Coronavirus - 8th April 2022

Covid: Hospitals still under virus pressure, and some schools fear for exam fairness

Here are five things you need to know about the coronavirus pandemic this Friday morning.

1. Hospitals under strain as cases remain high

Hospitals are under "enormous strain" - with some so busy they are having to divert ambulances to other sites. Over the past week, 20 NHS Accident and Emergency departments in England issued diverts, with patients taken elsewhere. The pressures are partly caused by the high number of Covid patients. Current figures are close to the total seen in first Covid wave, in spring 2020 - although more than half of patients are in hospital for other reasons, but happen to have Covid as well.

2. Covid absences partly behind airport queues

After two years of on-off Covid travel restrictions, thousands of people in the UK are planning to travel abroad during the Easter holidays. But many airports have been unable to cope with the surge in demand - leading to widespread queues and cancellations. Airports say Covid absences - as well as recruitment problems - are partly to blame. Read our explainer on the travel problems here.

Travellers at Manchester Airport have faced long queues for check-in and security over the past month

3. Exams may not be fair, Welsh headteachers warn

The "dreadful" impact of Covid on schools is casting doubt on exam fairness, headteachers in Wales have warned. A-level and GCSE exams begin in May after they were cancelled for two years. But there's concern that high staff absences mean some pupils have missed specialist teaching. At Connah's Quay High School, in Flintshire, almost one in five teachers and one in six pupils were off sick with Covid last week. Head teacher Amanda Harrison said the situation was "worse than it's ever been".

4. Speaker Pelosi tests positive

US Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi has tested positive for Covid-19, making her the most senior member of Congress so far to report an infection. The leading Democrat is asymptomatic, her spokesman said on Thursday. Mrs Pelosi, 82, was seen hugging former President Barack Obama during his visit to the White House on Tuesday, and standing close to President Joe Biden.

Mrs Pelosi was seen in close quarters with a number of high-profile Democrats

5. I've caught Covid - what do I do now?

You are no longer legally obliged to self-isolate if you catch Covid, or tell your employer - though both are recommended. This guide explains what to do if you test positive - and what symptoms you can expect.

NHS under huge strain as A&Es turn away ambulances

By Nick Triggle - BBC, Health correspondent


Hospitals are under "enormous strain", with growing numbers so busy they are having to divert ambulances to other sites because they are unable to cope.
Over the past week, 20 NHS Accident and Emergency departments in England issued diverts, with patients taken elsewhere.
Those A&E departments still taking new patients have seen long delays, with more than 25% of ambulances waiting at least 30 minutes to handover patients.
Hospital bosses said they were "very concerned" about the situation.
All areas of the country are facing huge pressures, but NHS bosses in West Yorkshire and the south central area of England - covering Hampshire, the Isle of Wight, Oxfordshire and Berkshire - have reported particularly severe strain.
The pressures are being partly caused by the high number of Covid patients currently in hospital. This week numbers across England have exceeded 16,000, rising to 20,000 once other nations in the UK are included.

Current figures are close to the total seen in first Covid wave, in spring 2020 - although more than half of those patients are in hospital for other reasons, but happen to have Covid as well.


This second Omicron wave is being driven by BA. 2, an off-shoot of the Omicron variant that first hit the UK at the end of last year.
But hospitals are also said to be seeing rising number of people coming forward for other conditions, including flu.
Similar levels of diverts and delays have been seen on a weekly basis since the turn of the year.
To put the pressures in context: the current delays being seen at A&E departments are worse than those seen in the winter before the pandemic hit, which was considered the most challenging winter for many years.
Saffron Cordery, of NHS Providers, which represents hospitals, said: "We're very concerned about the real pressures across the whole health and care system.

"A very high number of hospital beds are occupied, and combined with staff absences and severe workforce shortages, this means that trusts can't recover care backlogs as quickly as they want to.
"Ambulance services are doing everything they can in these extremely difficult circumstances, but the extra pressures are leading to growing delays to handovers to busy emergency departments.
"This means that ambulances aren't able to get back out into the community as quickly as they would like."
NHS England medical director Prof Stephen Powis said the figures sum up "just how busy NHS staff currently are".
He said bed occupancy was at very high levels, while staff sickness absences had been growing for 10 weeks.
He urged those eligible to come forward for their spring Covid boosters.

Shanghai: Residents 'running out of food' in Covid lockdown

The government has been under pressure to quickly deliver food supplies to residents

Some residents under lockdown in Shanghai say they are running out of food, amid the city's biggest-ever Covid outbreak.
Residents are confined to their homes, banned from leaving for even essential reasons such as grocery shopping.
Nearly 20,000 cases were reported on Thursday in China's biggest city - another near-record high.
Officials have admitted the city is facing "difficulties" but say they are trying to improve this.

• Shanghai Covid lockdown extended to entire city
  

But public anger is also being stoked by other drastic measures - such as the removal of children from their parents if they test positive.
Shanghai officials later responded by allowing parents who were also infected to accompany their children to isolation centres.

However, according to a Reuters report, there are still complaints over children separated from parents who were not Covid-positive.

All locals have to get tested regularly under the city-wide testing order

The city began another round of mandatory mass testing on Wednesday to identify and isolate every case.
Shanghai residents who test positive can't isolate in their homes even if their conditions are mild or asymptomatic.
They have to go to mandatory quarantine facilities, which critics say have become crowded and have sub-par conditions.

Why is there a food shortage?

When Omicron first emerged in Shanghai a month ago, the city quarantined only certain compounds. Then as the virus spread officials last week implemented a staggered lockdown where the city was split into two and each half had separate measures.
On Monday the lockdown was extended indefinitely to cover the entire city of 25 million people.

Strict rules mean most people have to order in food and water and wait for government drop-offs of vegetables, meat and eggs.
But the lockdown extension has overwhelmed delivery services, grocery shop websites and even the distribution of government supplies.
Many delivery personnel are also in locked-down areas, leading to an overall decrease in delivery capacity.
Locals in some areas of the city say they've been completely cut off.
"Please solve the problem of insufficient delivery capacity as soon as possible," one user wrote on social media site Weibo in response to city officials' video message.
Another person wrote that it was the "first time in my life that I have gone hungry".


Residents have also raised other concerns about price gouging, and how elderly or less tech-savvy residents are surviving.
City officials acknowledged the food struggles on Wednesday, saying Shanghai had enough supplies of rice, noodles, grain, oil and meat but there were delays in distributing them.
"It is true there are some difficulties in ensuring the supply of daily necessities," said Liu Min, the deputy director of the Shanghai Municipal Commission of Commerce.
On Thursday, Shanghai's vice mayor added the city would try to re-open some wholesale markets and food stores, and allow more delivery personnel out of locked-down areas.
"We have been holding meetings overnight to try and figure out solutions," said Chen Tong.

China is one of the last remaining nations still committed to eradicating Covid, in contrast to most of the world which is trying to live with the virus in its Omicron variation.

• How is China's zero-Covid strategy changing?
  
• Omicron vs Zero-Covid: How long can China hold on?
  

The country has successfully enacted full lockdowns before - endured by millions of people in cities including Xi'an and Wuhan - but Shanghai is its biggest city and the case spread this time is much higher than previous outbreaks.
As one of the economic powerhouses of China, Shanghai's shutdown is also fuelling concerns about the impact to China and the world's economy.

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