This March sees the launch of a brand new range of Dragon Ball toys and Bandai have sent my boys some to have a play with. Suitable for age 4+ (blind bags 6+), the range includes blind bag miniatures, highly posable figures and super-sized Limit Breaker figures.

We've been sent Piccolo (Cape Version) and Krillin Dragon Stars figures, Super Saiyan Goku Limit Breaker and 2 x blind bag Super Collectibles.

COVID-19 Coronavirus UK and World News update 22/23 March

A good statistical milestone today, as over 100,000 people have now recovered from COVID-19 worldwide. 101,554 in fact. Sadly though the total number of cases worldwide is 374,768. The number of people who have lost their lives worldwide to COVID-19 is now 16,355,

The UK has reported a total of 6,650 positive cases of COVID-19. We had in total tested 83,945 people as of 9am this morning. The UK now have a total of 335 losses of life.

Total cases are: England 5585, Scotland 499, Wales 418 and Northern Ireland 148. Already 135 of the UK's positive testing cases have recovered.

Rep. Of Ireland have 1125 cases and 6 losses of life.

"Life shouldn't feel normal right now, so if your life still feels entirely normal, ask yourself if you are doing the right things" Nicola Sturgeon.


UK NEWS:

Today Boris held an emergency COBRA meeting and the press statement time was moved back twice, making everyone realise what was likely to be announced. We are on lockdown.

It's vital to reduce the spread of the disease. We've been asking people to stay at home, huge numbers are complying, but we need to do more.

You must stay at home except:
Infrequent shopping for basic necessities - food, medicine.
1 form of exercise a day
Any medical need
To provide care /help vulnerable
Travelling to work if it cannot be done from home.

No gatherings of more than 2 people who are not living together already as a group.

The police do have the powers to enforce compliance or disperse groups. Close all shops selling non-essential goods. Closing libraries, gyms, places of worship. All social events including weddings and baptisms cancelled. Parks are open for exercise, gatherings will be dispersed.
We will look at this again in THREE weeks.

At Sunday's press conference Boris stressed the importance of being 2m away from other people, especially anyone who isn't a member of your household. Everyone should follow this rule. Parks are not for playing together or congregating. Fresh air is great, inhaling someone else's COVID-19 infection, not great.
Everyone who is especially vulnerable now needs to isolate themselves from the rest of the community as best as possible. You'll receive a letter within days if this is you, and should isolate for 12 weeks from when you receive your letter. It includes distancing from the rest of your household as much as possible. Eat and sleep separately, all wash hands often. There is additional advice on the gov dot uk website. The army will be offering support to enable people to do this where they don't have family or friends who can support them.

People going for a last drink on Friday, the daytrippers on Saturday and some of you who went to see relatives today, alongside being behind with testing, will add up to the hundreds of thousands of cases as yet undiscovered. We know they exist, it's better to find out who they are. Most will start to show symptoms this week and infect their household, who will mostly be Ill next week and the one after. We are at the point our hospitals will within days become overwhelmed.

COVID-19 coronavirus UK and World News update 20/21 March

The UK now has reported a total of 5,018 positive cases of COVID-19 and 233 losses of life. We had tested 72,818 people as of 1pm today.

Total cases are: England 3,257, Scotland 373, Wales 280 and Northern Ireland 108.
93 of the UK's positive testing cases have recovered.

Rep. Of Ireland have 785 cases and 3 losses of life.

The world has reported 305,268 cases and 12,988 losses of life.
94,677 people have been reported to have already recovered. 186 countries or territories have reported cases.


UK NEWS:

Friday's press conference with Boris was not that much of a surprise. You're all going out too much! SOCIAL DISTANCING guys. Now you have less chance of sharing. All pubs, clubs, theatres, cinemas, gyms, bars, restaurants, leisure centres and basically any leisure facility has to close tonight. The situation will be reassessed monthly.

COVID-19 coronavirus UK and World News update 18/19 March

Wednesday lunchtime the global total cases passed 200,000. Just over 81,000 in mainland China. Over 35,000 in Italy.

The UK now has reported a total of 3,269 positive cases of COVID-19. We had tested 61,352 people as of 9am this morning.

The UK has a total of 144 losses of life.

Total cases are: England 2,756, Scotland 266, Wales 170 and Northern Ireland 77..
65 of the UK's positive testing cases have recovered.

Rep. Of Ireland have 557 cases and 3 losses of life.

The world has reported 244,615 cases and 10,014 losses of life.
87,407 people have been reported to have already recovered.

In Norway the Prime Minister Erna Solberg held a press conference especially for children, answering their questions. She told them: 'It's normal to be scared, but everything will be okay.'


UK NEWS:

Wednesday's press conference with Boris gave us the announcement on England's schools - finally :
They admitted the spike in cases is increasing more quickly than anticipated, and more measures are now necessary. Schools will close at 3.30pm this Friday until further notice. They will remain open to the children of key workers (police, medical staff, delivery drivers and other essential tasks) and they'll be open to vulnerable children, including those who have a social worker, or ECHP. Meals or vouchers will be available to all children who qualify for free school meals.

COVID-19 coronavirus UK and World News Update 16 /17th March 2020

The UK added 407 cases today and now has reported a total of 1,950 positive cases of COVID-19. We had tested 50,442 people as of 9am this morning.

The UK has a total of 71 losses of life.
Total cases are: England 1,557, Scotland 195, Wales 136 and Northern Ireland 62.

65 of the UK's positive testing cases have recovered.

Rep. Of Ireland have 223 cases and 2 losses of life.

The world has reported 197,135 cases and 7,949 losses of life. 81,683 people have been reported to have already recovered.


UK NEWS:

There is a hoax that you can obtain baby milk free of charge if you ring 111 or the number on the inside of the tin. You can't.
If you bought loads to stockpile, please think of others. There are shortages in some parts of the country and we don't want babies being fed substitutes. If you have plenty, see if anyone in your local buy and sell groups needs some, and please don't charge them a premium, we are all in this together.

The NHS will contact you from Monday 23 March 2020 if you are at particularly high risk of getting seriously ill with coronavirus. You'll be given specific advice about what to do.

The Dropkick Murphy's are streaming their St Patrick's Day concert live at 11pm tonight - you should just be in time to catch it.

The Grand National is cancelled. Also Manchester Marathon, also Summer 2020.

COVID-19 coronavirus UK and World News update 15/03

The UK added 330 cases today and now has reported a total of 1,391 positive cases of COVID-19. We had tested 40,279 people as of 9am this morning.

The UK has now reported 35 people have lost their life to COVID-19.

Total cases are: England 1,099, Scotland 153, Wales 94 and Northern Ireland 45.

18 of the UK's positive testing cases have been reported recovered.

Rep. Of Ireland have 169 cases.

The world has reported 169,149 cases and 6,494 losses of life. 76,618 people have already recovered.


UK NEWS:

Please remember we had a backlog for testing and are now testing far more people each day, so the numbers will of course be higher. Even Chris Whitty, Chief Medical Officer, said 2 days ago that he believed there were 5-10k cases out there as yet undiscovered, and that total grows each day. It's better to know who these people are, so they can isolate from vulnerable members of society.

NHS current advice is to use the online 111 service if:
you feel you cannot cope with your symptoms at home
your condition gets worse
your symptoms do not get better after 7 days
Only call 111 if you cannot get help online.

I've been very remiss with commenting on #TBCSmiles this month, and if you follow my Facebook page then you'll see why. I'm sharing facts, world and UK news about Coronavirus every day. I started sharing things I found interesting. and it grew.

I get a lot of feedback that I make people feel less anxious, and I know that was why I first started researching COVID-19. Knowledge can be great power. Knowing your enemy a little better always makes you less scared of them.


Back in December I wrote:
"I think one of the biggest problems with the UK and the entire world right now is that we forget how important people are. We are so busy and so stressed that we get on the treadmill and start walking, Our employers, our government, our society and everyone else train us and tell us to keep walking, but we all need to remember to step off regularly.
It's too easy to lose sight of what is really important."

We may not have any idea exactly where we'll be or what will face us in a month's time, (although hopefully you'll all be back here!), but the coronavirus is reminding us, all of us worldwide, of what is really important.

COVID-19 coronavirus update 11/03 - 13/03

The UK added 208 cases today and now has reported a total of 798 positive cases of COVID-19. We had tested 32,771 people as of 9am this morning.

The UK has reported a total of 11 losses of life.

Total cases are: England 491, Scotland 85, Wales 38 and Northern Ireland 29.

18 of the UK's positive testing cases have recovered.

Rep. Of Ireland have 43 cases.

The world has reported 144,031 cases and 5,397 losses of life. 70,920 people have already recovered.


UK NEWS:

Thursday's COBRA meeting came on the back of utter disaster in Italy and 2 waves of heavy COVID-19 infection occurring across the whole of Europe.
- We aren't going to bother testing people who are ill unless they get super ill. This is a bit naughty and means we will never have a true number. Shame as we started so well.
-This is going to happen
- We are only 4 weeks behind Italy (3 by my measure)
- Bothering of the NHS from now on should be reserved for people who genuinely NEED help. Don't ring 111 or your GP unless you require actual assistance. No quibbles or grumbles just now.
- If you have: a new continuous cough OR a high temperature (37.8 degrees or higher), you should stay at home for 7 days.
- Schools for now at least stay open, as we have a long way to go before this epidemic is over, and don't want to start too early. (Most UK children have only 2 weeks left before they break up for Easter.)
- You'll all no doubt be delighted with the news foreign school trips are barred. As Italy has now been a mess for 3 weeks, and the whole of western Europe is about to join them, I'm stunned anyone would even consider it.
- Older people and those with existing health conditions are advised they shouldn't go on cruises. Erm....yes.

Nicola Sturgeon spoke earlier, immediately after the COBRA meeting. In Scotland events with over 500 people are cancelled because of additional pressure on health services, but otherwise advice and restrictions are the same.

The UK woke up on Friday to discover not only are we feeling like a bit of an experiment, some of the world thinks so too. In case you didn't quite grasp what UK policy is, we're going to allow people to catch COVID-19 at a nice slow rate until everyone who will catch it has had it, never overwhelming the health services.
That's clearly a great idea, but a potentially impossible game to win, especially wearing a blindfold.

This year I'm working with Manchester Marathon to promote their Mancunian Miles project. The aim is simple, get people to bump up their physical activity and see if together we can walk enough extra miles for one lap all the way around the Earth before race day on Sunday 5th April.

Best of it is, ANYONE can join in, and you add as many or as few miles as you manage, but if you manage to complete a whole marathon distance then you can earn a certificate or even prizes to celebrate your achievement.


My partner and I are notoriously inactive. Since he had Meningitis and I had lots of exciting abdominal surgery, we've really been very lazy and got used to not being able to participate. That has to change now. We're both as well as we'll ever be and really should be building our health back up. And everyone can do with being a bit stronger and smoothing out the tummy cushion a bit.

COVID-19 Coronavirus UK And World News Update 09/03-11/03

The UK now has reported a total of 456 positive cases of COVID-19, and we have 8 losses of life on home soil (plus 1 on the Diamond Princess).

18 of the UK's positive testing cases have recovered. 27,476 people have been tested.

Total cases assumed to be: England 387, Scotland 36, Wales 13 and Northern Ireland 18 (based on news reports).

Rep. Of Ireland have 34 cases.

The world has 124,968 cases and 4,585 losses of life. 67,050 people have already recovered.

At the WHO conference today, Dr Tedros said "In the past two weeks, the number of cases of COVID19 outside Flag of China has increased 13-fold & the number of affected countries has tripled".
"WHO has been assessing this outbreak around the clock and we are deeply concerned both by the alarming levels of spread and severity, and by the alarming levels of inaction"
"We have therefore made the assessment that COVID19 can be characterized as a pandemic"
"There’s been so much attention on one word. Let me give you some other words that matter much more, & that are much more actionable:
Prevention.
Preparedness.
Public health.
Political leadership.
And most of all, People".


UK News

On television Tuesday morning Boris upset a huge portion of the population by mentioning the 'take it on the chin' approach for a second time. There is genuinely a MASSIVE debate here between business/economists and humanitarians/health workers. Letting everyone just catch COVID-19 will definitely speed up the epidemic and save trillions of $$$'s on the stock exchange, but it will easily kill around 3 times as many people. An article in The Lancet warned last week that world money is all built on such fragile loans and promises that countries will be faced with a choice. Save your economy, or save lives. Boris maintains the UK will keep a balanced mix.