At the moment, the UK is doing quite well on the vaccination of vulnerable people. I think we are 3rd in the world. Much of what we have done in the last year was poor and this is one area where we have done well.
As long as the rates of virus circulating in the world are high, there is a chance of importing a variant that spreads easily, is more deadly and evades vaccines. There is an adage "until the world is vaccinated we are all at risk".
I hope all the world is vaccinated soon.
We just went to a nearby town for our first AstraZeneca Covid-19 injection. They were very well organised with loads of people helping at every stage. The injection itself was totally painless. Within 3 weeks the immunity should build.
It is now 1041z. As I write, several countries around the world have banned travel from the UK as they are spooked by the latest Covid-19 mutation which seems to spread more easily. The countries are trying to prevent it entering their countries. It may already be too late.
Finding reliable data on the Covid pandemic is hard with lots of very dubious sites carrying very dubious data. One site I have found consistently reliable is the YouTube channel of Dr John Campbell, that I have mentioned here before. What I like is he deals in facts only and gives the original source of the data. This is his latest video.
There is news today of a Covid-19 vaccine. Already the stock markets have reacted positively. Hopefully this will be the first vaccine of many. 2020 has been a nightmare year. Let's hope 2021 is better.
We live in East Cambridgeshire. It has the second lowest case numbers in the country and the R rate has dropped to 1.0 implying the infection rate is neither growing or falling. A week ago it was 1.2, so this is encouraging.
Strangely, I feel slightly safer this morning.
The UK Prime Minister has, reluctantly, agreed to a month long lockdown in England to try to bring the virus under control again. Although damaging to the economy, he probably had no choice. His scientific advisors that he claims to follow had been advising this for weeks!
Let us hope this helps. Our "track and trace" system is not coping, we urgently need a testing system that can give results fast (maybe the saliva test?) and we will be closer to better treatments and a vaccine.
This next month has to be used wisely. Sadly, the track record of the UK government is not good. I appreciate they have a very hard balancing act to perform, but at least "follow the science" and do not ignore timely advice.
This has been a strange year because of the Covid-19 pandemic. For open, clear and good summaries of the pandemic I turn to the videos produced by Dr John Campbell. These were recommended to me by a doctor many months ago.
It shows me last week in Norwich cathedral wearing a Covid-19 mask.
I shall be glad when all this is over and we return to something more normal.
In these strange days it can be hard to see reliable data. I was recommended the videos of John Campbell. These are updated most days.
There is no doubt that Covid-19 is on the rise, with more cases in western Europe than for several months. We are getting smarter at treating it, but it remains a real threat to the elderly especially. I just hope that the UK government can do enough to stop the exponential rise of this disease. They are trying to balance public health with economic damage. It is not easy.
Some months ago I was recommended the YouTube videos made by Dr John Campbell as a good source of data on Covid-19. Although I have only watched some, these do seem to be a good place to find decent data. As an example see the latest video.
