January 31 2021

The report for the last day in January, is almost all good news.

The combined efforts of so many are taking the UK in the right direction now. We must not relax in any way for some time yet. It’s too early to say when and if a lot could change but if we stay on track, late summer may seem much more normal.

We have managed to give a half million immunisation injections yesterday for the first time. A total of 539,943 1st doses were given and 10,252 second doses. The cumulative figures will reach 9 million first jabs and half a million second jabs tomorrow. Remember, many countries have not even managed to start the vaccine programme yet.

We continue to manage ¾ million tests per day, 753,031 on 28th January. Of these only 21,088 were positive. This represents a drop of 32.6% and a positive rate of only 287.6/100k. There will be a Sunday effect reflecting in these pictures, but the trend is still reducing regularly.

Hospital data is all a few days old. The key one is that the number of patients in hospital on Jan 28th was under 35k, a considerable fall in the last few weeks. A total of 587 deaths were registered today which is a 5.3% drop in the 7 day rolling average. So even for a Sunday the figure has dropped from last week. Only a week or so ago we saw figures well over 1,000.Covid is not the only hazard this week, there are widespread weather warnings for floods, ice and snow. Another excellent reason for staying at home and only venturing out if there is absolutely no alternative. Be careful to avoid trips and falls, wear sensible boots to protect your ankles.

There seems to be an uneasy truce in the row about the vaccine supply difficulty to the EU. The EU have backed down on their threats but still feel very aggrieved by the supply difficulties they have. The UK have listened to the WHO and I am sure will do all they can to assist supplies to the EU once our priority groups are all immunised in about 2 weeks. There are, however, still rumblings from the EU threatening legal action if their very late orders are not met in full. Australia have had 2 weeks without an indigenous case of Covid but tonight a hotel guard has tested positive, this has prompted an immediate 5 day lockdown in the Greater Perth area. All schools, clubs, restaurants and bars have been closed. Masks outside are required again.

18 more fines, amounting to £15,000, have been served on those at an illegal house party rave in Essex and a party was broken up on a boat in Acton.

Portugal is struggling today and the German Military have provided 27 doctors and paramedics to work in Portuguese hospitals. Arrangements are being made to transfer some patients from Portugal all the way to Austria where they have spare bed capacity.

Breaking News as I am writing this is that the remarkable Captain Sir Tom Moore has just been admitted to hospital. A truly remarkable man I am sure you would all wish him a quick and full recovery.

I was told some of my posts are too long, so shorter tonight, there is little news to report sometimes at weekends. All that remains to do is to just keep going one day at a time. Look after one another especially with mental health issues . It involves both talking and listening.

You should Care, Air, and Share with one another, but at the same time stay apart and stay at home, Stay Safe.