It's Summer! Well, it feels like it just now anyway, and the UK is promised a heatwave this weekend, which has given everyone something to talk about, even if some of us aren't as excited as others (I'm not built for hot weather!). It'll also mean lots of playing outdoors, getting together with friends and relatives, and hopefully a lot of smiles.

We've had a few bonfires, a trip to the cinema and a birthday, but mostly spent the last month continuing to sort and pack, take stuff to the tip and send it away with other people who want it or can use it. We never seem to get anywhere close to actually finishing! I guess a surprise move after 15 years and 7 kids really does mean you have no choice but to go through all of that stuff you have been putting off for far too long. 

For us it's meant the rediscovery of tons of treasure, and a million memories. Going through all of the kid's old toys takes you back in a way photographs never can. It doesn't give you a snapshot, it releases all of the stories and the moments. The times things went wrong, or right, the conversations and debates, birthdays and holidays. The daft things they said, pet names and misheard sentences. The precious reminders that make something costing pennies into something so valuable that you can never imagine letting it go.

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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.

""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.

COVID-19 Coronavirus UK and World News Update 7th June 2022

UK COVID Latest Govt. Dashboard Statistics:
Cases in the 7 days to 2nd June: 57,615 (average 8,230 per day)
Admitted to hospital with COVID in the 7 days to Sunday 29th May: 3,652
In hospital Thursday 2nd June: 4,891
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 20th May: 195,962
Tests last 7 days: 1,546,244 (average 220,892 per day)

Rep. Of Ireland: 1,565,970 cases and 7,347 losses of life up until yesterday.

World: 536,108,391 reported cases and 6,321,883 losses of life.

“What we are detecting now is not the new transmissions that are happening, new transmissions are happening that we don't know anything about. And that really worries me."
Boghuma Kabisen Titanji, Cameroonian medical doctor and clinical researcher, talking to Kai Kupferschmidt, science journalist about Monkeypox. It has a very long incubation period, which makes it stealthy. Average is 7-14 days, but it can be 3 weeks before an infected person develops any symptoms. 

COVID-19 Coronavirus UK and World News Update 31st May 2022

UK COVID Statistics:
Cases last 7 days: 57,602 (average 8,228 per day)
Admitted to hospital with COVID in the 7 days to May 24th: 3,946
In hospital Thursday 26th: 5,584
Using a ventilator on Sunday 22nd May (this is the latest number): 175
Total losses of life within 28 days of a positive test up to 22nd May: 177,977
Total losses of life with COVID listed as a cause up to 20th May: 195,962
Tests last 7 days: 1,546,244 (average 20,892 per day)

Rep. Of Ireland: 1,561,632 cases and 7,271 losses of life (not yet reported today).

World: 532,349,235 reported cases and 6,312,535 losses of life.

"UKHSA has procured over 20,000 doses of a safe smallpox vaccine (called Imvanex, supplied by Bavarian Nordic) as part of our rapid response to rising monkeypox cases."
I see the UK Health Security Agency are determined to beat everyone else to this vaccine too. Vaccines for smallpox, unlike COVID vaccines, are still useful once a person has been exposed, so close contacts of confirmed monkeypox cases in the UK are being vaccinated already (and the same is true in many/most affected countries, including the USA).

COVID-19 Coronavirus UK and World News Update 27th May 2022

UK COVID Statistics - The page says it's all updated, but some of the data is over a week old. It makes a lot of this irrelevant as anything but a rough guide as to trajectory:
Cases in the 7 days up to 22nd May: 57,584 (similar to a week earlier)
Admitted to hospital with COVID in the 7 days to 22nd May: 4,130 (substantially DOWN on a week earlier)
In hospital yesterday: 5,584 (substantially DOWN from 6,729 a week earlier)
Losses of life in the 7 days up to 20th May: 725 (down slightly on a week earlier)
Total losses of life within 28 days of a positive test up to 20th May: 177,977
Total losses of life with COVID listed as a cause up to 13th May: 195,347
Tests in the 7 days up to 19th May: 1,546,244 (similar to a week earlier)
UK Vaccination data up to 18th May
1st Dose 53,398,518
2nd Dose 49,895,254
Booster/Third Jabs 39,585,631

Rep. Of Ireland: 1,561,632 cases and 7,271 losses of life (not yet reported today).

World: 530,508,082 reported cases and 6,308,310 losses of life.

The Nursing Director of the UK's West Midlands Ambulance Service, Mark Docherty, has told the Health Service Journal (HSJ) that some people are now waiting up to 24 hours in an ambulance before a suitable bed is found, and the service could collapse completely. Over 100 people have now died when "the service has been unable to respond because its ambulances are held outside hospitals". Mr Docherty has gone so far as to predict the exact day the service might collapse completely if current trajectories continue - August 17th.
“It would make me the happiest person in the world if everyone in the system proves to me that actually the ambulance service in the West Midlands isn’t going to fail on 17 August, and I’ve got it completely wrong.”
Date for your diary there... fingers crossed it never happens. 

COVID-19 Coronavirus UK and World News Update Tuesday 24th May 2022

The UK COVID Statistics page has been amended, and hasn't been updated since Friday, when I last took note of the numbers, so there seems little point having any statistics today. Hopefully on Friday they'll update it promptly, and I will be able to compare week on week differences. 

Rep. Of Ireland: 1,551,835 cases and 7,244 losses of life (not yet reported today).

World: 528,498,202 reported cases and 6,302,354 losses of life.

The UK HSA has announced quarantine guidance regarding Monkeypox - any close contacts with highest risk of exposure should self-isolate for 21 days. This includes sexual partners and households of people who test positive, as well as exposed healthcare workers. There's been a lot of people very shouty about this because it's usually a mild illness - however it can be dangerous for unborn babies, immunosuppressed people, pregnant women, and children under 12. Pretty much everyone who is pregnant or under 50 right now worldwide does not have any immunity via childhood vaccination for Smallpox. The spots can really cause nasty scarring too. I think it's fair, and I'm pretty sure most people who test positive or are direct contacts will too. 

COVID-19 Coronavirus UK and World News Update Friday 20th May 2022

UK COVID Statistics:
Cases last 7 days: 58,786 (average 8,398 per day)
Admitted to hospital with COVID in the last 7 days: 5,074
In hospital yesterday: 6,729 (substantially down from 9,619 a week earlier)
Using a ventilator yesterday: 191 (down from 203 a week earlier)
Losses of life last 7 days: 789
Total losses of life within 28 days of a positive test: 177,890
Total losses of life with COVID listed as a cause: 194,550
Tests last 7 days: 1,566,809 (average 223,829 per day)
Vaccinations 1st dose: 53,337,395
Vaccinations 2nd dose: 49,844,562
Boosted / 3rd dose / Spring Boosters: 39,474,656

Rep. Of Ireland: 1,551,835 cases and 7,244 losses of life.

World: 526,114,020 reported cases and 6,297,640 losses of life.

"UKHSA have confirmed 11 new cases of Monkeypox in the UK. This morning I updated G7 Health Ministers on what we know so far. Most cases are mild, and I can confirm we have procured further doses of vaccines that are effective against Monkeypox."
Sajid Javid, UK Health Secretary.

"In Downing Street there is a sense of injustice and considerable upset that the 126 Partygate fines have been levied disproportionately on women and junior officials. One source said: “the majority of [those fined] are very junior diary managers etc on 24k-ish and these fines are really stacking up for them. Typically they are getting fined for events they were at with their males bosses who seem to have got away no problem. Pretty clear also that people who bothered lawyering up [like the PM] are fine. There is a lot of very angry and upset people.”
Robert Peston, ITV's Political Editor.