COVID-19 Coronavirus and other virus UK and World News Update 27th January 2023

COVID-19 Coronavirus and other virus UK and World News Update 27th January 2023

World COVID Statistics: 674,417,904 reported cases and 6,755,786 losses of life.

"Sajid Javid has called for patients to pay for GP and A&E visits.

This is what the Conservatives have in store for us all. 

We strongly oppose anything that might prevent or dissuade someone from seeking the care they need. 

NHS Million."

There are some changes to the UK vaccination programme, on advice from the JCVI (Joint Committee on Vaccination and Immunisation). In England it's all change after 12th February. This will be a deadline for Autumn boosters, and boosters for all 16-49 year olds, and basically then they'll move on, so please book yours before then if you haven't had it already.

Up until 15th January 2023, the Autumn booster uptake was 64.5% of those aged 50 and over, and 82.4% of those aged 75 and over. Vaccinations have now dropped to very low levels, so we can assume most of those who want it have already come forward. 

The JCVI have recommended that all older and less robust people should get a COVID booster in Autumn this year, and people who are especially vulnerable to COVID should get an extra Spring booster as well.

(Dropping boosters for anyone under 50 and not in an at-risk group is understandable financially, as it currently makes only a tiny percentage difference to the numbers hospitalised or dying, but each one is a person, and relying on immunity via catching COVID has a cost to our long term physical health. I honestly don't think they are taking it as seriously as they will in future.)

COVID-19 Coronavirus and other virus UK and World News Weekly Update 20th January 2023

COVID-19 Coronavirus and other virus UK and World News Weekly Update 20th January 2023

World COVID Statistics: 672,686,930 reported cases and 6,740,521losses of life.

"I just think we're really, really, really silly if we think that our health systems are just going to come back online and just start functioning at 100% again.... because our systems have lost elasticity, they've lost resilience, not gained it. And our health workers have been through one of the worst, probably, health experiences of the last 100 years or more. 

We owe them a huge debt of gratitude for what they've done for us over the last 3 years. And I don't think we're repaying that debt with the working conditions, with the protection, with the training or with the pay that they need to be able to take care of themselves and their families."

Dr Mike Ryan of WHO. Seconded. Always. 

"China's COVID prevention and control is still in a time of stress, but the light is ahead, persistence is victory. I am most worried about the rural areas and farmers. Medical facilities are relatively weak in rural areas, thus prevention is difficult and the task is arduous."

Chinese leader Xi Jinping with a warning and clear indication he's worried, in a Lunar New Year speech. 

January 2023 #TBCSmiles... 101 Months

Happy New Year! I hope your Christmas was a good one and you had a decent break. If you had to work then thank you, I hope you get to have a proper break at another time. Keep your work/life balance evenly topped up. I promised my family I wouldn't work weekends since I've been spending half my time in Derby, so I'm a day late today with the #TBCSmiles, but it's worked out perfectly really, because today is 'Blue Monday'. 

Blue Monday didn't really exist as a thing when New Order wrote their song. That was named after Kurt Vonnegut's 1973 book 'Breakfast Of Champions or Goodbye Blue Monday' - a very unusual encyclopaedic story book about our world and the things in it. Likewise Blue Monday didn't exactly become a thing because of New Order's record-breaking record. Blue Monday is an invention of even more recent times - and unsurprisingly it was advertising which brought it to our attention (a fact I'm sure Kurt Vonnegut would enjoy). 

COVID-19 Coronavirus and other virus UK and World News Update 13th January 2023

COVID-19 Coronavirus and other virus UK and World News Update 13th January 2023

World COVID Statistics: 670,571,061 reported cases and 6,725,056 losses of life.

"3 years ago, the first SARS-CoV-2 sequence was shared. Today, sequencing remains vital. We urge all countries to keep testing & sharing sequences. We understand efforts won’t be as intense as before but we can’t beat this virus with our eyes closed."

DrTedros, Head of WHO.

3 years on and I thought I'd have finished doing this about 2 and a half years ago. Despite this, there is a huge amount of news today because a lot of 'end of year' stats have been released, so off we go... 

COVID-19 Coronavirus and other virus UK and World News Update 6th January 2023

COVID-19 Coronavirus and other virus UK and World News Update 6th January 2023

World COVID Statistics: 667,528,972 reported cases and 6,707,791 losses of life.

"Please don’t let the government gaslight you into thinking it’s ‘normal’ for patients to be dying in their droves at home, in ambulances, in corridors, in cupboards. Excess deaths are 26% higher than usual. This isn’t normal, it’s grotesque.

A humanitarian crisis, yet Sunak does nothing."

Dr Rachel Clarke, responding to yesterday's lack of acknowledgement from the Government as to the state of the NHS.