schools.”