COVID-19 Coronavirus and other virus UK and World News Update 5th July 2024
“The NHS saved my life. Now I’m determined to save our NHS. That work starts today.”
Gawd bless him. High hopes Wes, high hopes. Don't let us down.
Hands up who stayed up all night watching the election results? Thank heavens there isn't a huge amount of news to share, because I am not my most productive self today. I'm not even sure if I'm actually still awake, but I'll do my best. Overall I think a very positive night for the UK, and a clear message that we aren't best pleased with politicians or parties who serve themselves rather than the people who put them there.
The UK election results saw the end of several key players in the UK COVID response, including the Conservative Party itself. The new Health Secretary has been appointed, and it is Wes Streeting. He was applauded as he arrived at the Department of Health. Hope returns.
COVID-19 Coronavirus and other virus UK and World News Update 12th January 2024
World COVID Statistics: 701,603,634 officially reported cases and 6,967,340 losses of life.
Hello again after my longest break in 4 years - and Happy New Year to you all! I hope your festivities went well and you spent time with people you love. Glad to have you with us... 2024 off we go...
"We are entering the 5th year of the pandemic and we are certainly in a different phase. This phase is marked by an evolving virus (with the XBB and BA.2 sublineages circulating and JN.1 becoming dominant).
It’s marked by reduced impact compared to the peak of COVID19 a few years ago, but it’s still a global health threat and it’s still a pandemic causing far too many (re)infections, hospitalisations, deaths and long covid when tools exist to prevent them."
Dr Maria Van Kerkhove, COVID technical lead for The World Health Organisation (WHO), trying very hard in her end of year message to remind us that the COVID pandemic isn't over, and we should all do the simple stuff like stay home when you are ill, and wearing masks when in busy enclosed spaces.
Over the past 3 weeks the UK Health Security Agency and mainstream media have avoided saying "COVID" as much as possible. We've had warnings about Flu, RSV, seasonal illness and 'cold weather making lung conditions worse', but if you can find COVID mentioned, it usually isn't in the headlines.
The Guardian ran an interesting piece about a surge in English hospital admissions due to flu, with "an average of 1,313 people in hospital with the virus each day during the week ending 31 December", but read on and you discover "an average of 3,929 people in hospital" with COVID each day during the same week. This is despite very little testing, even reportedly in people admitted to hospital with obvious symptoms.
You just can't make something go away by pretending, however hard you try.
COVID-19 Coronavirus and other virus UK and World News Update 29th September 2023
World COVID Statistics: 695,939,792 reported cases and 6,921,077 losses of life.
Hospital admissions with COVID in England increased by 10% in the week ending 22nd September. Biggest increases are in the NW (+33%) and NE&Yorks (+29%).
The UK is still losing more people each week than anticipated, but it isn't at the lofty heights (and extra 8-10%) that it was last year.
The Continuous Mortality investigation (CMI) weekly Mortality Monitor (week ending 15th September) for England and Wales shows rates were 4% higher than the equivalent week in 2019, based on death registrations data.
"CMI calculates 204,200 excess deaths in the UK since the start of the pandemic. That total has increased by 32,600 in 2023.
Cumulative mortality rates YTD (year to date) are 5.4% of a full year’s mortality worse than 2019."
Better news for this year (but worse for last year), the CMI note that there are far more late registrations than usual, so many of December 2022's registrations were actually added in with January 2023's figures.
COVID-19 Coronavirus and other virus UK and World News Weekly Update 20th January 2023
World COVID Statistics: 672,686,930 reported cases and 6,740,521losses of life.
"I just think we're really, really, really silly if we think that our health systems are just going to come back online and just start functioning at 100% again.... because our systems have lost elasticity, they've lost resilience, not gained it. And our health workers have been through one of the worst, probably, health experiences of the last 100 years or more.
We owe them a huge debt of gratitude for what they've done for us over the last 3 years. And I don't think we're repaying that debt with the working conditions, with the protection, with the training or with the pay that they need to be able to take care of themselves and their families."
Dr Mike Ryan of WHO. Seconded. Always.
"China's COVID prevention and control is still in a time of stress, but the light is ahead, persistence is victory. I am most worried about the rural areas and farmers. Medical facilities are relatively weak in rural areas, thus prevention is difficult and the task is arduous."
Chinese leader Xi Jinping with a warning and clear indication he's worried, in a Lunar New Year speech.
COVID-19 Coronavirus and other virus UK and World News Update 6th January 2023
World COVID Statistics: 667,528,972 reported cases and 6,707,791 losses of life.
"Please don’t let the government gaslight you into thinking it’s ‘normal’ for patients to be dying in their droves at home, in ambulances, in corridors, in cupboards. Excess deaths are 26% higher than usual. This isn’t normal, it’s grotesque.
A humanitarian crisis, yet Sunak does nothing."
Dr Rachel Clarke, responding to yesterday's lack of acknowledgement from the Government as to the state of the NHS.
COVID-19 Coronavirus and other virus UK and World News Update 9th December 2022.
World COVID Statistics: 652,460,074 reported cases and 6,654,923 losses of life.
"Wages are too low to stop health workers quitting the NHS. As more and more hand in their notice, there are fewer staff left to care for patients. The public knows that's the reason behind lengthy waits at A&E, growing ambulance delays, postponed operations and cancelled clinics."
Unison's head of Health, Sara Gorton, speaking to Sky News.
The UK's ONS Random COVID Survey says... that for the week ending 26 Nov for England, 24 November for Scotland and Wales, and 23 November for Northern Ireland:
"The percentage of people testing positive for coronavirus (COVID-19) continued to increase in England, increased in Northern Ireland and the trend was uncertain in Wales and Scotland."
- England, estimate 941,700, equating to 1.73% of the population (an increase from 1.60% in the previous week), or around 1 in 60 people.
- Wales, estimate 43,400, equating to 1.43% of the population, or around 1 in 70 people.
- Northern Ireland, estimate 36,700, equating to 2.00% of the population (an increase from 1.57% in the previous week), or around 1 in 50 people.
- Scotland, estimate 88,500, equating to 1.68% of the population, or around 1 in 60 people.
COVID-19 Coronavirus and other virus UK and World News Update 25th November 2022
World COVID Statistics: 645,069,583 reported cases and 6,633,233 losses of life.
"My offer of formal negotiations was declined and instead ministers have chosen strike action.
Nursing staff have had enough of being taken for granted, enough of low pay and unsafe staffing levels, enough of not being able to give our patients the care they deserve."
Royal College of Nursing general secretary Pat Cullen, as quoted by Sky News.
Today's UK random COVID sampling from the Office for National Statistics (ONS) is refreshing. It's week ending 15th November, so 10 days behind, but positive tests are declining or static. That's excellent news as Winter is beginning to make itself known, and far better than we are doing with RSV (chest infection virus) and Flu.
- England, estimate 809,200, equating to 1.48% of the population (a decrease from 1.73% in the previous week), or around 1 in 65 people.
- Wales, estimate 45,400, equating to 1.49% of the population (a decrease from 1.84% in the previous week), or around 1 in 65 people.
- Northern Ireland, estimate 34,100, equating to 1.86% of the population (there was no change in the percentage which was 1.86% in the previous week), or around 1 in 55 people.
- Scotland, estimate 83,700, equating to 1.59% of the population (a decrease from 1.85% in the previous week), or around 1 in 65 people.
COVID-19 Coronavirus and other virus UK and World News Update 11th November
2022
World COVID Statistics: 639,532,801 reported cases and 6,612,327 losses of
life.
"Does it need to be stated that infection with a pathogenic virus does not
confer a net benefit to the host? Because sometimes it feels like there is a
need to say this."
Aris Katzourakis, Professor of Evolution and Genomics at Oxford Uni, reminding
us that things which do not kill us do not always make us stronger.
"This view of relative mortality risk by age (share of all death certificates
mentioning COVID) continues to trace a pattern of decreasing ripples.
This is despite COVID prevalence being considerably higher than it was in
January 2021."
Numbers guy Paul Mainwood summing up the ONS graph nicely. It's great to be a
long way away from thousands of deaths a week, but remember low constant
ripples still mean we are losing hundreds of people every week. It isn't over,
especially for people who are at greater risk.
Latest ONS stats (to 6th November) are positive - officially reported cases
(people who test positive), hospitalisations and deaths are all DOWN on the
previous week.
Latest ONS Infection Survey random sampling is also positive. We know cases
are likely to go up with Winter, so the lower we can start off, the better.
This is a more accurate true measure, as they invite thousands of randomly
selected people for a test each week.
"The percentage of people testing positive for COVID19 decreased across all UK
countries."
- England, estimate 1,323,200, equating to 2.43% of the population, or around
1 in 40 people.
- Wales, estimate 72,400, equating to 2.38% of the population, or around 1 in
40 people.
- Northern Ireland, estimate 39,900, equating to 2.17% of the population, or
around 1 in 45 people.
- Scotland, estimate 107,300, equating to 2.04% of the population, or around 1
in 50 people.
"I believe we found room for hope in Glasgow. With one last chance to create a
plan that would limit global temperature rises to 1.5 degrees, we made the
promises to keep that goal within reach... And the question today is this, can
we summon the collective will to deliver them? I believe we can."
UK Prime Minister Rishi Sunak addressing the other delegates at the COP27
Climate Conference - which he did go to, despite saying he wouldn't. Rumour
has it he hadn't realised how important the future existence of humans was
until he saw the guest list.
NHS figures out on Thursday were eye-wateringly bad - so bad they've issued
revisions today, so sorry if I missed any alterations to averages.
1/ We have record breaking queues in A&E emergency departments:
- In October 43,792 people waited over 12 hours for a bed after a decision was
made to admit them to hospital, up an extra third from 32,776 in September.
- In October 150,922 people waited at least 4 hours, up from 131,861 in
September.
2/ We have record breaking numbers of people who have waited a long time for
treatment:
- In October a staggering 401,537, or 1 in every 18 of us, had been waiting
for over a year for treatment. Awesome.
- In good news, the number of people waiting 18 months or over has fallen
substantially - down 60% on last year.
3/ Ambulance waiting times are, as we well know, grim. For some reason this
month's English NHS stats don't include London (but they would likely be
grimmer than grim):
- In October 2022, the mean average response time for Category 1 (England
excluding London), was 9 minutes 56 seconds, with 90% within 17m 42s. Clearly
longer than the 7 minute and 15 minute targets.
Zoe Bell of Upday News points out that we haven't actually met A&E targets
since 2015 - 5 years before COVID.
UK politics continues to bow under the weight of it's own ineptitude. It's
like watching a teenager in heels trying to sneak upstairs in the dark after
15 shandies. Now our COVID-times Education Secretary and newly ordained Sir,
Chitty Chitty Bang Bang Childcatcher Gavin Williamson, has "resigned" after
accusations of bullying. It was all fun and games until someone said they
weren't happy with being told to slit their throat or jump out of a window.
(Defenestration is a rare event in the UK. More common with Russian COVID
Doctors).
Gavin said the allegations were "becoming a distraction"... err, yeah.
Okay.
According to Sky News, "a total of 80 ministers or whips have resigned or been
sacked from the government since the start of 2022". Yowch. That's some
world-beating staff turnaround...
Remember back in 2020 when 'kids didn't catch COVID'. How times have
changed... and also knowledge. Obviously kids always caught COVID. they were
just less likely to show it. Sadly although our understanding has changed,
everything else is slow to catch up, and in the UK we don't vaccinate young
children. Omicron is more severe than previous COVID strains, and you can spot
this in the unvaccinated populations, including our children.
In 2022, up to October 31st, the UK had already hospitalised more children who
are testing positive for COVID than in all of 2020 AND 2021 ADDED TOGETHER.
The UK has a lot of people with COVID at any given moment, and many of these
kids will only find out they have it when they turn up at A&E with a
broken leg or asthma attack, but it is not an impressive figure. Even if they
aren't really poorly, each bout of COVID can have a long lasting effect on
things like concentration and tiredness.
RSV is a MASSIVE problem in the Northern hemisphere as we head into our
Winter. Figures are high and rapidly rising, especially in our youngest
infants and children. This is Respiratory Syncytial Virus and it causes chest
infections and bronchiolitis, and it has hospitalised a lot of children in New
Zealand and Australia over their Winter. Keep your kids home if they are ill,
and listen regularly to their breathing in case they develop a persistent
wheeze or crackle, or begin to struggle.
A UK study has found that confidence in vaccinations has dropped across the
board - whatever your religious, educational or cultural background. All this
talk of side effects, efficacy rates, rule breaking and number fudging has
made people think more and trust less.
(Read more, all of you. Not just headlines, think about the answers you
actually want to know. If you are in doubt, get the numbers for yourself.
Google is your friend.)
Waits for Cancer care in the UK are too long. Yet another victim of the NHS
being on its knees and desperately short staffed.
The BBC has a clear article explaining that although screening is being rushed
through to try and clear the backup, lack of specialist staff to actually
oversee treatment means unnecessary delays for very anxious people, and a risk
that treatment will arrive too late.
UK Nurses WILL be going on strike, as will Civil Servants. The UK isn't alone
in this discontent. A lot of people worked solidly through COVID, risked their
health before vaccinations, saw colleagues leave through illness or
bereavement, and in return got clapped at and offered a crap pay rise.
Royal College of Nursing members at 176 NHS Organisations have voted to
strike. Dates to be arranged. Closed door meetings between brand new Junior
Government Health Ministers and nursing representatives are underway
already.
A US team have published a study looking at the difference masks make in
schools. This isn't yet peer-reviewed, but it's getting a lot of high profile
shares, which we can assume means no-one has spotted any huge errors at this
point.
They looked at schools in Boston, Massachusetts, where masks were worn by all
pupils and staff until February 2022. Two districts kept the mask mandates
until June 2022, which allows for a comparison.
They found that the districts which kept masks were poorer, with older schools
and more pupils per class. They also had "higher percentages of low-income
students, students with disabilities, and students who were English-language
learners, as well as higher percentages of Black and Latinx students and
staff".
Despite having extra risk factors, those schools which kept masks continued
with a steady amount of COVID cases, while the schools which got rid of masks
had a big increase.
'During the 15 weeks after the statewide masking policy was rescinded, the
lifting of masking requirements was associated with an additional 44.9 cases
per 1000 students and staff, which corresponded to an estimated 11,901 cases
and to 29.4% of the cases in all districts during that time.'
So there you have it (again). Masks DO make a big difference.
As reported by Channel News Asia, “China will "unswervingly" stick to its
zero-COVID policy and persevere with its "dynamic-clearing" approach to
COVID-19 cases as soon as they emerge, health officials said on Saturday (Nov
5).”
They're not having it. China still have a mandatory quarantine for arrivals
from abroad, and really do think the West is storing up problems for the
future... and it's worth noting their vaccination rate is really very low,
especially in older people.
The latest area to be locked down is part of Guangzhou, after reporting over
1,000 cases a day for the last 5 days. Around 5.6 million residents were just
told to stay home, in an attempt to prevent a whole area lockdown affecting
over 19 million people.
Despite remaining "unswerving", Chinese Health Authorities do at least review
their rules and update them. As a result they have made several changes to
their COVID policies, including reducing close contact quarantine from 7 days
at a centralised location to 5 days (plus three days at home). Rules regarding
inbound travellers and traveller quarantines have also eased.
We have heard before that our genes can make us more susceptible to severe
COVID. This week Oxford University Professor Dr James Davies has revealed
another unfortunate gene, which dates back to neanderthal times. LZTFL1 is
found in around 15% of Europeans, and 60% of Southern Asian people, and it
appears to double the risk you'll die from COVID.
In the UK your risk of succumbing to COVID is clearly greater if you are not
white - but it's been very hard to pinpoint physical reasons, as non-white
people are also more likely to live in larger or multi-generational housing,
more likely to work in high risk professions, less likely to be able to take
time off sick, more likely to be poor etc etc... all risk factors.
The US CDC have a new campaign to encourage pregnant people to get their COVID
vaccinations. The main point of the campaign is:
"Infants aged <6 months, who are ineligible for vaccination, have high
COVID-19–associated hospitalization rates compared with other pediatric age
groups."
Yes. Infants under 6 months do have high hospitalisation rates for COVID, and
in the US that has gone up by a whopping x11 since Omicron COVID took
over.
Hold on before you panic, it's a bit misleading. Younger babies catching
Omicron can show more cold or flu-like symptoms, so are more likely to be
admitted out of caution. Most importantly a "return to normality" means far,
FAR more people have COVID in the community, and as a result far, FAR more
babies are being born WITH COVID.
Despite that eleven-fold increase in hospitalisations, the CDC see no increase
in levels of severe illness. Being admitted to hospital doesn't mean they'll
become very poorly - it means they're in the right place if they do.
Getting vaccinated before or during pregnancy hasn't shown any detrimental
effect, and offers a level of protection for both the parent and newborn baby.
(And as we well know - pregnancy and COVID don't mix well at all.) Talk it
through with your healthcare professionals.
111022 Excess deaths England by week age 0-24
Ugandan schoolchildren will break up 2 weeks early on 25th November, because
of Ebola. Official case counts only include confirmed cases, and sadly when
you add on 'suspected', the numbers are not good. 8 school children have
already died from Ebola, which can have a fatality rate as high as 80% - this
outbreak is currently running at around 40-50%. According to leading expert
Helen Branswell, (Senior Infectious Diseases Writer at STAT News), the updated
total on Monday was believed to be 157 cases and 74 losses of life.
Remember the woman from Alberta, Canada, who had been refused an organ
transplant because she wouldn't get vaccinated against COVID? The Court of
Appeal have upheld that decision. They say expecting her to get up to date
relevant vaccinations is not a violation of her rights. The survival rate for
people with COVID after a recent organ transplant is greatly reduced.
Scientists have announced they've found the oldest ever known sentence written
by humans. It was written on an elephant ivory comb around 1700BCE and says:
"May this tusk root out the lice of the hair and the beard."
We really haven't changed...
Ukraine's official Christmas stamp, “Separated by war”, was created by Valeria
Mykhailova, a year 11 schoolgirl who, until becoming a refugee, lived in
Mykolaiv. It's split in two, with a young woman sitting inside a Christmassy
room alone, and an armed person in a helmet and military clothing, sitting
alone on the battlefield with gunfire around.
SchoolsWeek is reporting that the UK Government Treasury is going to be taking
back over £100 million of the money earmarked for pupil catch-up schemes, as
it hasn't been allocated this year. Schools have really struggled to access
the money, because they have to pay 40% themselves this year, and they simply
don't have it. Next year they'll be expected to pay 75% of the costs, so
frankly it's hardly worth the paperwork.
It would be nice if the underspend went towards FREE catch-up programs for our
most disadvantaged pupils. (It won't.)
In case you missed it, the UK has a new King, and it has been confirmed we
will get a one-off extra bank holiday when he has his Coronation. The
crowning, swearing oaths and all that jazz will take place on Saturday 6th
May, and the bank holiday will be on the Monday 8th May. I make that 2 proper
weekends off in a row. Nice one.
A man arrested on a COVID ward in Scotland has been ruled by an Edinburgh
Court to be an American wanted for serious sex crimes in the USA.
Nicholas Rossi claimed to be an Irish man named Arthur, and if Hollywood is
anything to go by, his accent was probably appalling. He also claimed his
tattoos (which matched the suspect) were drawn onto him while he was in a
coma.
Christmas really is on the way now. John Lewis have an absolutely excellent
campaign, supporting young people leaving care, and highlighting fostering.
Made me bawl. I've added it below.
No numbers today because it's too long already, but next week I'll be without
internet, or travelling, so it'll definitely be shorter!
It is the weekend! Huzzah. I'm definitely having treats, because it's my
birthday weekend, so I'm hoping to be very spoilt. I hope you are too. You've
earned it, and we all need things to look forward to...
COVID-19 Coronavirus and other virus UK and World News Update Friday 2nd September 2022
UK COVID Statistics:
England (to 31st August) ~
Total cases: 19,833,314 (last 7 days +24,674. Obviously this figure is affected by how many people can actually access testing)
Losses of life: 164,624 (last 7 days +419)
Scotland ~
Total cases (to 31st August): 2,091,313 (last 7 days +3,612 - again, influenced by how many people can access testing)
Losses of life (to 28th August): 15,592 (last 7 days +41)
Wales (to 28th August) ~
Total cases is a little cleverer. Wales use the ONS estimate, as well as telling us how many people actually test positive. ONS estimate +2,067. PCR test +9, Lateral Flow tests +53.
Losses of life data is not so clever, clear, or up-to-date.
Northern Ireland ~
Don't really seem to be bothering collecting any data nowadays, they just use the ONS random sampling estimate (see below).
Rep. Of Ireland as of Wednesday 31st August: 1,656,956 cases (+75 ) and 7,839 (+19) losses of life.
World: 609,026,757 reported cases and 6,499,352 losses of life.
The UK's COVID Alert Level has been downgraded to Level 2 - "COVID-19 is in general circulation, but direct healthcare pressures and transmission are declining or stable".
Bet that's a relief eh. Nah, I'm joking. Did anyone even remember the COVID Alert Levels existed? Has anyone told the NHS that pressures are declining or stable?
COVID-19 Coronavirus and other virus UK and World News Update August 19th 2022
UK COVID Statistics:
England:
In the 7 days until 12th August 744 COVID-related deaths were reported. This 189 less than the week before (-20.3%).
In the 7 days to 15th August, 6,005 people were admitted to hospital with COVID.
Scotland:
In the 7 days to 14th August 66 COVID-related deaths were reported.
In the 7 days to 14th August, 448 people were admitted to hospital with COVID.
Northern Ireland:
In the 7 days to 12th August 16 COVID-related deaths were reported.
In the 7 days to 12th August, 60 people were admitted to hospital with COVID.
Wales:
In the 7 days to 13th August 17 COVID-related deaths were reported.
In the 7 days to 12th August, 278 people were admitted to hospital with COVID.
Rep. Of Ireland: 1,653,576 cases and 7,742 losses of life reported in total as of yesterday.
World: 599,293,153 reported cases and 6,467,625 losses of life.
The UK has become the first country to approve Moderna's new "bivalent" Omicron-specific COVID vaccine as a booster jab. Bivalent refers to the number '2', and it targets boring old COVID, as well as specifically targeting Omicron variants (by having especially shaped attachment points). Omicron variants now account for almost all cases on the globe, including most of those with the more disturbing collections of mutations.
In tests people given the new vaccine were found to increase their protection against Omicron by 8 times, and protection against older strains of COVID was actually very slightly higher too. This is exactly what you would hope from a tweaked and upgraded vaccine.
At the moment the UK MHRA have approved the jab as a booster for adults over age 18.
The UK's Autumn COVID booster will begin rollout on 5th September with care home residents and housebound people among the first in line. Wider rollout will begin a week later. Eligible people are basically anyone in a special jab group or aged 50 or over. You will be invited to attend when it's your turn, and you will be offered the new Moderna Omicron-specific jab.
COVID-19 Coronavirus and other viruses UK and World News Update 12th August 2022
World COVID Statistics:
Cases: 593,567,442
Losses Of Life: 6,449,589
UK COVID stats regarding cases, hospitalisations and deaths are on the way down. According to the ONS random survey week ending 25th July for Wales and Northern Ireland, and 26th July for England and Scotland:
"The percentage of people testing positive for coronavirus (COVID-19) continued to decrease in England, Wales and Scotland; and the trend remained uncertain in Northern Ireland."
- England, estimate 2,106,000, equating to 3.86% of the population, or around 1 in 25 people.
- Wales, estimate 108,800, equating to 3.58% of the population, or around 1 in 30 people.
- Northern Ireland, estimate 109,800, equating to 5.98% of the population, or around 1 in 17 people.
- Scotland, estimate 260,800, equating to 4.95% of the population, or around 1 in 20 people.
A clinically extremely vulnerable chap named Nicholas Chavez has pulled out some exciting COVID stats for us. That's exciting as in startling rather than fun... we'll start with England’s COVID hospital admissions in the first week of August:
2022: 6,842
2021: 4,738
2020: 411
And how about England’s excess deaths during the month of July (more deaths than average, via the ONS):
2022: 6,260
2021: 2,109
2020: −1,018
Well, that's going well then. Funny how well masks, distancing, being sensible and acting like we might have a disease worked, as compared to this year's "it's finished, we're done with that now. Move on"....
COVID-19 Coronavirus (and Monkeypox) UK and World News Update Friday 29th July 2022
World: 580,003,877 reported cases and 6,415,501 losses of life.
"Many people now are boasting about the fact "I've had this four times". I wouldn't like to have COVID19 four times. And I do think there's some evidence to suggest that sequential COVID19 infections do result in higher risk of long term Long COVID, or cardiovascular or neurologic complications. You don't want to get this disease once if you can avoid it, and you don't want to get it four times for sure.
Dr Mike Ryan, Executive Director of WHO Health Emergencies Programme.
"The risk of monkeypox to the public remains low in the UK.
If you develop symptoms, stay at home and call 111 or a sexual health clinic.
The NHS is vaccinating at-risk groups and thousands more will be invited shortly. If eligible, please come forward when contacted."
Message there from the UK Government.
UK COVID hospital admissions are down - everyone together "Hurrah!"
The lovely COVID Actuaries have summarised neatly for us:
"Hospital admissions with COVID are now falling rapidly across England.
7-day average is down 19% week-on-week. Implied R estimate is below 0.9.
Regionally, falls of between 14% (East and NW) and 25% (London).
Bed occupancy with COVID is also falling, down 15% week-on-week."
COVID-19 Coronavirus UK and World News Update April 30th May 1st /2nd /3rd 2022
UK COVID Statistics: Cases last 7 days: 79,310 (average 11,330 per day) Admitted to hospital with COVID in the last 7 days: 8,840 In hospital yesterday: 12,475 (down from 14,929 a week earlier) Using a ventilator yesterday: 304 (321 a week earlier) Losses of life last 7 days: 1,175 Total losses of life within 28 days of a positive test: 175,319 Total losses of life with COVID listed as a cause: 191,277 Tests last 7 days: 1,889,966 (average 269,995 per day) Vaccination Data is delayed, so we'll leave it for today as it's still the same as Friday.
Rep. Of Ireland: 1,519,296 (+491) cases and 7,092 (+5) losses of life.
World: 514,254,906 reported cases and 6,264,024 losses of life.
Scottish guidance on isolation has changed. If you've tested positive you should stay at home for 3 days if you're 18 years and under, or for 5 days if you're over 18 years. Day 1 is the day after you took your test. "Stay at home and avoid contact with other people if you have symptoms of a respiratory infection such as coronavirus and have a high temperature or do not feel well enough to go to work or carry out normal activities." (Probably someone should tell them COVID isn't necessarily a respiratory infection.)
COVID-19 Coronavirus UK and World News Update 27th/ 28th/ 29th April 2022
UK COVID Official Statistics: Cases last 7 days: 105,331 (average 15,047 per day) Admitted to hospital with COVID in the last 7 days: 9,493 (significantly down from 13,752 a week earlier) In hospital yesterday: 13,027 (down from 16,447 a week earlier) Using a ventilator yesterday: 302 (down from 339 a week earlier) Losses of life last 7 days: 1,560 (average 223 per day, significantly down on 1,956 a week earlier) Total losses of life within 28 days of a positive test: 174,912 Total losses of life with COVID listed as a cause: 191,277 Tests last 7 days: 2,158,217 (average 308,316 per day) Vaccinations 1st dose: 53,184,869 Vaccinations 2nd dose: 49,727,305 Boosted / 3rd dose / Spring Boosters: 39,248,005
Rep. Of Ireland: 1,516,153 cases and 7,076 losses of life.
World: 512,394,235 reported cases and 6,257,163 losses of life.
"For fans of important things quietly collapsing - it's worth taking a glance at the NHS England ambulance time data. The headline Category 1s - "immediate life-threatening": times are rising above standards but don't look utterly terrifying. Category 2s. These are still critically important; "needing rapid assessment and transport": includes intense chest pain and strokes. So a *mean* [most common average] pushing past an hour is ... terrifying. And in the South West: *mean* was 1hr 53 minutes with 90th %ile waits at 4hr 31 (not a typo). [10% of category 2 people waited 4hr31m or longer.] Category 3s & 4s are similarly horrific, with SW again the worst (a Cat 3 "urgent problem requiring treatment in an acute setting" having a *mean* of over 6 hours). All numbers are by some way the worst since the categories were introduced in 2017. "Collapse" seems fair." Paul Mainwood, Head Of Strategy And Planning at Innocent Drinks, Philosophical Physicist Oxford Uni. That's the bad news, now the better news...
COVID-19 Coronavirus UK and World News Update 23rd - 26th April 2022
UK COVID Statistics: Cases last 7 days: 131,054 (average 18,722 per day) Admitted to hospital with COVID in the last 7 days: 10,386 (bear in mind many people are only in hospital overnight or for a couple of days) In hospital yesterday: 14,929 Using a ventilator yesterday: 321 Losses of life last 7 days: 2,266 (this includes some backlog reported last week from Easter weekend - average 323 per day) Total losses of life within 28 days of a positive test: 174,144 Total losses of life with COVID listed as a cause: 190,124 Tests last 7 days: 2,310,897 (average 330,128 per day) Vaccinations 1st dose: 53,157,460 Vaccinations 2nd dose: 49,703,318 Boosted / 3rd dose / Spring Boosters: 39,185,170
Rep. Of Ireland: 1,512,812 cases and 7,016 losses of life (not yet reported today).
World: 510,269,578 reported cases and 6,246,343 losses of life.
“I wish it need not have happened in my time,” said Frodo. “So do I,” said Gandalf, “and so do all who live to see such times. But that is not for them to decide. All we have to decide is what to do with the time that is given us.” J.R.R.Tolkein, The Fellowship Of The Ring
COVID-19 Coronavirus UK and World News Update 20/21/22 April 2022
UK COVID Statistics: Cases last 7 days: 185,625 (average 26,517 per day lollity lol - see ONS figures below) Admitted to hospital with COVID in the last 7 days: 13,752 (I've added this measurement because it seems more useful now than case numbers, bearing in mind many people are only in hospital overnight or for a couple of days) In hospital yesterday: 16,447 (down significantly from 19,028 eight days earlier) Using a ventilator yesterday: 339 (down slightly on 355 eight days earlier) Losses of life last 7 days: 1,956 Total losses of life within 28 days of a positive test: 173,352 Total losses of life with COVID listed as a cause on the death certificate: 190,124 Tests last 7 days: 2,237,478 (average 319,639 per day) Vaccinations 1st dose: 53,087,904 Vaccinations 2nd dose: 49,661,362 Boosted / 3rd dose / Spring Boosters: 39,125,015
Rep. Of Ireland: 1,509,536 (+1,163) cases and 6,996 (+3) losses of life.
World: 508,147,148 reported cases and 6,237,847 losses of life.
"In the longer term we should expect millions of people to catch covid each year with the consequence that we have a population that is generally less healthy both from the burden of covid infection itself and the long-term consequences of long covid." Kit Yates, member of UK indieSAGE advisory group, spelling out "Living With COVID" in plain English.
COVID-19 Coronavirus UK and World News Update 15th - 19th April 2022
UK Statistics: Cases last 7 days: 184,761 (average 26,394 per day - which I think we can safely assume is nowhere near a complete figure, although definitely cases are going down) Hospital numbers have not been updated since last Thursday, but were steadily decreasing Losses of life last 7 days: 1,483 (also steadily decreasing) Tests last 7 days: 2,335,846 (average 333,692 per day) Vaccinations 1st dose: 53,041,898 Vaccinations 2nd dose: 49,762,640 Boosted / 3rd dose: 39,073,635
Rep. Of Ireland: 1,498,834 cases and 6,932 losses of life (not yet reported today)
World: 505,431,852 reported cases and 6,225,614 losses of life.
"Long Covid will haunt us…We have the right to demand higher performance from vaccines…Vaccines can do more if they are adequately boosted, revised." Dr Peter Hotez, co-chair of the Lancet Commission on Covid-19 Vaccines and Therapeutics Task Force, in an interview with the Indian Express.
Scottish First Minister Nicola Sturgeon forgot to put on a mask when entering a barber's shop on Saturday - naughty! It's hardly Westminster level rule-breaking, more forgetful lack of care. (I personally twice walked into shops without a mask when it was the law down here, and I'm sure most of us have slipped up on that one.) Disappointingly she didn't suddenly realise and slap a mask on, in fact the entire barber's is heaving with bare-faced people. Tsk... The police were informed. Luckily for Nicola, they decided "no further action" was necessary - and possibly that had something to do with the fact that Scotland's face mask rulings came to an end at midnight on Sunday anyway. She appears to have escaped with a telling off, and has apologised.
COVID-19 Coronavirus UK and World News Update 6th / 7th / 8th April 2022
UK Daily Statistics: Cases last 7 days: 333,347 (average 47,621 per day) In hospital yesterday 7th April: 20,331 (UP from 19,575 a week earlier) Using a ventilator yesterday: 357 (thankfully static, 356 a week earlier) Losses of life last 7 days: 1,475 (almost as many who died on the Titanic, and an average 210 a day) Tests last 7 days: 3,629,226 (average 518,460 per day) Vaccination data isn't going to be quite right just now, as the UK give totals, but don't separate 3rd jabs and booster jabs, and give percentages out of people aged 12+, but we are now vaccinating children aged 5+, so none of it is very precise at the moment.
Rep. Of Ireland: 1,487,164 (+2,843) cases and 6,863 (+20) losses of life.
World: 497,032,257 reported cases and 6,197,139 losses of life.
ON Wednesday the UK Health Security Agency added a massive 2,714 people to England's losses of life from COVID: “Due to a data processing error, a number of people who died within 28 days of a positive Covid-19 test were not reported in a timely manner.” Remember kids, nothing to see here... and no fudging of numbers ever, nope.
COVID-19 Coronavirus UK and World News Update 4th / 5th April 2022
UK Daily Statistics - bear in mind that most people no longer qualify for free testing, and they'll be starting to run out of stockpiled lateral flow tests: Cases last 7 days: 425,303 (average 60,757) In hospital yesterday 4th April: 20,398 (UP from 19,118 a week earlier) Using a ventilator yesterday: 351 (DOWN from 363 a week earlier) Losses of life last 7 days: 1,174 (average 167 per day) Losses of life total: 166,148 People with COVID listed as a cause on their death certificate up until 25th March: 187,929 Tests last 7 days: 4,148,840 (average 592,691 per day) Vaccinations 1st dose: 52,837,997 (91.9% of UK age 12+) Vaccinations 2nd dose: 49,488,642 (86.1%) Boosted / 3rd dose: 38,881,391 (67.6%) (Although hospitalisations/ventilator use is up, it is a smaller rise than last week. Are we reaching the peak of this wave? Let's hope so... )
Rep. Of Ireland: 1,477,112 (+2,738) cases and 6,805 (+6) losses of life.
World: 493,330,951 reported cases and 6,181,214 losses of life.
Now that free testing has ended in England, the UK NHS list of COVID symptoms has been expanded. (Obviously those 2 things are entirely unrelated, I've no idea why I put them together like that.): "Symptoms of coronavirus (COVID-19) in adults can include: - a high temperature or shivering (chills) – a high temperature means you feel hot to touch on your chest or back (you do not need to measure your temperature) - a new, continuous cough – this means coughing a lot for more than an hour, or 3 or more coughing episodes in 24 hours - a loss or change to your sense of smell or taste - shortness of breath - feeling tired or exhausted - an aching body - a headache - a sore throat - a blocked or runny nose - loss of appetite - diarrhoea - feeling sick or being sick" Close inspection reveals the list for children is EXACTLY THE SAME, so that's handy. Obviously any or even all of those symptoms still doesn't mean you have COVID, but you are advised to stay at home and avoid contact with other people if you have symptoms of COVID including a high temperature, or don't feel well enough to go to work or do normal activities.
COVID-19 Coronavirus UK and World News Update 30th / 31st March / 1st April 2022
UK Daily Statistics: Cases last 7 days: 527,550 (average 75,364 per day) In hospital yesterday 31st March: 19,575 (up from 17,440 a week earlier) Using a ventilator yesterday 31st March: 356 (up from 302 a week earlier) Losses of life last 7 days: 1,116 (average 159 per day) Tests: 4,671,510 (average 667,358 per day) Vaccinations 1st dose: 52,803,065 (91.8% of UK age 12+) Vaccinations 2nd dose: 49,439,759 (86%) Boosted / 3rd dose: 38,823,674 (67.5%)
Rep. Of Ireland: 1,465,150 (+5,725) cases and 6,786 (+33) losses of life.
World: 489,186,080 reported cases and 6,168,935 losses of life.
"For the NHS, Covid is far from over. Hospital admissions now higher than the January peak. Staff sickness high. New variants emerging. But reflecting on conversations with staff today in the hospital, they aren't giving in just yet. Too much to fight for" Luke O'Shea, Director of Innovation, University College London Hospitals, with a reminder that COVID is doing pretty much the same thing that it has been for the last 2 years.
