COVID-19 Coronavirus UK and World News Weekend Update 15th and 16th January 2022
UK Daily Statistics - Today's cases and vaccinations don't include figures from Scotland, which are delayed.
Cases: 15,217,280 (+70,924)
Losses of Life: 151,987 (+88)
Tests: 1,413,468
Vaccinations 1st Dose: 52,097,840 (90.6% of UK age 12+)
Vaccinations 2nd Dose: 47,905,885 (83.3%)
Boosted / 3rd Dose: 36,388,391 (63.3%)
Rep. Of Ireland: 1,103,489 (+10,753) cases and 6,035 losses of life.
World: 327,600,926 reported cases and 5,556,066 losses of life.
There have been yet more revelations about Westminster partying during English lockdowns, aside from a list of special events, there were also weekly "wine time Fridays". (It sounds like a great place to work...)
Any excuses or reasoning along the lines of "We all bent the rules a bit" can now be filed directly in the bin. They really, really took the pee.
Some Tory party people have resigned, some have held their heads in their hands, some have wondered why they never got invited to all the shindigs.
Yahoo News is reporting on just how many people in England and Wales have been fined for breaking lockdown rules.
"Since May 2020, police have issued a total of 118,9632 fixed penalty notices (FPNs) for breaches of lockdown rules in England and Wales."
(Most of those were before 19th July 2021, when domestic COVID restrictions were lifted in England.)
If you aren't already sobbing, Sky News presenter Trevor Phillips interviewed Tory party co-chairman Oliver Dowden this morning. Trevor talked about the day his daughter died in April 2020, after weeks of being ill under lockdown alone, while the Conservative employees were partying their time away.
"....she had stuck to the spirit and letter of the rules, and there are going to be thousands of people who have that story in their background, and, if I may say so, you are in here telling me about a civil servant’s inquiry that will not answer that anger. Does the Prime Minister really understand why people are angry?”
People really are incredibly angry. Some senior Tory party members have (according to The Independent) launched "Operation Save Big Dog" (yep, that's the real name) in an attempt to save Boris, potentially by tossing other Tory MP's and aides under the bus.
According to media today, we have Operation Red Meat - which is apparently an attempt to keep senior Tories on side. (They must have heard about Operation Save Big Dog).
Well, that's all going terribly well isn't it...
There is possibly going to be an inquiry into the UK Government's partying, and a top civil servant, Sue Gray, is looking into it. Sue's workmate Simon Case (also a top civil servant), is himself under investigation after one of the parties was held in his office. He claims he knew nothing... another one who can't tell the difference between a regular working day in the office, and a pish up in a Government department.
Tennis player Novak Djokovic has today left Australia after losing his appeal to stay.
“This cancellation decision was made on health, safety and good order grounds, on the basis that it was in the public interest to do so.
I welcome the decision to keep our borders strong and keep Australians safe.
As I said on Friday, Australians have made many sacrifices during this pandemic, and they rightly expect the result of those sacrifices to be protected.
Over the pandemic, together we have achieved one of the lowest death rates, strongest economies and highest vaccination rates, in the world.
Strong borders are fundamental to the Australian way of life, as is the rule of law."
Scott Morrison, Australian Prime Minister.
If you go to another country then whether you agree with them or not, you have to abide by their rules. Better to make that decision before you travel, rather than try and fudge it, or argue it out in a foreign court. If you want to be an international performer during COVID times, you are likely to have to accept vaccination as a part of that decision.
In a poll by an Australian newpaper, 71% of Australians who responded believed Novaxx Deportovic should be sent home, 15% were indifferent, and 14% felt he should be allowed to stay.
Researchers in Singapore are studying immune systems, to see what effect different combinations of vaccinations are likely to have overall. We know they boost protection against COVID, but what else do they do? According to The Straits Times:
"The Pribivac study will compare the effect on individuals given three doses of the same vaccine, including the booster, against those given two doses of the same vaccine and a different one for their booster shot."
Here's your regular reminder that we still don't know exactly how the Long COVID situation is going to pan out. Dr Deepti Gurdasani of the Queen Mary University of London had a big thread on Twitter yesterday looking at how complicated Long COVID is, and what recent research reveals. It is fascinating, and in precis, Long COVID & even 'mild' infection is associated with:
- long term immune dysregulation and inflammation
We don't know what long term effects there will be on the immune system, but we can see clear markers in everyone until around 8 months, and that in itself is quite ominous. The markers dropped at 8 months unless people were going to continue with Long COVID - and researchers could predict this with 80% accuracy.
- virus persistence
I covered a big study on this a couple of weeks ago - it concerned autopsies, and the researchers found COVID had invaded many different areas of the body - and it was still able to be found for up to 230 days in the study.
"*All* 44 people autopsied had virus RNA in at least one tissue- 98% in the lung; heart (80%); lymphoid tissue (86%), gut (73%), kidney/endocrine tissue (64%); reproductive (42.5%); muscle, skin, adipose, and peripheral nervous tissue (68.2%); eye (58%), brain (91%)"
- neuro-inflammation
Researchers can also find an immune response in the brain, and it can be sometimes associated with neuro-degeneration, for example impaired memory formation or dementias. We don't know if this may have a noticeable effect in the long term, potentially even in 30 or 40 years time.
The US CDC is warning that loosely woven cloth face coverings aren't as effective against COVID as you might hope, so people who are especially vulnerable may wish to use KN95/N95 rated masks (or equivalent) instead.
It seems a lot of people found personal relief once lockdown was over, and possibly some comfort in the arms of another. As a result, sexually transmitted diseases are currently at incredibly high levels across the UK.
It doesn't matter how old you are or who your partner is. Anyone who is sexually active can catch an STI, and some will need antibiotics before you'll get rid of them. If you notice unexplained soreness, irritation, pimples, lumps or bumps, consider a visit to your GP. And while we're on the subject - if you have any, check your boobs and balls - regularly.
Some numbers. All people on this rock we call home:
Countries / Cases / Losses of life yesterday in the full 24 hours until midnight GMT last night:
World 326,673,326 (+2,426,854) 5,553,522 (+5,778)
USA 66,664,283 (+404,141) 873,149 (+886)
France 13,894,255 (+324,580) 126,869 (+148)
India 37,122,164 (+271,202) 486,094 (+314)
Italy 8,549,450 (+180,426) 140,856 (+239)
Australia 1,640,386 (+103,836) 2,633 (+55)
Argentina 7,029,624 (+96,652) 117,989 (+88)
UK 15,146,356 (+81,458) 151,899 (+287)
Turkey 10,403,064 (+63,967) 84,622 (+177)
Germany 7,946,145 (+60,916) 116,242 (+144)
Israel 1,773,636 (+54,647) 8,304 (+6)
Peru 2,562,534 (+49,745) 203,376 (+74)
Brazil 22,975,723 (+48,520) 621,007 (+160)
Mexico 4,302,069 (+44,293) 301,107 (+195)
Philippines 3,168,242 (+38,867) 52,857 (+42)
Portugal 1,852,703 (+38,136) 19,270 (+33)
Colombia 5,511,479 (+35,575) 130,860 (+129)
Netherlands 3,532,768 (+31,853) 21,148 (+6)
Belgium 2,410,731 (+31,678) 28,612 (+23)
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Sources:
https://www.worldometers.info/coronavirus/
https://coronavirus.data.gov.uk/
https://ourworldindata.org/covid-vaccinations
https://www.gov.uk/coronavirus
https://www.mirror.co.uk/news/politics/boris-johnsons-wine-time-fridays-25951853
https://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/politics/boris-johnson-downing-street-partygate-b1993433.html
https://inews.co.uk/news/downing-street-party-tory-mp-andrew-bridgen-boris-johnson-resign-report-wine-time-fridays-1403470
https://www.skynews.com.au/australia-news/politics/novak-djokovics-appeal-of-his-cancelled-visa-to-be-heard-in-front-of-full-bench-at-federal-court/news-story/bdec88cd39d8088d4129a14a672dd276
"Novak Djokovic deported from Australia after Federal Court upholds decision to cancel visa" https://twitter.com/i/events/1478514840897347584?t=gmx4rNoWMmVtIJBcHIBAJg&s=09
https://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/politics/boris-johnson-downing-street-partygate-b1993433.html?s=09
https://twitter.com/PippaCrerar/status/1482485994301579270?t=iylHhwWqATLyOXkohCieWg&s=19
https://twitter.com/dgurdasani1/status/1482410862300348426?t=S31exywyH17YMFhPfYbDEA&s=19
https://twitter.com/UKHSA/status/1481990203791265796?t=SZecHw2qGj9tuRkiqjYJeg&s=19
https://www.straitstimes.com/singapore/health/singapore-researchers-studying-effects-of-mixing-covid-19-vaccines-on-immune-system
https://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/politics/christmas-party-no10-simon-case-b1980103.html
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