It would seem that despite the media and a few others claiming otherwise the majority of Britons would be happy to accept a ‘vaccination passport’ for use on buses, while shopping. They are also wary of reducing restrictions too quickly. Whilst 18% in a large survey wanted lockdown to finish more quickly, some 32% thought it should continue beyond the 21st of June. A majority wanted to continue the scheme well into the future, some 53%. 33% would want the scheme wound up once it is over, so I presume the rest were unable to have an opinion. The Prime Minister, when speaking a few days ago said it was not fully safe for 2 fully immunised people to meet indoors. It is of course difficult to prove safety. We will have at some time to accept a low level of risk. Prof. Tim Spector has challenged the PM on the statistics. He calculates that the risk of two fully vaccinated individuals meeting indoors and one of them developing a symptomatic infection as about 1 in 400,000. This of course is less than the risk of a cerebral venous thrombosis due to low platelets. Most statisticians accept a 1 in 400,000 risk to be safe.
Another mass party indoors in Mayfair last night has led to 30 party goers reported for a fine for attending and the organiser reported for a £10,000 fine.
The health Service journal reports there has been a large rise in the number of attenders at A and E with trivial possible side effects of the Covid vaccine. Particularly low-grade headaches and fatigue. A and E staff are urgently trying to create a screening programme to screen out the worried well, and reduce the numbers that need a full assessment. It is clear that the confusion and safety over the vaccine is causing a great deal of stress and anxiety.
The Covid variants currently circulating do not seem to be so prevalent in European countries and apart from a few small hotspots the number of cases is not rising fast. Less than 5% of new cases are currently variants.
The office for National Statistics or ONS report that in England, in the community (that’s excluding all hospitals and care homes) 1 in 340 of the population will test positive for Covid. In Scotland the same numbers were 1 in 410.
Russia has reported 8,702 new cases today, including 2,090 in Moscow alone. There have been 237 deaths per day. With total deaths reported at over 100,000.
China has admitted the efficacy of their vaccine is not high so they are considering how they can mix their vaccines to improve the efficacy. In a population of 1.4 billion they have already given 161 million first doses. They aim to cover 40% of the population by June.
South Korea have decided to start using the OAZ vaccine again, having paused its use completely on Wednesday, they are now happy to give it to everyone over the age of 30.
Peru had 384 deaths yesterday and hospitals are facing a severe shortage of oxygen.
Back here in the UK the Government statistics are minimal being a weekend.
There were 936,579 covid tests done yesterday and 1,730 were found to be positive. This represents a 30% drop on the 7 day rolling average, the rate remains at 29.9 per 100k of the population.There were only 7 deaths recorded today, but remember its difficult to register deaths at the weekend, it will be higher on Tuesday.
Hospital figures have not been updated today.
Vaccinations continue to be given. Remember its mostly 2nd doses at present and that figure has risen to 7.44 million today with 32.1 million first doses waiting over the next few weeks for their second dose.
All remains in the right direction. For obvious reasons there is not much Covid news, the same cannot be said across the world yet, where many countries are in a critical position with little or no vaccine still in many countries. We need to be very cautious still and very vigilant, especially at our borders to keep the risks of variants away.
We must be wary of crowds, follow all the rules and stay safe. We must also look to assisting other countries in their battle to control Covid with the supplies of vaccine and other equipment under the auspices of the WHO and the Covax scheme.
Kenneth Hines' WordOfWisdom 