COVID-19 Coronavirus UK and World News Update 9th / 10th / 11th April 2022
UK Daily Statistics:
Cases last 7 days: 281,269 (average 40,181 per day)
In hospital last Friday 8th April: 20,051
Using a ventilator last Friday 8th April: 355
Losses of life last 7 days: 1,613 (average 230 each day - that is a lot of people, a lot of friends and a lot of relatives)
Tests last 7 days: 3,239,337 (average 462,762 per day)
Rep. Of Ireland: 1,493,066 (+1,715) cases and 6,884 (+21) losses of life
World: 499,260,917 reported cases and 6,204,095 losses of life
"The brutal reality for staff and patients is that this Easter in the NHS is as bad as any winter. But instead of the understanding and support NHS staff received during 2020 and 2021, we have a government that seems to want to wash its hands of responsibility for what is occurring in plain sight in local services up and down the country.
No 10 has seemingly abandoned any interest in Covid whatsoever. The Treasury has taken bites out of the already very tight NHS budget, while soaring inflation means the NHS settlement is now worth less. It is now unclear that anyone in the centre of government feels the unfolding NHS crisis is their responsibility.
NHS leaders and their teams feel abandoned by the Government and they deserve better.
We have been promised a ‘living with Covid’ plan yet all we have is a ‘living without restrictions’ ideology."
Very strong words from the NHS Confederation, who are well aware that COVID hasn't all finished and gone away now. In fact the UK now has over 20,000 patients in hospital with COVID.
"In the past week, around 20 accident and emergency departments in England have issued diverts, with patients having to be taken elsewhere."
They are asking for 5 actions:
1. Honesty in Government messaging, which "is tending to mislead the public and discourage them to take steps to reduce transmission".
2. "Reinvigorate" public information, be clearer about rates of infection and impact, "while encouraging people to resume behaviours that have previously been effective in keeping infections down".
3. Review NHS infection prevention control measures and educate and empower staff, to allow more non-COVID patients to be treated - safely.
4. Review "elective and other key NHS targets commensurate with the ongoing pressures caused by this Covid crisis".
5. "Additional funding from government to cover the direct costs of Covid is required given the ongoing pressure from treating Covid patients." E.g. lateral flow testing for staff comes from NHS budget.
The NHS Confederation represent the whole healthcare system in England, Wales and Northern Ireland, including 1.5 million staff and more than 1 million patients a day.
COVID-19 Coronavirus UK and World News Update 14th /15th February 2022
UK Daily Statistics:
Cases: 18,393,951 (+46,186)
In Hospital on Monday 14th Feb: 12,304 (DOWN from 13,793 a week earlier)
Using A Ventilator on 14th Feb: 393 (DOWN from 443 a week earlier)
Losses of Life: 159,839 (+234)
Tests: 888,781 (that's really low - potentially partly because of school holidays, but also because less people are needing to test)
Vaccinations 1st Dose: 52,522,201 (91.3% of UK aged 12+)
Vaccinations 2nd Dose: 48,777,079 (84.8%)
Boosted: 37,818,285 (65.8%)
Rep. Of Ireland: 1,255,571 cases and 6,291 losses of life.
World: 414,932,355 reported cases and 5,848,854 losses of life.
The Good Law Project and the Runnymede Trust have been to court this morning against the UK Government and won.
Ex Health Secretary Matt Hancock broke the law by appointing Baroness Dido Harding as 'Chair of the National Institute for Health Protection' and Mike Coupe as 'Director of Testing'. Prime Minister Boris Johnson broke the law by appointing Baroness Harding as 'Chair of Test and Trace'.
By making those 3 appointments without any competition, they breached the Public Sector Equality Duty under section 149 of the Equality Act 2010. This legislation exists to eliminate discrimination and advance equality of opportunity in the United Kingdom.
Basically, no-one else even got a chance to apply. I've said it many times. I could have supplied an inadequate and not fit for purpose Track and Trace for far less than 36 billion British pounds. In fact, pay me 20 grand and I'll fit you one in tomorrow morning.
And what will happen now? Will they be imprisoned or penalised like any regular person?... seems unlikely.
COVID-19 Coronavirus UK and World News Update 9th, 10th and 11th February 2022
UK Daily Statistics:
Cases: 18,220,515 (+58,899)
In Hospital Yesterday Thursday 10th Feb: 12,753
Using A Ventilator: 430
Losses of Life: 159,351 (+193)
Tests: 1,041,542
Vaccinations 1st Dose: 52,480,344 (91.3% of UK aged 12+)
Vaccinations 2nd Dose: 48,693,091 (84.7%)
Boosted / 3rd Doses: 37,684,442 (65.5%)
Area: Cases Last 7 Days / Rate per 100,000 population
Wales: 13,040 / 411.4
Scotland: 44,423 / 812.7
Northern Ireland: 26,495 / 1,397.8
England: 449,015 / 794
Rep. Of Ireland: 1,242,806 (+6,618) cases and 6,291 losses of life
World: 407,698,096 reported cases and 5,812,609 losses of life
The UK's Rosalind Franklin laboratory in Royal Leamington Spa has now processed over 5 million PCR tests.
The UK has surpassed 2 million SARS-CoV-2 genome sequences uploaded to the international Global Initiative on Sharing Avian Influenza Data (GISAID) database.
(We really are truly world-beating at virus family trees.)
(GISAID was created back in 2008 to freely share the genetics of flu samples, so that the world can prepare the most effective flu vaccines, and keep an eye on the situation. It was a perfect database for COVID. To date over 8,137,571 COVID genetic sequences have been uploaded.)
COVID-19 Coronavirus UK and World News Update 10th September 2021
UK Daily Statistics:
Cases: 7,168,806 (+37,622)
In Hospital on Wednesday 9th: 8,098
Using A Ventilator on Wednesday 9th: 1,060
Losses of Life: 133,988 (+147)
Tests: 1,241,334
Vaccinations 1st Dose: 48,370,340 (89% of UK aged 16+)
Vaccinations Fully Vaxxed: 43,805,608 (80.6%)
Rep. Of Ireland: 362,228 cases and 5,155 losses of life.
World: 224,269,097 reported cases and 4,624,307 losses of life.
The UK's JCVI (Joint Committee on Vaccination and Immunisation) are due to make a final decision on Booster Jabs any day now.
Although the UK seems to be swimming in vaccines, we are limited. We have to ensure we have enough for everyone who is entitled, and it has to be fair.
We recently signed a deal for 35m Pfizer, which could offer boosters in a different flavour to everyone over 50, or vaccinate schoolchildren, and boosters for more vulnerable people could be AstraZeneca. These sort of decisions go on behind closed doors all the time - which is exactly why the independent SAGE collective started - they wanted to discuss options and plans openly in front of the public. Don't forget the indieSAGE group contains members of the UK Government's actual SAGE panel.
COVID-19 Coronavirus UK and World News Update 3rd September 2021
UK Daily Statistics:
Cases: 6,904,969 (+42,076)
In Hospital Thursday 2nd: 7,541
Using A Ventilator Thursday 2nd: 1,038
Losses of Life: 133,041 (+121)
Tests: 1,155,929
Vaccinations 1st Dose: 48,171,998 (88.6% of UK population aged 16+)
Vaccinations 2 Doses: 43,142,747 (79.4%)
UK Nations Cases Last 7 Days:
Area: Cases / Rate per 100,000 population
Wales: 13,566 / 428
Scotland: 40,309 / 737.4
Northern Ireland: 11,035 / 582.2
England: 171,166 / 302.7
Rep. Of Ireland: 354,236 cases and 5,112 losses of life.
World: 220,296,235 reported cases and 4,562,014 losses of life.
The UK's JCVI have just announced updated advice regarding vaccinating young people 12-15, and they say NO.
"The assessment by the Joint Committee on Vaccination and Immunisation (JCVI) is that the health benefits from vaccination are marginally greater than the potential known harms. However, the margin of benefit is considered too small to support universal vaccination of healthy 12 to 15 year olds at this time.
It is not within the JCVI’s remit to consider the wider societal impacts of vaccination, including educational benefits. The government may wish to seek further views on the wider societal and educational impacts from the Chief Medical Officers of the UK 4 nations."
That's the JCVI passing the hot potato, and the Government have already publicly written to the 4 Chief Medical Advisers to request their advice:
"We agree with the approach suggested by JCVI, and so we are writing to request that you take forward work (drawing on experts as you see fit) to consider the matter from a broader perspective, as suggested by the JCVI.
We will consider the advice from the CMOs of the 4 nations, building on the JCVI’s advice, in making our decision. Given the importance of this issue, we would be grateful if you could provide your advice as soon as possible."
Watch this space...
"Summer has come and passed
The innocent can never last
Wake me up
when September ends.
Like my fathers come to pass
Seven years has
gone so fast
Wake me up when September ends..."
Our 11 year
old left Primary school last month, and Facebook showed me a memory to remind
me of the day he left nursery, which was 18th July 2014. It's one of the most
painful images I have. My innocent littlest baby, full of promise and joy at
the world, and delighted with his "Goodbye" bag of goodies. It hurts so much
because it's "before", and less than a month later, his sister was dead, and
we were a family full of broken people. His life wouldn't ever be so innocent
again.
It's February. I don't know about you, but for me this year January seemed considerably shorter. Usually it's my quietest time on the blog, I get about 3 months before Spring toys start coming in, to recuperate after the pre-Christmas madness. This year it's different. The pre-Christmas madness was massively subdued. The post-Christmas lull is bringing as much COVID news (possibly more) as before, and there's a danger it all feels a bit of a samey blah...
It's too easy to just roll through the days, tick, tick, tick, without having things to enjoy, things to try, things to create. Just because we are in lockdown, doesn't mean you should sleepwalk through it until the end. If you do, you miss a million opportunities to actually create any memories, and all you are left with is the mundane... tick... tick... tick...
COVID-19 Coronavirus UK and World News update September 10th 2020.
The UK added 2,919 cases today and now has reported a total of 358,138 positive cases of COVID-19. Tests completed has not been updated since last Wednesday - when the total to date was 17,619,897. 837 people were in hospital on Tuesday 8th, with 80 using a ventilator yesterday.
In the 24 hours up until 5pm yesterday, we officially reported the loss of another 14 people who have tested positive to COVID-19 within 28 days. We now very sadly have a total of 41,608 officially reported losses of life in all settings.
Rep. Of Ireland 30,360 (+196) cases and 1,781 losses of life.
There have now been a total of 28,214,209 reported cases worldwide. The number of people who have lost their lives worldwide to COVID-19 is 911,165. Already 20,221,164 people have recovered.
"I don't believe the UK is exceptional. My personal belief is we're two to four weeks behind what's happening in continental Europe… I think that community transmission is going to increase over the coming weeks... The next six weeks are going to be absolutely critical..."
"Nobody should be under any illusion: This infection is not going away. This is now a human endemic infection.”
Jeremy Farrar, Director of the Wellcome Trust. He also had plenty to say about vaccine safety:
"It's absolutely critical that we assess these vaccines robustly. That it's done in an independent way without political interference. That the regulators are absolutely in control of assessing that data, and that the nature is transparent and shared with people... The first generation vaccines will not be perfect in my view, but an imperfect vaccine can have a major impact on reducing transmission and preventing severe disease. The second generation vaccines will inevitably be better."
COVID-19 Coronavirus UK and World News weekend update 5th/6th September 2020.
The UK added 2,988 cases today and now has reported a total of 347,152 positive cases of COVID-19. We completed 175,687 tests yesterday. 756 people were in hospital on Thursday 3rd, with 69 using a ventilator on Friday 4th.
In the 24 hours up until 5pm yesterday, we reported the loss of another 2 people who have tested positive to COVID-19 within 28 days. We now very sadly have a total of 41,551 officially reported losses of life in all settings.
Cases / confirmed losses within 28 days of a positive test:
England 299,647 (+2,576) / 36,894
Northern Ireland 7,727 (+106) / 564
Scotland 21,397 (+208)/ 2,496
Wales 18,381 (+98) / 1,597
Rep. Of Ireland 29,672 (+138) cases and 1,777 losses of life.
There have now been a total of 27,211,849 reported cases worldwide. The number of people who have lost their lives worldwide to COVID-19 is 885,900. Already 19,292,235 people have recovered.
"We can't open up at this time. If we were to we would lose control very quickly... I want a Christmas that is as close to normal as possible and this is the only way.... these steps are the only way that we will get to that point."
Daniel Andrews, State Premier of Victoria, Australia (includes the Melbourne area).
England are targeting testing in the North West, hence they don't have enough tests elsewhere, so fingers crossed the increase in numbers is just that they are stamping down hard and catching many more low or no symptom cases. Never forget that back in March we only tested people who ended up in hospital - we didn't add the majority of cases to the numbers. Yes, almost 3,000 is bad, but it's better than 80 new cases and 2,980 unknown cases wandering around infecting people.
Good news for areas of the North West - casinos, soft play, conference and events centres, close contact beauty treatments and ice skating can finally reopen on Tuesday. Sadly you still can't have friends or relatives over to visit unless they are coincidentally being paid to do a job. I'm honestly not sure the English Government understand just how mixed the messaging is that they put out. After a day commuting to Manchester for work in a building with 200 people, bikini wax and pub at lunch, gym and swim after work, bob into Tesco, quick fiver at the Casino - how likely is it that someone will take "don't see your Nan / brother / best mate, not even in their garden 6 metres away" very seriously.
I'd go sooner rather than later... the North West accounted for almost 1/4 of all cases today.
COVID-19 has filled my life for the past 7 months. I'm not even sure how much time normal people spend thinking about it, what experience most people have, because I'm so involved in grabbing new information and reporting it. It's my special interest, and I'd be fascinated anyway, so writing about it was a natural reaction.
In fact, I'm at relative peace with the whole COVID thing. So much so that a reader of my COVID posts, and also a friend, asked if she could send me a personalised bracelet (£1 from every sale goes to MIND) because she had the perfect word for me. She chose CALM. I suppose I am. Mostly*.
I've always been well aware we are just animals living on a bit of rock, and as powerful as we think we are, nature will always be bigger than all of us. I guess that helps, but it's the fact we are pre-disastered that probably really makes the difference.
