Since early August, the number of critical care patients is at its lowest level.
Here are the headlines for Tuesday February 1st. The number of Covid patients admitted to hospitals in Wales fell by 20% in one week.
According to the latest figures by Digital Health and Care Wales, the average hospital patient with confirmed Covid was 551 on Friday. This is two-and-a half times lower than last year.
It was the lowest number of patients with Covid since August’s early days.Omicron wave peak of 39 on January 5.
Public Health Wales reported 11 deaths on Monday, as the infection rate rose seven days in a row.
While hospital admissions are declining, the rate of cases in Wales is on the rise. PCR tests, for the seven days up to January 25, now stands at 551.9 cases for every 100,000 people – up on the 527.8 recorded on Sunday.
This means that there are 2,486 positive test results per day on average, which is 76% less than the peak in January.
Carmarthenshire with 694.5 and Cardiff with 665.
Cardiff had the highest number of positive cases in the last 48 hours, with 547. Next was Swansea, with 371 Newport, with 320. Rhondda Cynon Faf had 304. Caerphilly had 252, Bridgend with 209, and Vale of Glamorgan (216). Neath Port Talbot had 201.
Two-thirds (33%) of doctors in Wales feel overwhelmed.
feel “overwhelmed” due to excessive workloads and high staff absence rates.
A new survey by the Royal College of Physicians (RCP), found that 63% of respondents in Wales felt overwhelmed while working in the last three weeks. One in six (17%) felt overwhelmed almost daily.
RCP stated that high levels of staff illness are still putting enormous strain on “demoralised”, clinicians who are under extreme pressure from Covid-19 and other winter illnesses.
More than half (52%) of Welsh respondents said that they were asked to fill in for rota gaps in short notice within the past three weeks. Nearly a third (30%) stated that they were asked more than once.
Although staff absence was felt very acutely during the pandemics, the RCP stated that most of the pressure is due to workforce shortages that existed well before the pandemic.
The organisation has confirmed that 59% in the number of posts for consultant physicians advertised in Wales have gone unfilled over the past year. This means that three out of five posts advertised in Wales are still vacant. It was 63% of these cases because there weren’t any applicants.
RCP now calls for investment in “hospital-at-home” services to provide specialist medical care in the communities of Wales. These teams are claimed to be able to lower hospital admissions, speed up the return of patients, and improve patient care.
The mandatory NHS vaccines for England have been canceled
Sajid Javid, UK Health Secretary, has confirmed that mandatory Covid jabs will be dropped for NHS staff and care staff in England.
This rule was to be in effect from April. If staff didn’t have their first dose by Friday, they wouldn’t be double-vaccinated.would be welcome in Wales.
On Monday night, Mr Javid stated to the Commons: “Given that the Delta has been replaced, it’s only right for our policy regarding vaccination as a condition on deployment to be reviewed.”
“It is not proportionate to require vaccinations as a condition for employment by statute.
“So today, we are launching a consultation to end vaccination as a condition for deployment in health care and social services settings.
“Subject to the replies, and the will, of this House, government will revoke regulations.”
Austria now requires vaccination
On Tuesday, February 1, Austria’s new law made compulsory the use of Covid-19 vaccines for all persons over 18.
While there have been many countries that have established mandates for elderly and health workers, this is the first European nation to adopt such broad measures.
Karoline Edtstadler (Minister for the EU/Constitution) says that the Austrian government is aware that this is a “strong step and really difficult measure”, but that it is necessary.
She stated that politicians have the responsibility of ensuring that the healthcare system continues to function and that society can live normal lives. In this instance, interference in human rights can be justified. We need to end the pandemic. And we know that vaccination is the only solution.
The mandate expires January 2024. However, it could be extended earlier if there is a pandemic.
Even though the law came into effect on Tuesday, authorities won’t begin checking for vaccination status until mid March.
Refusing to be vaccinated can lead to fines of up to EUR3,600. There are exceptions for pregnant women or those who cannot be vaccinated due to medical reasons. Around 72% of Austrians have been fully vaccinated at the moment.
The Freedom Party, a far-right anti-vaccine party, says it will challenge the law in court. Herbert Kickl, its leader, said that the law “paves way to totalitarianism” in Austria.
Protestors against the law are marching in the streets, and protestors from all walks of society have demonstrated.
With this mandate for vaccines, Austria is more advanced than any of its neighbors. The European Union will be closely watching.
After the ‘partygate report’ is published, fall-out
Boris Johnson has been granted a temporary reprieve due to any immediate threat to him as his leadership is not at risk. Conservative MPs seemed to be satisfied with promises to overhaul No 10’s operation in the wake of the partygate scandal.
On Monday, the Prime Minister was confronted by angry backbenchers as he offered his meaculpa before the Commons.
After Sue Gray, a senior official in the British coronavirus program, found that Johnson had “failures at leadership and judgment”, Mr Johnson apologized to MPs. The gatherings were being held during restrictions on England’s coronavirus programs for 2020 and 2021.
The House was criticized in many ways, including by Theresa May, who asked whether Johnson didn’t “read the rules”, understood them or thought the rules only applied to No 10.
William Hague, a former leader of the Conservative Party, said that the Prime Minister should be “very worried” and criticised the House of Commons for his apology following the publication of the Sue Gray report.
He claimed that Boris Johnson was able to offer real change as a response to Sue Gray’s report, but he wasted it.
In The Times, Mr Hague stated that the PM had ample time to write a thorough and substantive response. This gave his critics “pause for reflection” but instead “decided not to do the minimum”.
He said that the Prime Minister could have gotten on the front foot and pushed for integrity in government.
“Yet, for some reason this very intuitive politician chose to respond to the report in a minimum response rather than offer more in his apology or his suggestions.
“He quite possibly stalled the momentum instead of reaffirming it in his favor.
“If I was him, I would be extremely worried about the number his MPs asking unhelpful questions at his conclusion of his statement.”
Ms Gray stated in an “update” that she was investigating at least 12 of the 16 alleged gatherings.
These events were at least four that Mr Johnson was directly associated with, either because he attended them or because they took place in his flat.
The report also includes three alleged gatherings that were not previously reported.
However, the police investigation prevented her from delivering any meaningful reports to help the inquiry.
Opinium polled 62% of UK adults on Monday night, finding 64% wanted the PM’s resignation and 64% thought Tory MPs should remove him.
This comes just days after the Met announced it was reviewing over 300 images and 500 pages of information that were passed to officers during the Gray inquiry.
Cabinet ministers test positive
On a day that was already bad for Boris Johnson, two of Boris Johnson’s Cabinet ministers were positive for Covid.
After she was confirmed positive for HIV on Monday evening, Foreign Secretary Liz Truss won’t be able to travel with the Tory leader to Ukraine.
They were scheduled to meet with Volodymyr Zelensky the Ukrainian President, amid warnings that war with Russia could soon be ‘imminent.he made his apology.
Sajid Javid, the UK Health Secretary, was sitting beside her while Priti Patel (who didn’t have a face cover) was on the other side.
The foreign secretary had earlier announced plans to introduce legislation that would give new powers to sanction individuals or businesses connected to the Russian government.
Later, she attended a meeting that was open to all members the parliamentary Conservative party. There, the PM addressed MPs as well as peers in an attempt to rally support for what was described by her as a “difficulty day”.
Meanwhile, Education Secretary Nadhim Zhawi, who was absent from parliamentary question-taking, announced that he discovered he was infected Sunday night.
Both politicians claimed on Twitter that they were triple-jabbed, and would be working remotely.
Tuesday morning saw Vaughan Gething, Wales’ Economy Minister, announce that he had been tested positive.
Phillip Schofield is positive for coronavirus
Phillip Schofield tested positive for coronavirus. This will make it difficult to believe that he will be present at Sunday’s Dancing On Ice live event.
On Monday night, the TV presenter shared a photo showing a positive result from a lateral flow test with his three million Instagram followers.
He captioned the photo: “Well bollocks!” It’s currently just a slight sore throat.
According to current NHS guidelines, a positive test will usually mean that the person must self-isolate for ten days or more if the symptoms persist or worsen.
It is possible to shorten the time period after five days if the individual tests negative on day five or six.
Schofield will have to watch the entire period, or more, and will have to miss this week’s Dancing On Ice episode.
Holly Willoughby (40), is his co-presenter on This Morning.
Due to work commitments, Willoughby has not been on the weekday show in the last two weeks. Schofield instead appears beside Rochelle Humes, the former Saturdays star.
Presenter Ria HEBDEN was the second contestant to be eliminated from Sunday’s show after she had been in the skate-off during movieweek.
Judges Oti Mbuse, Jayne Torvill and Christopher Dean unanimously voted to save Rachel Stevens, former S Club 7 star.
Italian businessmen “scammed PS366m by Coronavirus Tax Credits”
Italian police claimed they had broken up a group of businessmen who were accused of defrauding the government of 440 million euros (PS366 millions) in tax credits. These tax credits were part of government aid to struggling businesses during the Covid-19 pandemic.
According to police, 35 people were arrested, detained at home or placed under other restrictions. Authorities also conducted 80 searches throughout the country, starting in Trentino in the northern part and ending in Sicily in southern parts.
Financial police stated in a statement that suspicious transaction reports were the catalyst for the investigation. They had been attributed to non-existent or failing companies.
These companies were taken over by frontmen who claimed to be the legal representative of the company and entered the required data into the tax database of the Italian government in order to apply for tax credits.
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