The first person to be infected with Covid-19 may have been a Wuhan laboratory employee, a World Health Organisation (WHO) official has claimed.
Dr Peter Embarek, the epidemiologist who led the WHO’s four-week investigation into the origins of the virus has said that a probable hypothesis is that a lab employee was infected while taking samples from bats in the field.
He added however, that the WHO had found no direct evidence that the coronavirus outbreak was linked to the bat research conducted in Wuhan’s laboratories.
Meanwhile, new research has found that those pinged by the NHS app in England and Wales are four times more likely to have Covid-19 than someone who has not been pinged. A survey of more than 750,000 found that people who were alerted by the app and told to self-isolate were between 3.7 to 4.0 times more likely to have the virus. The research also found that younger groups who were told to self-isolate were more likely to test positive compared with older groups.
Separately, a study of 72,000 patients across 314 UK hospitals found that one in 10 patients contracted Covid while being treated in hospital for another condition during the first wave of the pandemic. The study, published in the Lancet, found that rates of hospital acquired Covid were even higher within residential community care centres and metal health hospitals.
And the Office for National Statistics has determined that nearly two-thirds of adults are meeting up with others indoors, continuing along a trend of greater comfort with indoor gatherings since Covid restrictions were eased in July. Despite increasing comfort levels, new data revealed that 88 per cent of adults felt that it was important or very important to continue wearing face coverings while shopping.
Elsewhere, the UK’s travel industry continues to struggle, as Gatwick airport reported a pre-tax loss of £204m in the first half of 2021. The airport’s chief executive called on the government to leverage the country’s “world class” vaccination programme and remove unnecessary and costly testing requirements for passengers. Meanwhile, the Competition and Markets Authority has said it is looking into “immediate actions” the government can take around the high costs of PCR tests for international travel.
In hopes of tackling the pandemic globally, the UK donated around 3 million doses of AstraZeneca vaccines to 11 countries in Africa through the international COVAX initiative, as part of its commitment to share 100 million jabs with the rest of the world.
Countries around the world continue to report record Covid figures. Thailand reported 23,418 cases on Friday, whilst projecting that cases could double by early September. Russia reported a record 815 deaths, alongside 22,277 new infections. Areas in India are also seeing cases rise, with Mumbai reporting 6,388 cases on Friday, the highest figure for a week, and around 200 deaths.
