Coronavirus: Second wave of Covid-19 coming to UK, says PM

Covid-19 vaccine: First person receives Pfizer jab in UK

A UK grandmother has become the first person in the world to be given the Pfizer Covid-19 jab as part of a mass vaccination programme.

Margaret Keenan, who turns 91 next week, said it was the “best early birthday present”.

She was given the injection at 06:31 GMT - the first of 800,000 doses of the Pfizer/BioNTech vaccine that will be dispensed in the coming weeks.

Up to four million more are expected by the end of the month.

How infection/death statistics are affected will take several months to establish and, probably, a year or more to confirm.

Last updated on Tuesday 08 December 2020 at 04:17pm

(Click to enlarge)

https://i.ibb.co/sgPfwrv/UK-Summary-20201208.png
[LIST]
[*]Cases have dropped slightly

[*]Deaths have risen sharply

[*]Hospitalisations are remaining high (as of 3/12)

[*]Tests have fallen to an APPALLING 37% capacity of 580,000 (as of 7/12)
[/LIST]

:expressionless:

Last updated on Tuesday 08 December 2020 at 04:17pm

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https://i.ibb.co/VjR6KG3/UK-Summary-20201209.png
[LIST]
[*]Cases have risen sharply

[*]Deaths are remaining high

[*]Hospitalisations are remaining high (as of 3/12) (not updated)

[*]Tests are at a DERISORY 50% capacity of 580,000 (as of 8/12)
[/LIST]

:expressionless:

Last updated on Thursday December 2020 at 04:00pm

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https://i.ibb.co/x8h7ypy/UK-Summary-20201210.png
[LIST]
[*]Cases have risen very sharply

[*]Deaths are remaining high

[*]Hospitalisations are remaining high (as of 3/12) (not updated)

[*]Tests are at a LOW 63% capacity of 580,000 (as of 8/12)
[/LIST]

:expressionless:

The rise in cases just days after the end of second lockdown is worrying and does not portend well for the Christmas “break” … :shock:

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https://i.ibb.co/61NYs0w/UK-Summary-20201211.png
[*]Cases have risen very sharply

[*]Deaths are remaining high

[*]Hospitalisations are rising (as of 7/12)

[*]Tests are at a LOW 68% capacity of 580,000 (as of 10/12)
[/LIST]

:expressionless:

(Click to enlarge)

https://i.ibb.co/D4PZLXh/UK-Summary-20201212.png
[LIST]
[*]Cases are remaining very high

[*]Deaths are rising

[*]Hospitalisations are rising (as of 8/12)

[*]Tests are at a LOW 68% capacity of 580,000 (as of 10/12)
[/LIST]

:expressionless:

England’s three-tier system is due to be reviewed on 16 December.

Decisions on tiers are made by ministers, based on the latest available data and advice from public health experts.

Relaxing Covid restrictions could trigger a third wave of the virus during the busiest time of year for hospitals, NHS bosses have warned.

In its letter to Prime Minister Boris Johnson, NHS Providers said while there were “good signs of progress” in some parts of the country, there was a “worrying increase in infection rates across a wide range of areas”, including Essex, Kent, London and parts of Lincolnshire.

It called for areas to be moved into tier three - the highest level of restrictions - “as soon as this is needed, without any delay”.

Earlier this week, some health experts called for the capital to be placed in tier three “now” after official figures showed Outer London had a higher infection rate than some areas already in the top tier.

NHS Providers added that “the evidence of the second wave suggests that unless infection rates fall to a very low level, as they did in London after the first wave, the virus will spread again quickly as soon as restrictions on social contact are relaxed”.

“Trust leaders are worried that if infection rates remain as high as they are at the moment, relaxing the restrictions will trigger a third wave,” it said.

With new cases running at over 20,000 per day (600,000 per month), it seems patently obvious that the pandemic is still not under control, even with the present restrictions (allegedly) in place, so any relaxation of rules must exacerbate the situation … but will BJ heed NHS advice or, as usual, go for the populist solution … :?:

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https://i.ibb.co/ySds5My/UK-Summary-20201213.png
[LIST]
[*]Cases have fallen sharply

[*]Deaths have fallen very sharply

[*]Hospitalisations are remaining high (as of 8/12)

[*]Tests are at a LOW 68% capacity of 580,000 (as of 10/12) (Not Updated)
[/LIST]

:expressionless:

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https://i.ibb.co/NKg9cnF/UK-Summary-20201214.png

[LIST]
[*]Cases have risen again

[*]Deaths have risen again

[*]Hospitalisations are remaining high (as of 10/12) (Not Updated)

[*]Tests are at a VERY LOW 54% capacity of 580,000 (as of 10/12)
[/LIST]

:expressionless:

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https://i.ibb.co/r4WmVs4/UK-Summary-20201215.png

[LIST]
[*]Cases still on the rise

[*]Deaths still on the rise

[*]Hospitalisations are remaining high (as of 11/12)

[*]Tests are at a VERY LOW 53% of the 580,000 capacity (as of 13/12)
[/LIST]

:expressionless:

(Click to enlarge)
https://i.ibb.co/r4WmVs4/UK-Summary-20201215.png
[LIST]
[*]Cases still on the rise

[*]Deaths still on the rise

[*]Hospitalisations are remaining high (as of 11/12)

[*]Tests are at a VERY LOW 53% of the 580,000 capacity (as of 13/12)
[/LIST]

:expressionless:

(Click to enlarge)

https://i.ibb.co/zsqsm0K/UK-Summsry-20201216.jpg
[LIST]
[*]Cases rising steeply

[*]Deaths rising steeply

[*]Hospitalisations rising (as of 12/12)

[*]Tests are at a VERY LOW 57% of the 530,000 capacity (as of 15/12)
[/LIST]

:expressionless:

Christmas Covid rules

At Christmas, coronavirus restrictions will be eased to allow people to mix with a slightly wider circle of family and friends.

Despite rising infection rates* the four UK nations have “unanimously” agreed to keep these rules, which allow people to travel across the country to form “bubbles” of three households over a five-day period.

Between 23 and 27 December, the three households in a “Christmas bubble” can mix indoors and stay overnight.

  • The UK recorded a further 25,161 coronavirus cases on Wednesday, along with 612 deaths within 28 days of a positive test.

For those who have the time or inclination, the full (complex) rules are here:

IMO, families may “downsize” Xmas but all the rules will be universally broken because there aren’t the resources to enforce them - a third “wave”, maybe approaching 40,000 or even 50,000 cases a day, is almost inevitable … :shock:

[CENTER]

The number of new UK cases reported on 17 December 2020 includes around 11,000 previously unreported cases for Wales as a result of system maintenance in the NHS Wales Laboratory Information Management System.
[/CENTER]

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https://i.ibb.co/S737880/UK-Summary-20201217.png

[LIST]
[*]Cases remaining very high

[*]Deaths remaining high

[*]Hospitalisations remaining very high (as of 12/12)

[*]Tests are at a LOW 66% of the 550,000 capacity (as of 15/12)
[/LIST]

:expressionless:

(Click to enlarge)

https://i.ibb.co/1vKjX94/UK-Summary-20201218.png

[LIST]
[*]Cases rising sharply

[*]Deaths remaining high

[*]Hospitalisations remaining very high (as of 13/12)

[*]Tests are at a LOW 64% of the 580,000 capacity (as of 15/12)
[/LIST]

:expressionless:

It seems likely that the 30,000 daily cases level will be reached before Xmas … :!:

The total number of people in the UK who have tested tested positive is now 1,948,660 so the total will probably exceed 2,000,000+ at the same time … :shock:

(Click to enlarge)

https://i.ibb.co/cb2cLXV/UK-Summary-20201219.png

[LIST]
[*]Cases rising sharply

[*]Deaths remaining high

[*]Hospitalisations rising (as of 15/12)

[*]Tests are at a LOW 64% of the 580,000 capacity (as of 17/12) (not updated)
[/LIST]

:expressionless:

BJ has reacted appropriately, IMO, to what is becoming an alarming situation by “cancelling”, to all intents and purposes, the Xmas “break” … :!:

Summary Unavailable - Cases Only

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https://i.ibb.co/N9St2NL/Daily-1.png
[LIST]

[*]Cases rising very sharply
[/LIST]

:shock:

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https://i.ibb.co/s28rM8g/UK-Summary-20201220.png

[LIST]
[*]Cases rising very sharply

[*]Deaths falling

[*]Hospitalisations remaining high (as of 16/12)

[*]Tests are at a LOW 64% of the 580,000 capacity (as of 17/12) (not updated)
[/LIST]

:expressionless:

That’s quite high for a Sunday.

It’s probably the beginning of the “third wave” … :!: