COVID-19 Coronavirus UK and World News Update 29th December 2020.
The UK added 53,135 new cases today and now has reported a total of 2,382,865 positive cases of COVID-19. We completed 357,238 tests yesterday.
People in hospital with COVID on the UK Government dashboard hasn't been updated since 22,286 on 22nd December.
PHE reported 20,426 yesterday in England alone, up from 15,053 a fortnight earlier.
In the 24 hours up until 5pm yesterday, we officially reported the loss of another 414 people who have tested positive to COVID-19 within 28 days. We now very sadly have a total of 71,567 officially reported losses of life in all settings.
Rep. Of Ireland 86,894 cases and 2,205 losses of life. (Not yet reported today.)
There have now been a total of 81,994,887 reported cases worldwide. The number of people who have lost their lives worldwide to COVID-19 is 1,787,952. Already 58,039,145 people have recovered.
Yes. Whatever words you exclaimed when you saw 53,000 new UK cases today, I agree. Totally. I wish I could offer some comfort, but the UK reported 41,000 new cases yesterday. Although there will be some Christmas 'catch up', it doesn't cover it. We knew this was coming. Straighten your skirt, look straight ahead, deep breath, and let's keep going. We can do this.
The UK now has more people hospitalised due to COVID than during the first peak in Spring 2020. The hospital situation in London is under pressure and getting an increasing amount of press this afternoon, as hospital staff speak out. They are shattered and demoralised, and they have already been asked to take on extra shifts to cover workload over Christmas and New Year.
An Oxford Paramedic has appeared on Sky News this afternoon stating that 'Ambulances are queuing outside of hospitals, patients are being cared for in the ambulances and there are patients out in the community that don't get an ambulance response because there's simply none left to send.'
There have been mention of triage tents being set up temporarily outside some hospitals.
Michael Gove confirmed yesterday that primary school children, children of key workers and secondary years 11 and 13 will go back to in-person school on the 4th January. All other children will have school-from-home for at least the first week. He is facing increasing opposition from people who do not want to reopen schools yet. .
Meanwhile Politico are reporting they've spoken to people close to the SAGE advisory group, and their advice is to keep schools closed and spend January in a harder lockdown than November.
So... we may be involved in another government experiment we didn't actually want to be part of.... what happens next will depend heavily on hospital admissions by next weekend.
RyanAir have caused a kerfuffle with their new advert. It premiered on Boxing Day and suggests with vaccines on the way you can "Jab And Go!".
It's a little reckless - we still don't know for sure that you won't have any infectious period if you catch COVID after a vaccination.
Zhang Zhan, a Chinese citizen journalist based in Wuhan, who reported critically during the early stages of the pandemic, has been sentenced to 4 years in prison for "picking quarrels and provoking trouble."
According to AFP news agency, she's the 8th whistleblower to have been punished so far. Tut tut China...
Office for National Statistics figures suggest that in the week before Christmas week (11th-18th December) 1 in every 85 people in England had COVID.
Rather sobering news from Southern California. Los Angeles County have released a Patient Information Sheet explaining that Intensive Care will be prioritised according to chance of survival. Spare ICU capacity is almost non-existent across much of the South East USA.
Maria Van Kerkhove at the World Health Organisation briefing yesterday said the latest UK data shows that: at 28 days after symptoms begin, the chance of severe illness or death from the new UK strain is the same as other common strains - it is NOT more deadly. The new SA strain is still being examined.
She stressed that mutations will occur, and the people who catch COVID, the more it will happen. What we really need is to reduce transmission and stop spread.
“We're all kind of fed up with this and we want this to be over. But this should push us even further, to have even more resolve to end this pandemic. We cannot lose this battle now."
India has discovered 6 cases of what they refer to as the "UK's Mutant Strain" among people returning to India from the UK. The patients have been isolated and all of their contacts have been quarantined.
Trump of the Sunday:
"The lockdowns in Democrat run states are absolutely ruining the lives of so many people - Far more than the damage that would be caused by the China Virus. Cases in California have risen despite the lockdown, yet Florida & others are open & doing well. Common sense please!"
Yes, California is doing really badly, hence they had a lockdown - there's a cause and effect thing going on. Florida is this moment only doing slightly better, and we're comparing it to one of the worst places on Earth, it's not the best measure. Florida's figures are actually horrific. A population of 22m people, they have already lost over 21,000 souls to COVID. and sadly cases are rising, so... erm....
'Common sense please' yourself, and quit the racism.
Florida Governor Piccolo of the Yesterday:
"I'm wondering since 99% (of) Covid patients survive shouldn't you have 99 photos of survivors for every one fatality? Otherwise you're just trying to create a narrative that is not reality."
No common sense there either then. He has since deleted his social media account. He is anti-mask and has previously said COVID is no worse than flu. 21,000 people Piccolo. Twenty One Thousand. People.
Spain is reportedly planning to create a register of people who refuse the COVID vaccine, which it will share with EU nations.
While I'm pro-vaccine and appreciate some countries, businesses and institutions may decide to make them mandatory if you wish to visit, compiling a list of those who refuse is a different thing entirely. It's not a great precedent.
Spain, like much of Europe is rolling out the now-approved Pfizer / BioNTech vaccine.
Hundreds of UK tourists who suddenly found themselves subject to a quarantine in Verbier, Switzerland, fled instead. Entitled prigs. Honestly. Flights from Switzerland to the UK had been cancelled, so they will mostly have travelled back via France.
Some of them have spoken to media and say the notification to quarantine came completely unexpectedly. Errr, yeah. And? If you go abroad when you know there's a pandemic - you get no guarantees.
Where COVID is concerned, people with money repeatedly seem to think they're above the law.
The world doesn't stop. My thoughts with everyone caught up in the Croatian earthquake earlier this afternoon.
Smiley pensioner Maggie "Christmas Jumper" Keenan had her second vaccine dose today, and with the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine she should be fully protected in another week - as will everyone else who was vaccinated on the first day. Excellent news..
It's really, really important that you get your second dose - being 'sort of' protected can help mutations to occur, because sometimes it means the virus exists in the body for a long time before you completely beat it.
If you need urgent care over the holiday period in the UK please call 111 for triage. If you, or someone with you are really struggling or you have a medical emergency, ring 999 as you usually would. The NHS in some areas is stretched, but it's still open for everyone, and the aim is to save lives.
A message from Nicola "Nippy" Sturgeon:
"COVID cases are rising. Level 4 restrictions are now in place across mainland Scotland to suppress the new strain. It is especially vital that we do not mix indoors with other households, including at Hogmanay. Please plan to bring in 2021 at home with your own household."
Seconded.
I intend to have a post on 31st. Hopefully some good news (we're hoping for the okay on the Oxford vaccine any day), a few quotes and some of my favourite photos from the year...
Some numbers. None of their loved ones ever refer to them by number:
Countries / Cases / Losses of life (in larger countries some states /provinces have yet to report today):
USA 19,809,295 (+27,577) 343,628 (+446)
India 10,242,306 (+17,509) 148,423 (+233)
Brazil 7,517,088 (+10,198) 191,735 (+94)
Russia 3,105,037 (+27,002) 55,827 (+562)
France 2,562,646 not yet reported today 63,109
UK 2,382,865 (+53,135) 71,567 (+414)
Turkey 2,178,580 (+15,805) 20,388 (+253)
Italy 2,067,487 (+11,212) 73,029 (+659)
Spain 1,894,072 not yet reported today 50,122
Germany 1,678,747 (+8,553) 31,677 (+501)
Mexico 1,389,430 (+5,996) 122,855 (+429)
Poland 1,268,634 (+7,914) 27,454 (+307)
Iran 1,212,481 (+6,108) 54,946 (+132)
Ukraine 1,037,362 (+6,988) 18,081 (+232)
Netherlands 777,902 (+7,502) 11,212 (+170)
Indonesia 727,122 (+7,903) 21,703 (+251)
Czechia 685,202 (+10,811) 11,302 (+61)
Belgium 639,734 (+857) 19,234 (+34)
Romania 623,066 (+4,637) 15,469 (+135)
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Sources:
https://www.worldometers.info/coronavirus/
https://coronavirus.data.gov.uk/
https://twitter.com/i/events/1343481424981053440
https://www.cbsnews.com/amp/news/florida-governor-spokesman-criticized-covid-19-tweet/
https://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/americas/florida-coronavirus-death-toll-today-b1779649.html
https://twitter.com/realDonaldTrump/status/1342908782934958081?s=19
https://www.independent.co.uk/news/health/england-hospitals-covid-patients-london-b1779676.html
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/amp/world-europe-55471282
https://twitter.com/NicolaSturgeon/status/1343872078429249536?s=19
"India registers six cases of new COVID-19 strain after travellers from UK test positive" https://twitter.com/i/events/1343847425283223552?s=09
https://www.msn.com/en-gb/lifestyle/travel/ryanair-jab-and-go-advert-sparks-controversy/ar-BB1cjviO?ocid=st
https://twitter.com/i/events/1343908473629761542
https://twitter.com/SkyNews/status/1343902285001322498
https://twitter.com/BBCHughPym/status/1343622920166375426?s=19
https://twitter.com/DrEricDing/status/1343331127789035524?s=19
https://twitter.com/kakape/status/1343606190044024836?s=19
https://www.politico.eu/article/coronavirus-uk-government-scientists-close-schools-january-boris-johnson/amp/
https://twitter.com/SkyNews/status/1343469005345083392?s=19
https://twitter.com/drbenwhite/status/1343641067015565312?s=19
https://www.itv.com/news/london/2020-12-29/london-hospitals-close-to-being-overwhelmed-as-coronavihttps://www.england.nhs.uk/statistics/statistical-work-areas/covid-19-hospital-activity/rus-cases-surge
https://www.england.nhs.uk/statistics/statistical-work-areas/covid-19-hospital-activity/
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