Coronavirus (2021) thread

[Healdplace]

On the importance of the positivity number all three other home nations except England have regularly reported this with the daily data and it is in my daily reports on them on the data thread. It is falling at present.

England for some reason ignored the importance of it stressed by the WHO and do not report it routinely and make it complicated to work out.

It has always been seen as a key metric so the attitude of England on playing down positivity has been puzzling throughout the pandemic. I am assuming it is deliberate but no idea why. Cases can be very misleading without knowing this counter balance revealing test numbers. Which in effect is what positivity does. It is the only fair way to compare one place with another.

Possibly they took a stand orginally so as not to reveal the low level of testing but that made no sense after this became one of the best in the world. Though perhaps the fact that Nicola Sturgeon in her daily Scottish reports was giving this number and stressing why it mattered from the start was another factor if poltics were in play.

 

[BlueHammer85]

A new variant of the coronavirus with a "constellation" of mutations has been identified in Botswana.

Designated as B.1.1.529, scientists are still unclear whether existing antibodies would react well to the variant - which has 32 spike protein mutations.

Tom Peacock, a virologist at Imperial College London, branded the mutations "really awful".

 

[Gaylord du Bois]

A new variant of the coronavirus with a "constellation" of mutations has been identified in Botswana.

Designated as B.1.1.529, scientists are still unclear whether existing antibodies would react well to the variant - which has 32 spike protein mutations.

Tom Peacock, a virologist at Imperial College London, branded the mutations "really awful".

In a series of tweets, Peacock said it “very, very much should be monitored due to that horrific spike profile”, but added that it may turn out to be an “odd cluster” that is not very transmissible. “I hope that’s the case,” he wrote.

https://www.google.com/amp/s/amp.theguardian.com/world/2021/nov/24/scientists-warn-of-new-covid-variant-with-high-number-of-mutations

 

[mccity]

I reckon we're a couple of years away yet from complete normalcy as the current strains are still too deadly. Someone (elderly) I loosely knew died of it last week despite being vaccinated. We should be finding a way to mould society to a masked and socially distanced one as much as possible until whenever the safe point is though rather than opposing it at every turn.

 

[ell]

A new variant of the coronavirus with a "constellation" of mutations has been identified in Botswana.

Designated as B.1.1.529, scientists are still unclear whether existing antibodies would react well to the variant - which has 32 spike protein mutations.

Tom Peacock, a virologist at Imperial College London, branded the mutations "really awful".

Always going to be the case whilst we refuse to help the world with vaccination programmes. It wont sit right with me if we start giving boosters to healthy 20 somethings when so many vulnerable worldwide still don't have access to the vaccine.

 

[BlueHammer85]

The government in the Czech Republic have declared a state of emergency for 30 days due to a rise in coronavirus cases.

It isn't immediately clear what restrictions will be put in place, but the government has been considering a ban on mass public gatherings and limiting opening hours for restaurants and bars.

 

[BlueAnorak]

Am I right in saying they test far less than us too?

Yes. About a 1/5 of our number per million population.

 

[Healdplace]

Deaths down on 147 from 199 last week

Cases though over 40,000 in England for first time in a month.

The three home nations all down week to week in the total of 47,240

England is up.

Full details on the data thread.

 

[BerkshireBlue]

A new variant of the coronavirus with a "constellation" of mutations has been identified in Botswana.

Designated as B.1.1.529, scientists are still unclear whether existing antibodies would react well to the variant - which has 32 spike protein mutations.

Tom Peacock, a virologist at Imperial College London, branded the mutations "really awful".

Presume we've locked down the travel to and from Botswana. Only joking we'll make the same mistake as we've done throughout the pandemic and not learn a thing from the past

 

[Healdplace]

As feared from the other nations hospital numbers have reversed in England too following the rise in cases over the past week or so.

First rise on a Thursday in a month. Although only by 6 to 6068.

Moreover the North West was the only major region to fall today. Though it did go back over 100 on ventilated patients sadly after falling for a week or so.

Over the Thursdays 3 weeks to today North West patients have fallen from 1119 to 853 today.

Full breakdown of the numbers and regions on the data thread later.