There are two extremes today, Israel celebrates zero deaths in the last 24 hours and India mourns the loss of 25 patients in one hospital in Delhi who had run out of all oxygen supplies. The media are broadcasting interviews with distraught and desperate doctors and other health care staff.
I remember trialling some new oxygen equipment for use with major incidents when casualties could be treated with oxygen whilst waiting for transport from scene to hospital. I don’ t seem to remember having to use it in anger but it came out on several exercises. It basically consisted of a portable oxygen concentrator that extracted oxygen from the air around us and then piped oxygen to up to about 25 patients simultaneously from the one unit. Do any of my emergency/anaesthetic friends have any idea whether that equipment exists of if that technology is still used? If Dyson could make 30 000 ventilators, I am sure they could do the same with oxygen concentrators. They could probably get some in place within a week. WHO should research this possibility urgently. Many countries of the world will have reserve stocks of dexamethasone that could quickly be mobilised to India. Come on WHO, flex your muscles and help India quickly.
India have also reported a new triple variant they have named the West Bengal variety according to the All India Institute of Medical Sciences. Its genomic structure has not yet been published but with such huge numbers of cases new variants and mutations will be common. Just hope and pray there is not one that is resistant to all the current vaccines.
Thousands of anti-lockdown demonstrators are on the march again. Its proving difficult to maintain social distancing and most are not wearing masks. It is likely to end in grief later tonight if police are ordered to break it up because rules are not being followed.
Over 50% of the British population have now had at least one jab. 33.49 million first doses in a population of 66.79 million. T
he disease can affect anyone anywhere. An Everest mountaineer has just become the first case having been brought back to the Everest Base Camp and tested positive.A new report from the UK highlights the doubling of overcrowding in areas where privately rented flats predominate, often occupied by ethnic minorities. It is suggested that overcrowding remains a significant factor in the spread of the disease in more crowded communities.
Tonight’s statistics continue to be encouraging but remember the weekends come round very quickly. 1,111,876 covid tests were done in the last 24 hours finding 2061 positive cases. This is a drop of 2.8% and the positive rate is 24.8/per100k. we should note the rate of fall of this figure has reduced and is only down by 2.8%. Most days it is 8-10% lower. This may be a blip but could just indicate a slowing in the rate of decline in new cases because lock down has eased. Watch this figure closely over the next few days.
Deaths are reported at 32, a drop of 11.2% and the rate remains at 0.2 per 100k of the population.Hospital figures show only 132 admissions in 24 hours bringing the inpatient numbers down to only 1781. 243 patients still require a ventilator.
With the vaccinations the cumulative totals are for 1st doses 33.58million and for 2nd doses 12.07 million.
India being in a Red area means the UK will be doing everything possible to keep the virus from coming back to the United Kingdom with compulsory quarantine in a hotel for British citizens returning. The people of the UK can ensure they take up the vaccine and continues to socially distance and use masks. We can celebrate our relatively good position in the UK by assisting the charities working in India in any way we can. We must not ignore their plight because they are the other side of the world.
Please stay safe, keep away from crowds and still wear those masks.
Kenneth Hines' WordOfWisdom 