The Brick Castle: COVID-19 Coronavirus UK and World News Weekend Update 24th / 25th July 2021

COVID-19 Coronavirus UK and World News Weekend Update 24th / 25th July 2021

The UK added 29,173 cases today and now has reported a total of 5,697,912 positive cases of COVID-19. We completed 1,013,261 tests yesterday.

The counter says 46,563,452 people (88% of UK adults) had been given at least one dose of a vaccine in the UK by midnight last night. 37,160,659 people (70.3%) had received 2 doses.

In the 24 hours up until 5pm yesterday, we officially reported the loss of another 28 people who have tested positive to COVID-19 within 28 days, making a total of 129,158 losses of life in all settings.

Rep. Of Ireland 292,996 (+1,126) cases and 5,026 losses of life.

There have now been a total of 194,665,050 reported cases worldwide. The number of people who have lost their lives worldwide to COVID-19 is 4,172,525. Already 176,655,351 people have recovered.

"70 million doses of the #NHSCOVIDVaccine have been given across England — including over 30 million people now fully vaccinated after receiving two doses!
Thanks to #OurNHSPeople, volunteers and everyone involved."
NHS England

Compassionless Politician of the Week:
"Symptoms were mild, thanks to amazing vaccines. Please – if you haven't yet – get your jab, as we learn to live with, rather than cower from, this virus."
Sajid Javid, UK Health Secretary.

"I've deleted a tweet which used the word "cower". I was expressing gratitude that the vaccines help us fight back as a society, but it was a poor choice of word and I sincerely apologise.
Like many, I have lost loved ones to this awful virus and would never minimise its impact."
Sajid Javid, UK Health Secretary, and man who recently discovered you can't 'undo' a tweet by deleting it, especially once it's been seen by thousands of bereaved and/or unvaccinatable (not a word) clinically extremely vulnerable people.

An important notice for unvaccinated people in NORTHERN IRELAND:
"Regional vaccination centres will stop giving first dose #COVID19 jabs on 31 July 2021
Getting your jab will never be easier or more accessible than it is right now.
For more details on walk-in jabs or to make an appointment, visit nidirect dot gov."

All Care Home workers need to be fully vaccinated before 11th November

Unscrupulous people in the UK are paying around £250 for a forged paper COVID Pass, and £850 for a forged digital pass.
I honestly despair. These things aren't put there to get in the way of your fun, this behaviour is just going to make this whole thing last longer and annoy whoever catches you (at home or abroad)... Plus, having money doesn't mean you can just break the rules. Right...

All of the clever maths people have estimated hospital admissions in the UK going forward, and the UK Government have used those estimates to decide what to do. They believe they can outpace the virus with the vaccinations, and keep hospital admissions below the levels which the NHS can manage.
So far, we are in the middle of the estimates. The highest is from London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine (our infectious diseases specialists) who believe we could have around 6,000 DAILY admissions to hospital at the beginning of September. A lower estimate was from Warwick University, who believed we'd peak at 500 admissions a day in August.
I'll include daily hospital admissions at the top of the page sometimes in future, but we are well above Warwick's estimate. In the 24 hours up until midnight Tuesday 20th July, the UK admitted 917 people. Figures haven't been updated on the Govt. dashboard since then.

We've got so much COVID in England right now, that for ANY age adult, the JCVI calculate that risk of a serious side effect from the AstraZeneca jab is smaller than any individual's combined risk of catching COVID and then being admitted to intensive care.
When levels were lower, it was calculated that only people aged over 40 had a substantially increased benefit from the AstraZeneca jab over risk of intensive care.
(Hopefully that makes sense. If not, consider that risk of catching COVID in New Zealand is so tiny right now, that any vaccination side effects aren't currently worth it for most of the people there - except to future-proof.)

Famous Characters With COVID:
Piers Morgan, UK journalist (now mainly recovered)
Ramil the Snow Leopard, San Diego Zoo
Bryson DeChambeau, USA Olympic Golf Team
Jon Rahm, Spanish Olympic Golf Team

WHO how to shop safely and lower your risk

It's little to do with COVID, but there's a sporting event occurring in Tokyo at the moment, and there are incredibly strict rules about what media, especially advertising media, can and can't say. You'll notice it now I've said. There are a lot of adverts vaguely referring to supporting Team GB, or "our national athletes", possibly mentioning Japan or Tokyo, but most don't say when or why.

The first ever Olympiad was believed to have occurred in 776 BC, and there are records showing they continued every 4 years for over 1,100 years, before a little 1,500 year break.
April 6th to 15th 1896 saw the Games of the I Olympiad in Athens, Greece. This was the first international Olympic Games held in modern history, and the first games organised by the International Olympic Committee (IOC).

The BBC have a fantastic 5 minute video following a vaccination team in India - they do not all get to sit at a desk in a comfy office. Some of the healthcare workers drive and then walk for miles to deliver vaccinations to remote areas.

In the UK cases are down, quite substantially down, on last week, but a lot has changed in 7 days. I'd love to believe we have suddenly turned a corner and cases are really going down, but I don't think that's entirely true at all. I don't think anything is really happening that is worse than we expected either, but we aren't seeing true figures.
Both the Zoe app. Symptom Study and the ONS random Infection Survey aren't so sure these figures are really correct either.
For the last 4 or 5 months cases have massively affected schoolchildren, a huge amount of whom were being tested at school, or at the request of school. Remove all of that testing, and you are going to see a drop in reported cases.
There is also a much more 'human' reason why reported cases are down. We've all had a hell of an 18 months, it's been a trial and a half, and we all need a break. We want to see loved ones, relatives and friends. We want to go to the beach, to the countryside, to escape. We NEED a break, and the Summer holidays have started.
I honestly wouldn't like to guess exactly how many people out there are leaving the cat in the bag, not doing a random test in case it gives the result they don't want, ignoring very mild symptoms, crossing their fingers. Given the right circumstances, that would be all of us.
Obviously, I would be delighted to be completely wrong...

Please be sensible. Minimise contacts, open a window, wash your hands, play outdoors when you can.

There is some horrific flooding in London right now. Best of luck and a dry bed to anyone affected - and all hopes the rains stop soon. Don't travel if you don't need to, and don't take chances - it's rarely worth it.

Some numbers. Each number is a unique person:

Countries / Cases / Losses of life (since midnight GMT. In larger countries some states /provinces have yet to report today):

USA 35,185,052 (+381) 626,717 (+4)

India 31,396,300 (+24,814) 420,758 (+173)

Brazil 19,670,534 not yet reported today 549,500

Russia 6,126,541 (+24,072) 153,874 (+779)

France 5,978,695 not yet reported today 111,616

UK 5,697,912 (+29,173) 129,158 (+28)

Turkey 5,587,378 (50,879) 5,415,937

Italy 4,317,415 (+4,743) 127,949 (+7)

Germany 3,762,194 (+344) 92,037 (+1)

Iran 3,691,432 (+27,146) 88,800 (+268)

Indonesia 3,166,505 (+38,679) 83,279 (+1,266)

Poland 2,882,146 (+82) 75,242 (+1)

Mexico 2,741,983 (+15,823) 238,316 (+362)