The Brick Castle: COVID-19 Coronavirus UK and World News Update 10th June 2022

COVID-19 Coronavirus UK and World News Update 10th June 2022

Latest UK Govt. COVID Dashboard Statistics:
Cases in the 7 days to 19th May: 57,625 (average 8,232 per day)
Admitted to hospital with COVID in the 7 days to 3rd June: 3,624
In hospital Monday 6th June: 5,237
Total losses of life within 28 days of a positive test to 20th May: 177,977
Total losses of life with COVID listed as a cause to 27th May: 196,418
Tests in the 7 days to 19th May: 1,546,244 (average 220,892 per day)

Rep. Of Ireland: 1,570,519 cases and 7,383 losses of life.

World: 539,390,879 reported cases and 6,328,761 losses of life.

WHO Do it all collage of images showing masks, wash hands, space, ventilate etc.

""Hospital admissions with COVID are rising again across England, up 10% week-on-week."
Welcome to the next wave."
Professor Kit Yates, Mathematical Biologist and IndieSAGE member, quoting yesterday's COVID Actuaries Response Group (CARG) weekly report. The UK Government might be releasing figures in the least understandable way ever, but that doesn't mean we can't see through it.
Admissions rose last week in all English regions except London, with the fastest increase in the South East, which is up 28%. Nationally bed occupancy is up by 8%.
Hospital deaths with COVID are still falling, down 9%, but as we are well aware, any increase in hospital admissions will inevitably be followed by a rise in the number of people succumbing.

Adele Groyer of the CARG is keeping an eye on UK hospitalisations with COVID - as we don't routinely test anyone nowadays, except when they are in hospital, it's one of our best measures of what is going on.
"Likely hospital acquired cases accounted for 19% of Covid admissions and grew at 29% over the past week vs 8% growth for other admissions."
Clearly there IS an increase, and it's running through wards. This works like a canary in the coalmine for us, giving us an early warning. Levels are currently still low, and Summer is coming, so we have the season on our side. Fingers crossed.

"Today, the Government has introduced new legislation to allow nurses, occupational therapists, pharmacists and physiotherapists in Britain to certify and issue fit notes.
The legislation comes into effect on 1 Jul 2022, and will:
- help ease the pressure on doctors
- simplify the process of reporting sickness absences
- enable patients to see the most relevant healthcare professional
- empower better workplace conversations about health"
Dept. of Work and Pensions

100622 COVID hospital admissions chart by English region COVID Actuaries Response Group

Thank you to COVID Actuaries

A&E waits are horrific, especially in some areas of the UK, with Princess Alexandra Hospital in Harlow, Essex, on Wednesday warning attendees they'd have a 13 hour wait to see a doctor. Royal Bolton hospital yesterday asked people to stay away unless absolutely necessary, as they had 4 times as many people waiting in A&E than the space is designed for. Worcester Royal Hospital yesterday had A&E waiting times of 9 hours.
Shall we move on to ambulance wait times, or was that depressing enough?

The UK Gov Weekly COVID Report says the North East has the highest amount of hospital admissions this week, and hospital admissions are still highest among those aged 85 and older.

ONS Random Sampling for the week ending 2 June 2022 is gloriously low compared to earlier this year when it was all in the millions, but with signs it may be about to turn:
"There were early signs of a possible increase in the percentage of people testing positive for coronavirus (COVID-19) in England and Northern Ireland likely caused by increases in infections compatible with Omicron variants BA.1, BA.4 and BA.5; the trends were uncertain in Wales and Scotland."
England, estimate 797,500, equating to 1.46% of the population or around 1 in 70 people.
Wales, estimate 40,500, equating to 1.33% of the population or around 1 in 75 people.
Northern Ireland, estimate 27,700, equating to 1.51% of the population or around 1 in 65 people.
Scotland, estimate 124,100, equating to 2.36% of the population or around 1 in 40 people.

The ONS have published their summary of death registrations in England and Wales in 2021.
There were 586,334 deaths registered
This is 3.6% fewer deaths than in 2020, but still 10.2% more deaths than the five-year average (2015 to 2019).
COVID-19 remained the leading cause of death overall at 11.5% of all deaths during 2021 (67,350 people), a decrease in comparison to 2020 (12.1% / 73,766 deaths).
"The English region with the largest percentage of deaths above the five-year average was London (14.8% higher); the region with the smallest was Yorkshire and The Humber (7.5% higher)."
Although COVID was the leading cause of deaths overall, for men the leading cause was ischaemic heart diseases (37,095 deaths, 12.4% of all male deaths) and for females, dementia and Alzheimer’s disease remained the leading cause of death (40,250 deaths, 14.0% of all female deaths).

Strange Hepatitis In Kids Update:
The total number of confirmed cases in the UK is 240, as of 7 June.
(England 170, Scotland 32, Wales 17 and Northern Ireland 21.)
"The cases are predominantly in children under 5 years old who showed initial symptoms of gastroenteritis illness (diarrhoea and nausea) followed by the onset of jaundice. A small number of children over the age of 10 are also being investigated. No children have died.
The investigation continues to suggest a strong association with adenovirus. Adenovirus is the most frequently detected virus in samples tested and a formal epidemiological study is underway. Preliminary findings will be published on 16 June."
Bizarrely the image for the quote about this from the UK HSA Incident Director has Coronavirus across the bottom - accident? Unintentional revelation?
Worldwide WHO say they have been informed of over 700 cases across 34 countries.

100622 Strange hepatitis in kids comment by incident director UK HSA

United Airlines are obviously bored of COVID and want to pretend it doesn't exist. If you test positive and want a refund on your ticket, you need to present a doctor's note. To an American this can represent a substantial sum of money, time and paperwork - and don't forget they have COVID, they're infectious (and possibly ill). Those of them who aren't ill... how many are going to decide it's easier to just go on the flight?
I'm sure that'll turn out splendidly...

Talking of airlines in the USA, around about now we're expecting an announcement that the CDC is lifting its requirement that international air travellers test negative before they enter the USA. This is expected to begin on Sunday and be reviewed after 90 days.

"Over 1,000 monkeypox cases have been reported from 29 countries where the disease is not endemic, with no deaths reported so far in these countries.
WHO urges affected countries to identify all cases and contacts to control the outbreak and prevent onward spread."
The World Health Organisation

Monkeypox Update:
"The UK Health Security Agency (UKHSA) has detected 43 additional cases of monkeypox in England, one additional case in Scotland and one additional case in Wales. This brings the total number confirmed in the UK to 366 as of 9 June.
There are currently 348 confirmed cases in England, 12 in Scotland, 2 in Northern Ireland and 4 in Wales."
Worldwide the BNO tracker currently says there are 1,536 confirmed cases, plus 46 suspected.

The UK Government have £4b (four billion pounds Sterling) of substandard PPE, which was bought in the frantic stramash at the beginning of the pandemic. Apparently they're going to pay to burn it at a rate of 15,000 pallets a month until its all gone away. Paying twice for something we can't use, awesome. They are at least intending to harvest some of the Methane fumes from the fire for fuel, but tsk... No thoughts on sending it back as 'not fit for purpose'? No? No alternative uses? Crikey, even if schoolkids used it for dressing up or painting, at least it wouldn't just be single use plastic that didn't even get a single use.

The World Health Organisation have said that the investigation into the origins of COVID was hampered by missing data, especially from China. Another tsk... Disappointing.
The Scientific Advisory Group for the Origins of Novel Pathogens (SAGO) were reporting on how effective the 'Investigation into the origins of COVID' was, so that we can learn and do it better next time. They said it was impossible to discover where COVID started exactly because there just isn't the information anywhere about the very beginnings of the outbreak, and infections and illnesses in December 2019. They'll be making recommendations, which I guess are likely to include better monitoring of why people worldwide are ending up in hospital.
SAGO did however include in their report a study which was released in May, which showed of 43,850 samples taken from 32,484 blood donors in Wuhan, China, between Sept to Dec 31st 2019, zero showed any signs of SARS-CoV-2 - the virus which causes COVID. Proof that COVID was NOT circulating through the Wuhan community widely in Autumn 2019, which should shut up a few sceptics.

Message for people who cannot be vaccinated for medical reasons, or those who will always be especially vulnerable to COVID - you still matter. You still deserve our protection, I'm sorry for whenever you don't get it.

North Korea (DPRK) doesn't appear to be reporting accurately the number of people who have succumbed to COVID, or else they are all incredibly young and fit, lucky, or made of magic. Sadly it may be the first option. If they aren't all vaccinated (and we don't think they are) then mortality is likely to be between 1% and 4%. We know there's a 2-3 week lag between first symptoms and dying from COVID. It is now a month since they reported they had an outbreak, and by 2 weeks ago (26th May) they had reported 3,170,380 cases. New daily reported cases are going down, but with a heavy heart I think we can say the capital Pyongyang is not in a happy place right now.

UK Government advisors have suggested the smoking age should increase each year, to prevent any new young people taking the habit up, and reach the target of less than 5% of the population smoking by 2030. This is a policy already adopted by New Zealand, and it is plausible they'll go for it - although it would likely lead to more unregulated (and untaxed) tobacco on the black market.

Whatever your opinion on Boris Johnson, Ukraine loves him for all the weapons and aid he's sent. They've given him an honorary Cossack name, Borys Chupryna (translates as Boris Forelock, which seems ideal). Artists Darya Dobryakova and Yuriy Kutylov have done him a painting, and they're sending it to him in London. One for over the fireplace there Bozza. Photos below.

Painting showing a cross legged Boris Johnson playing a ukelele - yes, it's that good. Boris

ALL 12 cancer patients in the 6 month trial for Dostarlimab - an anti–PD-1 monoclonal antibody treatment for colorectal cancer - have seen their cancer completely disappear. This is a first 100% success in a cancer treatment trial, and you really can't get better news. The trial will now obviously be expanded... and it's hard to see that ethically anyone could be given a placebo. Fingers crossed going forward, because by crikey this is promising.
"All 12 patients had a clinical complete response, with no evidence of tumor on magnetic resonance imaging, 18F-fluorodeoxyglucose–positron-emission tomography, endoscopic evaluation, digital rectal examination, or biopsy. At the time of this report, no patients had received chemoradiotherapy or undergone surgery, and no cases of progression or recurrence had been reported during follow-up (range, 6 to 25 months)."

In case you missed it during the pandemic, UFOs are very real. After all of the official military footage releases in the last couple of years, NASA are launching a study group to try and find out what they are, why they turn up whenever anything exciting is happening, and why they keep following US warships around. Is it aliens keeping an eye on our technology? Travellers turning up for a fireworks display? Or something more mundane originating from Earth? They probably won't find out, but if you want to be taken seriously, UFOs are now called Unidentified Aerial Phenomena - UAP.
The truth is out there...

"Thank you to everyone who got involved with Carers Week to recognise and thank unpaid carers for everything they do to support family and friends. We must do all we can to make sure they are visible, valued and supported."
Gillian Keegan, Minister for Care and Mental Health.
Thank you all from me too - you lot keep the world turning. It all looks ripple-free on the surface, but underneath you're holding everything above the water, and you're Ninja. We never see or hear enough of you.

It is the weekend - hurrah! The sun is out and finally it's getting warmer. If my family had had to abide by our original 8 week non-fault eviction we'd already be homeless, so thank goodness for some common sense and compassion from our landlord (who only wants to sell up anyway, and doesn't actually need the cash). Another bonfire for us this weekend, and a nice walk with an ice cream shop at the end. Do not forget your own treat. You earned it.

I'll be back with the next report on Tuesday. Play Outdoors, Don't Lick Strangers, Save The NHS.

Some people. They look like numbers here, but they are all people.

Countries / Cases / Losses of life YESTERDAY in the full 24 hours until midnight GMT:

World 539,090,424 (+565,179) 6,328,091 (+1,461)

USA 87,114,740 (+80,993) 1,035,320 (+195)

Germany 26,727,874 (+75,494) 140,009 (+61)

Taiwan 2,693,733 (+72,913) 3,584 (+211)

DPRK 4,304,380 (+50,870) 71

Brazil 31,360,850 (+45,073) 667,849 (+148)

France 29,753,370 (+40,151) 148,710 (+42)

Australia 7,541,617 (+32,772) 8,919 (+58)

Italy 17,590,053 (+23,500) 167,253 (+84)

Japan 8,990,929 (+18,275) 30,818 (+21)

Chile 3,783,945 (+12,436) 58,036 (+31)

S. Korea 18,200,346 (+12,146) 24,323 (+18)

UK 22,373,146 (+10,079) 179,165 (+82)

India 43,207,265 (+9,743) 524,747 (+24)

Finland 1,114,573 (+9,362) 4,714 (+87)

New Zealand 1,221,724 (+8,178) 1,240 (+24)

Mexico 5,802,672 (+5,245) 325,055 (+13)

Austria 4,280,049 (+5,144) 18,687 (+5)

Sources:

https://www.worldometers.info/coronavirus/

https://coronavirus.data.gov.uk/

https://ourworldindata.org/covid-vaccinations

https://www.gov.uk/coronavirus

https://twitter.com/dwppressoffice/status/1535263407200473095

COVID Actuaries Response Group:

https://twitter.com/john_actuary/status/1534564429349658627?t=JALOeanHaTkvnCfuv1Shfg&s=19

https://twitter.com/Kit_Yates_Maths/status/1534812599002583040?t=6JAgdg37fisS7K4HlqH0eA&s=19

https://twitter.com/AdeleGroyer/status/1534817326637502464?t=BNuCzbe_dAlc2ZGgE_mJmQ&s=19

A&E Waiting times

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-essex-61730717

https://www.theboltonnews.co.uk/news/20193037.royal-bolton-e-facing-immense-pressure/

https://twitter.com/clooky/status/1535157319075504128/photo/1

UK Surveillance Report

https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/national-flu-and-covid-19-surveillance-reports-2021-to-2022-season

https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/1081504/Weekly_Flu_and_COVID-19_report_w23_v2.pdf

Yearly Mortality England & Wales:

https://www.ons.gov.uk/peoplepopulationandcommunity/birthsdeathsandmarriages/deaths/articles/deathregistrationsummarystatisticsenglandandwales/2021

https://twitter.com/ONS/status/1534818926047244289

https://twitter.com/ActuaryByDay/status/1534826342256107525?t=yATYDd5Fl6oK4toBeY4jNA&s=19

https://www.ons.gov.uk/peoplepopulationandcommunity/healthandsocialcare/conditionsanddiseases/bulletins/coronaviruscovid19infectionsurveypilot/10june2022

Strange Hepatitis In Kids Update:

https://twitter.com/UKHSA/status/1534922608940040197?t=r5xqKy7H1DPdQQa6zFIG3w&s=19

https://www.gov.uk/government/news/increase-in-hepatitis-liver-inflammation-cases-in-children-under-investigation

https://www.who.int/news/item/07-06-2022-world-hepatitis-summit-2022-urges-action-to-eliminate-viral-hepatitis-as-unexplained-hepatitis-cases-in-children-rise-globally

https://twitter.com/aurabogado/status/1533841747586871297?t=EJuocJyjBDolDWK6EpePRw&s=19

https://www.theguardian.com/society/2022/jun/10/4bn-of-nhs-covid-ppe-to-be-burned-as-it-is-unusable-says-committee-report

Origins of COVID

https://twitter.com/WilliamYang120/status/1535182051057446912?t=RUScb2Q_TddZPFIrvTYolQ&s=19

https://www.yahoo.com/now/pandemics-origins-obscured-lack-chinese-140330132.html

https://twitter.com/MichaelWorobey/status/1535003094072717312

Images

https://twitter.com/WHO/status/1535170526846631938?t=57BGg0kgqwN1neTkkykTHQ&s=19

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/health-61718468

Boris Chupryna by Darya Dobryakova and Yuriy Kutylov

https://twitter.com/KyivPost/status/1534800128686673925?t=nY5MTjeK2il8_OIWazH-ig&s=19

https://www.nejm.org/doi/pdf/10.1056/NEJMoa2201445