HOLIDAY SEASON AUTUMN-WINTER 2021

It’s back!

COVID-19 Variant of Delta Variant October 2021 UK

CORONAVIRUS BLOG HAS RETURNED a little bit.

Let’s face it…..a whole bunch of variants have come in the last six months (sorry, I was otherwise detained by the NHS) and now in the UK, we have a higher infection rate than in the last lockdown plus deaths in the 100-250/day region. Vaccinations are in the only OK level after a terrific start. Tis good to see that vaccination numbers in the rest of Europe have got better than the UK after a really slow start…meanwhile South America, India and Russia (with today a record number of infections) while still having relatively low numbers of deaths and infections per population size still have huge presence of Covid, and new variants are springing up every day.

There are calls in the UK today for Vaccine Passports and for everybody (from 12 years old up) to be AT LEAST double vaccinated. New Health boss Sajid Javid has forced Social Care staff to be double jabbed at least, and wants everyone in the NHS to have jabs made mandatory.

So what is next, worldwide? Are we in for a Sajid Covid 2022?

According to the Guardian today, wu=ith USA Brazil India Mexico Russia and the UK being the “hardest hit” by Covid, we in the UK are only now in the middle of the vaccinations/population table…with Spain and Italy above us. Anti-vaccine protests around the World still cause great splits in vaccine uptake, particularly in the US and Russia, while China has today authorised children from 3 years old to get jabbed. The Beijing Marathon has been postponed, and the US is preparing jabs for the 5 - 11 year olds to be run out before Christmas.

In addition, Pharma company Merck is getting authorisation to sell its “Covid Pill” which will treat people with Covid reducing symptoms and speeding up recovery….having a two pronged attack could be the answer to treating something which just ain’t going away, honey.

That’s all for now, folks…please comment if you fancy!

IN LIMBO WITH ARMS AKIMBO!

WELCOME TO THE VACCINATION ACROSS THE NATION EDITION, YUP:

IT’S NEEDLE TIME!!!

This cartoon belongs to the fabulous Matt of the Telegraph

BEWARE FOR, THIS BLOGGAGE TODAY IS JAM-PACKED WITH ESSENTIAL FACTS -

OH, AND THE ODD GRAPH TOO

Well it has to be said, the World seems to have changed, if you believe the UK gutter press and the British Let’s Be Careful Not To Offend News Channels, namely that because we in Britain seem to have the most vaccine bottles in the World (purchased a long long time ago) by the UK Government’s Representative Ms Kate Bingham** (see below), we’ll soon be ALL RIGHT THEN despite not using the Pfizer vaccine in the recommended way, as employed by everybody else in the World who has it. This gamble is to ensure that despite UK people getting their second dose not 21 days later than the first but 12 weeks later than the first, about which there are no pieces of data whatsoever, at least, twice as many people will receive this vaccine one dose anyway, and the evidence so far (hard evidence) by Numero uno Vaccinators Israel is that One Dose will deliver up to 85% efficacy, for up to 6-8 weeks, then the second dose, the Booster, despite not having a chance in the UK to kick in properly, can er well BOOST the first one as much as possible, as yet unknown (coming up to that 3 month time in the UK where we’ll get some data about this….

** Kate Bingham, former chair of the UK vaccine taskforce, left her post at the end of 2020, Bingham, a venture capitalist married to Treasury minister Jesse Norman, had come under fire for her use of expensive PR consultants and allegations over a presentation to a private investors’ conference. There is a VERY interesting in depth interview with her from 8th February 2021 where she states that the Vaccine Taskforce was set up by Sir Patrick Vallance, chief medical officer in the UK, and procuring the 400 million doses of the vaccine was essentially done as any medical investment decision would be made, except the UK did this early as a result of FORESIGHT by the Prime Minister. WELL, who would have thought? It also analyses all the vaccine companies’ attitudes and business models whilst creating all the vaccines currently available. (https://www.repubblica.it/cronaca/2021/02/07/news/kate_bingham_interview_vaccines_covid_astrazeneca_uk_coronavirus_johnson-286384093/)

The second vaccine the Oxford/AstraZeneca Vaccine has been rolled out in large amounts, but because the data available was presented initially in a VERY confusing way, with fewer people over 60 being involved and much later in the trials, and that subsequent analyses of data from different countries, such as Germany and South Africa, have suggested that the vaccine isn’t as effective in older people (over 60) or against the newly discovered “variants” or strains of the Covid-19 virus, the Oxford vaccine has not been taken up by these countries while it has been very successful according to data released this last weekend, in many other countries, obviously including the UK, where one dose has reached 90% efficacy after 28 days as opposed to 85% for the Pfizer vaccine.

ANYWAY, data is/are coming in thick and fast, so here below, in a mo, we’ll have a quick VACCINE REVIEW.

While we do that, we can consider some other facts:

• The UK became the Nation with the HIGHEST DEATH RATE IN THE WORLD (deaths/population), true up to February 11th 2021, currently the number of Covid-Related deaths in the UK being 120,000 plus (see Data at end of today’s blog, as usual).

• Today, 23rd February 2021, the US number of deaths passed Half a Million, more than the fatalities in both World Wars and the Vietnam war combined.

• As of 20th February 2021, 130 countries in the World have received no vaccines whatsoever, while TEN countries gave already used up 75% of the World’s Covid-19 supply. (https://edition.cnn.com/2021/02/18/world/united-nations-130-countries-no-vaccine-trnd/index.html)

VACCINE REVIEW

There are already an alarming number of graphs of data related to Vaccine Roll-out. Let’s just say that as of FEBRUARY 21st 2021, the above graph represents how fast, and how many, the major territories are handling things.

ISRAEL as has been widely reported, did a mega deal with Pfizer-BioNTech and bought a considerable amount of their vaccine (at a rather high price). The UK may have issued the first dose of it (or any vaccine) worldwide back in early December, but Israel. followed by the UAE, then UK/US have the highest proportion of jabs given per population as of 22nd February 2021. Much of the efficacy data on Pfizer has thus come from Israel so far.

But as fast vaccines are being rolled out, and the wealthiest people have the most vaccines at the moment, out of the 215 million plus jabs having already been issued, the big companies in production of vaccines, namely Pfizer-BioNTech, Astra-Zeneca and Moderna, are laready under huge pressure, and are building more factories to get the quantities up. In the following graph, let’s see what the World has had to offer so far in terms of companies and their vaccines:

Now, it’s clear that at the current rate, it will take AT LEAST two more years to offer vaccines to the whole World. Each Country is making its own decision about which vaccines they should purchase according to how they analyse the data (with the EU currently acting as one, but with many countries hugely annoyed that certification of vaccines is taking a long time, with individual countries France, Germany and Italy hardly having any at all in the first couple of months of roll-out).

There will ALSO most likely be the first Vaccine Revisions available late in the year of several of the available vaccines incorporating what will probably be annual updates to the vaccines to allow for mutations (variants/strains) that occur with viruses. In the UK, we’ve seen the “Kent Variant” (see cartoon at Top), the South African variant (which may or may not have a limiting effect on the Oxford/ AstraZeneca vaccine), and the Brazilian. No comment.

In the UK, there have been 17.7 million people given their first dose of the Pfizer and AstraZeneca vaccines as of Feb 22, 2021, 625,000 have received a second dose, and from next month, further vaccines will be available.

VARIANTS and VACCINES

The UK’s JCVI (Joint Committee on Vaccination and Immunisation) will be constantly seeking data on all the major variants discovered worldwide but particularly in the UK, where in December 2020 the “Kent Variant” had a devastating effect being more easily spread and infecting in the UK and requiring a total lockdown across the UK. If the vaccine hadn’t started being rolled out in the UK in December, everyone with knowledge (aplease yourselves, here) has stated that the NHS would have ground to a halt and the death rate and hospitalisations would have been even higher.

ORIGINAL COVID-19 VIRUS Sars-CoV-2 From Wuhan, probably, first version, evolved into European D614

UK COVID VARIANT VOC202012/01 containing Spike N501Y variant

KENT VARIANT B.1.1.7 with Spike 501.V2 most dominant in UK. New UK variant from Edinburgh is B.1.525

South African VARIANT VOC202012/02 containing Spike E484K mutation (aka 20I/501Y.V2 and B.1.351). A small trial in SA stated that the AZ vaccine has 10% efficacy against this variant ”leading to mild or moderate disease” (so has decided against using this vaccine as of 8th Feb 2021, though a week later, World Health Organisation (WHO) data approved worldwide use of the current AZ vaccine and a forthcoming update of it).

Germany, Sweden, France, Denmark and Norway have since decided to DELAY AZ vaccine roll-out to the over 60s until they receive further data. (https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2021/02/23/oxford-vaccine-astrazeneca-covid-19-vs-pfizer-safe-uk-who/ )

BRAZIL VARIANT 1 202101/01 (E484K and others) BRAZIL VARIANT 2 202101/02 (E484K and others)
These are referred to as 20I/501Y.V2 aka B.1.128 P2 and P1 respectively

BRISTOL VARIANT VOC202102/02 (E484K) LIVERPOOL VARIANT VUI202102/01 (E484K)

NIGERIA VARIANT VUI202102/03 (E484K and others)

As of Feb 17th 2021, the UK chart for discovered variants is below!

It’s kinda agreed that the only one that nay require alteration of some future vaccines is the South African variant. So let’s see….meantime here’s the up-to-date state of the 407 million doses of 7 VACCINES in the UK :

OXFORD/AstraZeneca (UK/Sweden) Purchased 100 million (up to 95% effective protection after 2 doses)

PFIZER/BioNTech (Belgium/Germany/USA) Purchased 40 million (up to 96% effective protection after 2 doses)

MODERNA (USA) Purchased 17 million (up to 94 % effective protection after 2 doses) Availability: April 2021

NOVAVAX (USA) Purchased 60 million (still under Stage 3 trials in the UK) Availability: From May 2021 ?

VALNEVA (France/UK/Scotland) Purchased 100 million (awaiting Stage 3 trials) Availability: From Nov 2021 ?

JANSSEN/Johnson & Johnson (USA) Purchased 30 million SINGLE DOSE (65-85% effective protection after one jab/57% against the SA variant) Availability: August 2021 ?

GSK/Sanofi (UK/France) Purchased 60 million *** Have had to do more trials on a new version after trials of the first version had a very limited effect on older people

SO

As the World battles to get vaccines, the more (if they work) the merrier. Israel wouldn’t give the Palestinians any so Russia sent the UAE plenty, another vaccine this week is being delivered to Palestine. What other vaccines are being used now? India is currently using mainly the AZ vaccine, and is trialling its own COVAXIN. Russia’s SPUTNIK V is being administered in many countries including Argentina, Palestine and UAE as mentioned, Pakistan and Iran. The Chinese Sinovac vaccine CoronaVac is in Brazil and the rest of South America, while two other Chines vaccines from Sinopharm and Cansino are also being used in Africa and Mexico.

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IN TODAY’S CONCLUSION, it’s clear that:

a) The World is relying upon vaccines plus lockdowns and/or equivalent to slow down and hopefully mostly eradicate Covid-19 from the populations where industry has ground to a halt and deaths have been massively rising. Anyone who denies the severity of this virus is, quite frankly, an oaf, and a dangerous one at that.

b) Despite hospital treatments that have helped to slow down death rates across the globe, second and third waves, plus mutations of this like any other virus have caused deaths and infections to increase in the more populated ends of the Earth, so it’s absolutely definite that Government strategies have totally failed in many cases.

c) The years to come will be all about living and coping with this version of SARS and hoping hat the benefits that Science have brought to us get shared as generously and deservedly as possible amongst everyone. If Science gets shared properly, maybe the next generations will have some repercussions of Climate Change and Poverty sorted too.

Well, here’s hoping.

Comments welcome, as ever. xx

DATA courtesy Johns Hopkins University 22nd February 2021

IF YOU GO DOWN TO THE WOODS TODAY....TAKE ME WITH YOU.

HAPPY NEW YEAR. ISH. 2021.

Hope many many people are still in one piece despite this nasty thing.

VACCINE NEWS

I can admit that I received the Pfizer vaccine dose 1 on Monday 18th January at St Thomas’ hospital Westminster, for which I am most grateful. The second jab, officially thanks to the UK government, 3 MONTHS later, is being challenged by UK GPs and other experts who have written letters to state that the gap between doses should be no more than 6 weeks for the vaccine to work effectively. Let’s see what happens. Meanwhile there are huge shortages in many countries due to vaccine production delays and purchase strategy issues. The EU (Italy in particular), South Africa and South America have massive shortages.

CRONEYISM IN THE UK

The London Economic revealed yesterday that Tory donor Lord Ashcroft’s firm Medacs was handed £350m coronavirus testing and tracing contract. The Billionaire last year gave £175,000 to the Tories and their London mayoral candidate.

Last year, the National Audit Office (NAO) found that suppliers with links to Tory politicians were ten times more likely to be awarded contracts than those who applied to the Department of Health and Social Care. The damning report also found that more than £5 million of taxpayer cash was paid in consultancy fees with close links to ministers – including a £1.5 million deal for two social media consultants from New Zealand who worked on Boris Johnson’s election campaign.

NO CHANGE THERE THEN

(https://www.thelondoneconomic.com/politics/tory-donor-lord-ashcrofts-firm-handed-350m-coronavirus-testing-contract/21/01/?utm_medium=social&utm_source=facebook&utm_campaign=sfeu&fbclid=IwAR07VvRUacfxaJQtxh5-HM-OXkXavcmJrd-EBXvLWCP2OGXMnh9_5Q6tIcg

MINIRANT

2021: The Government Has Everything In Hand, Right?

1. Four ministers state different strategies for leaving lockdown while briefing Right Wing press (18/1/2021)

2. Lorries arrive at Downing Street saying on the side “incompetent government destroying our shellfish industry” (17/1/2021)

3. UK reaches World’s HIGHEST Covid Deathrate (deaths/million pop.)

4. Initially rapid vaccine rollout has conditions changed between 2 doses by UK PHE (2/1/2021) from 3 weeks (from Pfizer instructions) to 3 months. Israel Health say after their ultra fast rollout that after 1 dose protection is 33% not 89% as claimed by PHE. I receive my Pfizer jab 1 Jan 16 2021 and am given a date 3 months later for jab 2. UK started well. Are we blowing this too?

5. After vast amounts of money gone into Private Business’ hands for nothing back (purchases of wrong out of date PPE, dodgy ventilators (inc Dyson), billions on failed Test Trace, millions on Test Trace consultancies, huge purchases of rapid test non functioning Covid Tests before buying and rolling out millions of Lateral Flow Tests with no higher than 50% Sensitivity, etc etc.... how much is there left for the vast stocks of vaccine required in 2021? After very good I initial purchases supplies are already constrained (19/1/2021)

6. The Priti that is Patel doesn’t know where to find the 440,000 Crime Data Records that have been “lost”.

7. The Border controls which have taken nearly a year to implement enforcing requirements for negative tests and quarantine at airports and ports, with extra testing on entry.... er, still haven’t been implemented. May never, despite the UK’s appalling death rates.

8. PHE has changed its mind again regarding students’ daily contact rapid testing before it’s even started. Yet Lockdown still allows Garden Centres to open. WHY?

9. £20/week rise in support implemented last year is being withdrawn, while many self employed and freelancers have received not a penny during Covid.

10. Conservative MPs have ripped out an amendment to the government's trade bill to prevent the NHS being sold off or undermined by the government's trade deals with other countries.

    The House of Lords had last month inserted a clause banning any agreement that “undermines or restricts” the UK's ability to provide “a comprehensive publicly funded health service free at the point of delivery”. The amendment also restricted “the sale of patient data” and the government's ability to control drug prices.

    But in a vote on Tuesday night MPs rejected the amendment by 357 votes to 266, with no Tory MPs backing the motion. The governing party's MPs were the only ones to vote against the protections.

    Trade Minister Greg Hands said there was no need to protect the health service with legislation because “the NHS is not and never will be for sale". He characterised such claims as "offensive and absurd".

Data 23rd January 2021

In the table above, Russia’s actual figures are admitted to be probably 3 times the amounts shown. China’s unofficial figures are considerably higher too.

Deaths per million population in the UK are the HIGHEST IN THE WORLD.

PRESIDENT JOE BIDEN HAS COME TO RESCUE THE USA.

Let’s hope he can rescue us too.

OPTIMISMO-BLOG 2021!

2021 IS HERE, OPTIMISM ON THE WAY, RIGHT?

Who would have thought it? In the UK, 10 months after the Government had decided that this was a minor irritation to the Nation, indeed The World’s health, there are 1,815,342 people deceased due to Covid-19, with individual country deaths including USA 351,000 (inc highest number yesterday 3,880) , Brazil 194,000, India 149,000 and in Europe Italy, UK and France all around 70,000, and with Russia admitting now (see references at foot of this blog) three times the fatalities due to “recounting of figures” so therefore having above 160,000 and China also not quite ready to give figures but probably having at least 10 times as many deaths as admitted (again see reference) so that makes 40,000 plus.

Whatever strategy individual nations/states have adopted, with hugely different results depending on methods, behaviours, treatments and any other factors, it has to be admitted that the virus has taken the World by storm, changed everyone’s lives already and for the foreseeable future, and with currently numbers of infections rising rapidly in many places including USA, South America and Europe due to a Second wave, and mutation into other strains or “variants”, the need for vaccines has never been more apparent, or more desperate.

Fortunately, they are already here. Already, since the last blog here 3 weeks ago!

So here, at just about the beginning of a new year, let’s BE OPTIMISTIC and not challenge the authorities. Too much.

SO:

1) VACCINES

a) The first vaccine to receive MAJOR widespread acceptance in the UK closely followed by Europe and the USA, was as predicted here 6 months ago (!), the Pfizer-BioNTech mRNA vaccine manufactured in Belgium. The first of the 40 million doses acquired by the UK were rolled out 8th December 2020, and the patient received her second dose 21 days later on 29th December 2020. Pfizer themselves recommends two doses 21 days apart for up to 95% “efficacy” and long term protection, and despite some rather contradictory words yesterday from Britain’s Medicine & Healthcare Regulatory Agency (MHRA) (who have to examine all the manufacturer’s test and trial data before giving the safety go-ahead for any vaccine) to suggest that this vaccine can be taken in two doses up to three months, here at Blog Towers, we reckon that they’ll take heed of the manufacturer’s words and do what they’re told. The vaccine itself is a bit troublesome because it has to be stored at -70 degrees Celsius in boxes packed with dry ice, and once the cases are opened, they have to be used within 7 days maximum from the appropriate fridge at the Hospital or GP survey. Sharpish. 700,000 people have been vaccinated as of 29th December apparently. Up to 95% efficacy eh? We’ll be the judges of that (unfortunately).

Vaccines which have passed Stage Three Trials

The second vaccine approved in the UK by the MHRA regulator is the Oxford University/Jenner Institute/AstraZeneca Viral Vector vaccine, which has had a few rather confusing press conferences by the vaccine’s leading Professor along with the boss of the MHRA. They’ve been slightly RUBBISHY factually and opinionly (?) which seems to have caused confusion in many places. Anyway, advantages of the Oxford vaccine include being able to store it in a normal fridge, and for longer than the Pfizer, and average figures assess the vaccine to be 70% effective, a bit more than the average flu vaccine.

The upshot is that the government has bought 100 million doses which may be given in 2 doses 3 months apart, hence being able to give more people the first dose (producing 50% efficacy after 21 days), and allowing manufacturing to ramp up….. we shall see. Having heard stories from actual people of not being offered anything from Pfizer yet despite one person being extremely vulnerable and 89, and others in their 70s and 80s, let’s hope that from January 4th 2021 the Oxford vaccine gets out to plenty of people quickly. The US have had huge delays in getting the Pfizer vaccine out quickly too, and the World is a jolly big place to cover in a rapidly more infectious virus scenario, which we now have. Mmmmm.

But we’re being OPTIMISTIC, RIGHT?

The THIRD vaccine authorised so far, the second by the FDA in the States, is the mRNA MODERNA vaccine. Manufacture in the US is being sped up, speeded, er, ramped, accelerated as we speak, and the vaccine regulators in Europe and the UK are assessing the data for this vaccine currently. The UK will have 5 million doses by April 2021 apparently, so it seems that Pfizer and Oxford are the frontrunners in early vaccination (95% efficacy after two doses).

OTHER VACCINES ON THE WAY (see tables) include one of the SinoPharm vaccines from China, which have been used for 4 months in China on military personal (Thanks Colonel), the Sputnik V vaccine from Russia (which Mr Putin has already fed to his daughter, and under smaller scale trials is said to be 92% efficient), and there is data due soon from Novavax and Janssen from large scale trials in Europe.

So. We can be optimistic, aha?

2) VARIANTS/STRATEGIES

There’s been all sorts of talk as the second wave continues apace, with increased infections and new strains of virus being more infectious . The variant known as VUI-202012/01 is said to be the most dominant and most transmissible strain of SARS-CoV-2 in the UK now (over 70% of the virus, which is now being grown in three different labs in the UK to test its defence against vaccines etc). There’s over 15 strain categories of this virus worldwide, and the UK discovered one has now arrived in over a dozen countries. The original strain the L strain (any jazz fans for Take The A Strain?) from China has mutated into strains called S, V, G, GV and O which have spread worldwide. Currently still, worldwide, the strain D614G is the most common…but there’s also a South African strain codenamed 501.V2, which appears to be very contagious too.

THE STRATEGY it seems though by most governments is to CARRY ON with their current strategies, including lockdown/open up a bit/lockdown a bit (UK) don’t bother/do a bit/protest/heavy lockdowns (different States in the US), then there’s WAIT FOR THE VACCINE (Everyone), plus there’s WE’VE MOSTLY BEATEN THIS (Far East/Australia/NZ), and then a mixture of all of these depending on severity of infection. Sweden has had to admit its more Laissez-Faire attitude has been much less successful than otherwise thought.

As somebody who is oldish, CEV (clinically extremely vulnerable), and pretty fed up, I’ve hardly seen anybody this year, hardly left home and just sat in waiting to be told what to do. So, vaccine, yes please Nurse.

There’s a lot of older people who feel this way and they all have my sympathy. The three main issues until vaccines become commonplace are 1) Schools, where do the kids go if the schools are shut and what about their education 2) Healthcare system overload (In the UK, all the new temporary hospitals rapidly built have remained unoccupied due to unavailability of staff, whereas in the Far East, all the beds and isolation/treatment occurred immediately in their Built In 10 Days hospitals) 3) Testing you STILL have to pay for tests in the UK unless you are symptomatic, or are offered the antigen rapid “lateral flow” tests which are less accurate but give a guide, or if you’re a frontline worker…school kids are about to be offered these mass testing tests from January 11th, 2021 in the UK. Whether in the UK THE GOVERNMENT DIDN’T FOLLOW THE SCIENCE (ie delayed two lockdowns at crucial times by weeks leading to huge surges in infections), and this led to where we are now, well Who Knows. We are where we are.

But it’s clear COVID fatigue has set in for good. People everywhere must be simply ignoring instructions. Today (31st December), the UK reached yet again its highest number of infections per day. Cowardly vulnerables like me find it very hard to leave the house, though I actually managed two takeaway pints with my dog walking friends yesterday as an end of year treat! BUT. Most people are RELYING on the vaccine to start the long trail back to some kind of normality. Let’s wish us all luck, eh?

Let’s be flipping well optimistic eh?

3) FINALLY

I’m going to add the Data Table below as usual for every coronablog this year, and thanks to everyone who’s read it or commented. This Blog is meant to be factual with some web references (with mostly press-references this time).

See you all later in 2021, and when in doubt have a look at the words or videos by https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Phillip_Lee_(politician) (Dr Phillip Lee) and Professor Anthony Costello https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anthony_Costello who both seem to always make sense in whatever they say.

Please comment below or direct to me.

HAPPY NEW YEAR ONE AND ALL, and for flipping sake, use your wits and stay safe.

© rpl/CHRIS MARSHALL 2020/2021

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In the data below, the corrected figure for Russia is now officially 186,000 as of December 29th 2020.

Data as suppled by John Hopkins/Worldometers Dec 30th 2020

https://apple.news/AC9s5llkaRRazvkP7JZjQdg (Bloomberg/Wuhan admits)

https://www.theguardian.com/world/2020/dec/28/russia-admits-to-world-third-worst-covid-19-death-toll-underreported

https://www.nytimes.com/live/2020/12/30/world/covid-19-coronavirus-updates

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/health-51665497

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/health-55388846

https://news.sky.com/story/covid-19-should-we-be-worried-about-the-new-coronavirus-mutation-12161566

https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-9094561/Deadly-South-African-variant-coronavirus-recorded-Australia-time.html

https://www.cnbc.com/2020/12/31/uk-nod-for-astrazeneca-vaccine-raises-more-questions.html

https://news.sky.com/story/covid-news-live-latest-uk-updates-bma-warns-nhs-will-struggle-to-care-for-patients-as-gavin-williamson-faces-questions-over-schools-delay-12174643

VAXTASTIC DECEMBER!

DECEMBER 2020 - IT’S VACCINE TIME!

Who would have thought that 11 months after the announcement of the Covid-19 virus, there would be, like buses, three coming along at once with successful results in effectiveness (efficacy) and as of yesterday 2nd December 2020, the UK Regulators have signed off on the Pfizer/BioNTech vaccine, which has been manufactured in Belgium for the last three months.

On these very Blog Pages, we predicted that that very vaccine, along with the UK’s AstraZeneca /Oxford University/Jenner vaccine, and the US Moderna vaccine (all of which entered Phase Three trials first) would be the first three to announce results, and all have a 60% plus success rate, with the Oxford vaccine more successful amongst younger groups (90% plus) and Pfizer having a good efficacy with the over 65s. There are thousands of pages of data to sort through however, and the EU and USA FDA are taking their time analysing it, whereas the UK regulators say that they have been analysing as they went along, since July this year.

Here’s a table of Vaccine Info:

NB The Russian Sputnik vaccine is being rolled out right across Russia without full Phase 3 testing

There’s all manner of arguments now as to whether the vaccine SHOULD have been approved so quickly by the UK, as to whether the EU Emergency protocols were more responsible than Brexit for authorising and approving the first vaccine (they were of course), but the truth of the issue is that vaccines are here, and they’re soon to be all over the place depending on which countries have bought what.

The UK’s rollout of Pfizer/BioNTech will be a good testing ground for infrastructure and logistics in getting it to Care Homes and NHS staff first, as the containers have 975 racks of vaccine which has to be kept at -70 degrees Celsius, then can stay in a fridge for five days maximum while administering it, so let’s see how we do!

In other countries, Poland, Austria and Morocco look to be rolling out vaccines in Jan/Feb 2021, USA should get approval by the middle of December 2020, China (where life has pretty much returned to normal) is already distributing two of its major Pharma’s vaccines to military and frontline workers and has been for two months (see chart below), and more vaccine announcements are being made daily as purchase deals are completed. Here’s the latest December 2020 list of Phase Three Trials Completed vaccines:

N.B. Sinopharm (China) have been selling its two vaccines around the world, including South America and Morocco. But it seems that the UK, EU and USA will be the first countries serving the populations with a number of vaccines; watch this space to see how effective these are, and news on results and reports from these places concerned….

MEANWHILE

The Second (and third, according to Sweden!) Waves of infections and deaths have been indeed soaring around the world…the World Daqta is at the end of this blog report as usual. But deaths at up to 2500/day in the US , 600/700 in France, UK, Russia and still increasing in South America (with over 200,000 new infections in the USA daily, 33,000 India and 48,000 Brazil), it doesn’t seem like many governments have got the right answer for Covid Control anywhere, with exceptions in the Far East, Australia and New Zealand of course. Lockdowns, three tier systems, local or national restrictions, in many places, the incidence is still rising. The vaccines couldn’t come a minute too soon.

I reckon an awful lot of people (including me) are feeling rather fed up with this year, so rather than go on about the even worse cases of croneyism I’ve discovered emanating from the UK’s Conservative Government, or my joy at the eventual (when he grows up) Trump replacement as President of the USA, it’s probably best to let everyone have as best an end-of-year as possible, celebrating Christmas if you do that kind of thing, with whoever you’re allowed to, and to finally see what the New Year 2021 brings in terms of joy, good health, and some happiness, not to mention Back To Work and back To The Pub as soon as possible….

So finally, various folks have said that there are all manner of ways to get tested since a few blogs ago, particularly here in the UK. Could I write something about them?

So here goes: TESTING in the UK December 2020

A) ANTIBODY TESTS: 

Antibody (60 mins/lab by post up to 48 hrs)…ABBOTT vein or finger prick (£50-£100) Private appt OR Home Test Kit…..”Rapid Antibody”.  95% up accuracy (IgG/IgM) Postal test available most cheaply from MedExpress.co.uk (£50).

There is a rapid antibody test available privately in the UK too, but its accuracy is not sufficiently high for national rollout…it’s been mentioned in this blog before and it’s called the AbC-19 Rapid Test. There’s also in use in the US the “Assure” Antibody Rapid Test, the Biohit rapid test, and the Omnipath Elisa test kits available from Thermo Fisher.

FYI Labs now can use these automated machines to analyse blood for super accurate antibody testing (Anti-SARS-CoV-2) : Roche (Switz./Elecsys modular analyser)…100% effective after Day 14 infection/ Abbott (USA/Architect detects leg antibodies only) also 100% after Day 14/ Liaison Test (DiaSorin, Italy) 97.4% after 15 days.

LATEST ANTIBODY TEST NEWS IS that as of November 20, there’s now the VirTus (IgM/IgG) finger prick antibody test which may even detect repetitive infections by Covid! It’s the most sensitive antibody test about… gets IgG and IgM results independently…it’s 20% more accurate than Abbott and Roche, developed by Imperial College London, and distributed worldwide. 4 days after test..get your results. In London, the Mayfield Clinic has it: £130 fingerprick home kit, £230-£300 in clinic/vein.

B) ANTIGEN/RT-PCR TESTS (Swab etc):

To recap, these standard Covid-19 tests are the ones where if you’ve got symptoms, you book the test online via the NHS website and usually do a drive-in, and get the results back in 36-48 hrs, for free, after having a swab go all around your mouth and throat. Active virus will be picked up and detected in a complicated but accurate lab procedure. However, there are now paid for swab kits which you can get delivered for £ 125 - £150 and 3 days later get the result.

(https://www.privatecoronavirustests.com/product/coronavirus-testing-kit) Having someone do it for you in clinic costs £150 - £275 in the UK. There are lots of private places where you can get these, especially useful for asymptomatic folks who may need a Certificate to Fly !

Then there’s the RAPID Antigen Lateral Flow Test.

In Liverpool, thousands and thousands of people were tested rapidly in a 20 day period using them….this is claimed to be a 10 - 20 minute results test, used by more and more people worldwide, with a 90 - 97 % accuracy apparently. Th UK government has bought millions of these tests and more and more local councils are being supplied with them for tests for people with or without symptoms, for free. This nose/throat swab test is made by Innova who claim accuracy of 88% - 99%.

Other lateral flow tests can also be paid for at £99 with a visit to a private lab (such as the London Medical labs). The Panbio test is a simple nose swab test, and is a version of the SARS-CoV-2 Rapid Antigen Test made by Roche and also distributed worldwide (see pix above).

FINALLY It seems that some of the quicker tests are now getting better results than was originally thought, but results are still varying around the world and need huge amounts of data to give definitive thoughts on what tests are best.

Testing, Test-Trace-Isolate, Safe-Distancing, Wash your hands, WEAR A MASK…… these are THE phrases of 2020 whether we liked it or not. They’ll continue to be until the middle of 2021 MINIMUM I’d say.

Happy New Year all and COMMENTS WELCOME!

GO AWAY COVID!

WORLD DATA DECEMBER 2nd 2020

Data December 2nd 2020

https://www.nsmedicaldevices.com/news/lateral-flow-test-covid-19/

https://www.belle.org.uk/news-1/2020/5/26/are-the-roche-and-abbott-antibody-tests-really-more-accurate-than-other-tests

SCOUSERS LEAD THE WAY!

WELL NOW, as we head into a winter of lockdown almost everywhere in the UK (four weeks in England starting in a few days), it’s the SCOUSERS (aka The Residents of Liverpool, England) who from Friday will be TRIALLING the UK’s brand spanking new MASS TESTING system. According to the Independent:

“…..Health experts have criticised Boris Johnson for claiming the UK “now has a system of mass testing” – when a trial earmarked for a single city has yet to begin….Ministers hope most of the 500,000 residents of Liverpool will be tested for Covid-19 every seven to 10 days, as a possible route to ending England’s new lockdown on time on 2 December. But full details of the scheme are yet to be thrashed out. In a typically bullish message to the Cabinet, Mr Johnson said: “In addition to the better drugs that we now have, and the prospect of vaccine, we now have a system of mass testing. Rapid turnaround testing that I believe can be a massive and possibly decisive use to us in this country in defeating the virus…….”

What they’re going to have a bash at doing from this Friday is to get our MILITARY (2000 of them) to set up testing centres where a barrage of three different testing methods will be used on a daily basis to “mass-test” everyone in Liverpool who comes forward, symptoms or no symptoms, and should this produce results, as the Test/Trace system has largely failed, then hopefully a whole load more folks will be rapidly told to self-isolate if they’re Covid Positive, and hence the virus spread could be reduced significantly if introduced in many hotspot cities in the UK. Johnson says 500,000 will be tested in the first week…the Liverpool mayor says it will be 70,000 to 100,000.

The three tests to be used in Liverpool are the following:

1. The “New” and hardly used in the UK, Lateral-flow tests using nose-and-mouth swabs or saliva – producing results in 15 to 60 minutes. These tests are designed to identify asymptomatic people and will be used across Liverpool as part of the pilot to test the city's whole population. It uses similar technology to a pregnancy test.

   A swab is inserted into the nose or throat, then the sample is inserted into a tube of liquid for a short time which extracts the molecule that determines if COVID-19 is present. No laboratory equipment is needed as a few drops of liquid are then dropped onto a small strip.

   Within 15 minutes, the strip of paper will show up with two lines if it is positive, one line on the top if it is negative or one line on the bottom if the test is invalid.

2. The standard PCR Swab Tests are the most reliable and may be needed to back up the Lateral Flow results as confirmation. To remind you all. dear Blog Fans, a swab is used to collect an RNA sample (the nucleic acid that converts DNA into proteins) from the patient's tonsils and inside their nose….RNA is collected as it carries the genetic information of this specific virus.

   This is then sent to a lab where the sample is heated and cooled so it multiplies into larger quantities of DNA…. Bioscientists can then see whether the SARS-CoV-2 virus (the virus that causes COVID-19) is present……it’s complicated, but there are fewer false positives than any other test. Because of the process, PCR test results take about two days.

3. LAMP testing…this is the hopefully best cross of very accurate and quite fast. Loop-mediated Isothermal Amplification (LAMP) is a similar process to PCR testing but produces many more viral RNA copies at a constant temperature instead of heating and cooling so can have a result much quicker - within a couple of hours or even faster. A swab is used to take samples from the nose or throat, or mucus from hard coughing can also be used. The swabbing does not need to be as vigorous as it is for the PCR test apparently. The samples are then placed in vials of reagents (substances that produce a chemical reaction to detect the RNA), then heated in a special machine for 20 minutes. The machine then analyses the sample and confirms if there is any SARS-CoV-2 RNA.

   LAMP technology will be used to test NHS staff in Liverpool as part of a pilot in the city to "inform a blueprint for how mass testing can be achieved and how fast and reliable COVID-19 testing can be delivered at scale", the Department of Health and Social Care said. They kind of added too that in mid-September, LAMP testing was part of a £500m funding boost after a successful pilot across Hampshire hospitals, GP test hubs and care homes.

The other UK Tests available are the 4) 90-minute PCR swab test (as detailed in recent weeks on this blog) made in the UK using cartridge machines made by DnaNudge, which can also detect other viruses like Flu, the 5) Saliva Test (which is a home LAMP test which gets results in 48 hrs, 6) Antigen Tests (saliva tests) being currently trialled in Care Homes, and which take a matter of hours, 7) the Virolens Instant test (saliva tests) made by UK companies iAbra and TT Electronics, which has a lower accuracy sensitivity, but which is intended to be used at Airports, after a trial at Heathrow, and finally 8) Antibody tests (like the one I’ve had and paid £49 for) which is a 12 hour blood test available in private clinics. All other Antibody tests involving pinprick tests are said to be rather inaccurate currently…..

MEANWHILE.

USA Election Day is here, and after the current President caught the virus then “got cured in 4 days”, that country is in the grip of truth, lies, misinformation, mask denying and a huge continuing and rising of rates of infection, with the corresponding number of deaths associated. US Press has reported estimates of 20,000-40,000 additional Covid infections during Trump non-mask rallies , while Iran, Russia and Brazil have had their daily infections rocket to their highest rates yet. Also in the News this week, Slovakia had a mass testing of 50% of its population tested over two days (2.58 million) and results indicated that 1% of the population was infected, and have to go into immediate isolation…phew.

In Britain the strange croneyism carries on….the disgracefully incompetent Baroness Dido Harding STILL hasn’t resigned after her Privatised Test and Track system managed to reach all time lows in terms of contacts traced (45%) and times of contact (as long as 7 days to trace people). All data © ONS. In addition, her husband, Tory minister John Penrose is on a right wing committee the 1828, which had called for Public Health England to be scrapped. Interestingly, it IS being replaced by a new body called the Institute for Health Protection, to be run by, yup, Dido Harding.

DISGUST continues.

IN ADDITION, the Government’s entire VACCINATION plan is out for tender! Read on, from The Sunday Times, November 1st, 2020:

Vaccine taskforce head Kate Bingham shared UK plans with private firms

The head of Britain’s vaccine taskforce is facing calls to resign after disclosing “official sensitive” government documents to a $200-a-head conference in America last week. Kate Bingham, a venture capitalist who is married to a Conservative minister, was appointed to the role by Boris Johnson in May despite having no vaccines expertise. She reports directly to him. Last week Bingham, 55, spent an hour explaining the government’s strategy to a “premier webinar and networking event” for women in private equity hosted by a Massachusetts company. According to a video of the event, she showed financiers a detailed list of vaccines which the UK government is closely monitoring and could later invest in. Bingham said: “We haven’t necessarily signed contracts with all of them so far. But they’re all in our sights.”

Several of the vaccines are owned or funded by publicly traded companies that those attending the conference could invest in, based on her insight. It is understood that ministers did not sign off her appearance. Bingham, who combines her job leading the vaccine taskforce with her role as managing director of SV Health Investors, a private equity firm, also said she expects all over-50s to have a vaccine available to them by Easter. However, she also produced official documents predicting that up to 40% of adults will never take a vaccine. Bingham used the talk to say that the government had “continued concern” over whether the vaccines would “actually work” — and emphasised that she did not have “any data” on whether they work at all for those with flu.

As head of the taskforce, Bingham is responsible for billions of pounds of public investment in vaccine programmes to protect the elderly and vulnerable first, followed by the wider population. Since Sage, the government’s scientific advisers, concluded that testing had had only a “marginal” impact on transmission, some ministers have privately concluded that a vaccine is the only “exit strategy” from restrictions that could last into the new year. That makes Bingham more influential in shaping Britain’s response to the pandemic than most of the politicians around the cabinet table.

Yet she is far from an ordinary public servant. Like Dido Harding, head of NHS Test and Trace, Bingham spent her career in the private sector and is married to a Tory MP. Jesse Norman, 58, is financial secretary to the Treasury and attended Eton at the same time as Johnson. Bingham went to private school with Johnson’s sister Rachel.

With the prospect of millions of orders from the British state when those vaccines are developed, such companies could look like smart investments.

Last night Sir Alistair Graham, a former chairman of the committee on standards in public life, said Bingham appeared to be the latest example of “pretty shocking” recruitment practices in government. “Members of the Conservative government are looking after their friends by putting them in big appointments without any due process,” he said, adding that Bingham was “seriously ill-advised” in giving the talk: “It must raise a question as to whether she is a suitable person to be chairing a taskforce like that.”

Jon Ashworth, the Labour health secretary, said: “There are serious questions as to why this information was shared at an international conference where attendees paid for access. This information should be shared with the public.”

Sigh.

Finally, the Vaccine news is that these ten have reached close to the end of their large Phase 3 Trials:

• The University of Oxford and AstraZeneca vaccine in the UK

• Pfizer and BioNTech in Germany

• Moderna in the US

• CanSino with the Beijing Institute of Biotechnology in China

• Gamaleya Research Institute in Russia

• Janssen

• Beijing Institute of Biological Products and Sinopharm in China

• Sinovac and Instituto Butantan in Brazil

• Wuhan Institute of Biological Products and Sinopharm in China

• Novavax in the US, currently also being trialled in London

STAY SAFE wherever you are, folks x

November 2nd, 2020

Please comment below to your heart’s discontent.

EVERYONE'S A BILLIONAIRE!

Wednesday, 7th October, 2020

Well as I awoke this morning, I was cheered, and excited by the news that there are, due to tax concessions made between April and June this year, MORE and MUCH MUCH RICHER Billionaires out there than ever before (25% richer actually than 6 months earlier)! First Prize goes to, unfortunately not my friend and benefactor, Mr Jeffrey Bezos. His net worth has now reached 200 BILLION DOLLARS! Whilst all of us were stuck at home buying unnecessary items on Amazon, the Stock Markets were going Ape-Poo and on one day in July 2020 alone, Jeff added $13 Billion. Congratulations I say, and could I have a 5% discount on that Alexa Dot thing I seem to have to buy please?

Mr Jeffrey Bezos, Amazon Prime Billionaire, 200 times over

MEANWHILE, let’s all cheer for the UK’s World Beating Track and Trace system. Last week they lost details of over 15,000 positive Covid-19 testees because the Private Labs involved sent them to some Private IT consultants (all managed by Baroness Dido Harding who is well known for losing data), who were using 2007 Microsoft Excel Software, which isn’t intended for large amounts of data. The 15,000 plus data therefore couldn’t be transferred as they’d run out of columns. “NHS” Track and Trace (which is run by Private Companies, including Serco, with an equally fabulous reputation) is now desperately trying to locate the contacts of all those people infected, but whose data has been lost.

Oh dear.

MEANWHILE, in the USA, the current President apparently caught Covid-19’s virus (as did his wife), after a major non-mask wearing fund-raising event, and where as of this morning, 27 members of Trump’s inner circle of advisers and staff have now become Covid Positive. He was released after a few days of incredibly intense treatment from Walter Reed Military Hospital in Maryland, where he was constantly videoed for his campaign, saying he was “better than ever”, given FIVE courses of the antiviral drug reported here months ago Remdesivir, dosed with Dexamethasone (the steroid reported here too, useful for calming the body’s immune system so as not to produce an over reaction of antibodies etc), and finally given the experimental drug cocktail REGN-COV2 which has first been given in tests in Oxford and the North of England to 500 or so patients in experimental trials. It is a “monoclonal antibody therapy” made by the company Regeneron, and looks like it’s showing a lot of promise in these early tests.

https://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/home-news/trump-coronavirus-drug-antibody-treatment-regn-cov2-b754707.html

ANYHOW the President was released, after first endangering his security staff during a “Drive-By” for his fans outside the hospital, then arrived back at the White House, still infectious, where he waved to the adoring crowds having removed his mask, and tweeted 20 times including “don’t be afraid of Covid, don’t let it dominate your life” etc etc…who knows if he’ll make a speedy recovery. Will we able to tell anyway? Two more Presidential Shouting Matches are planned. Will report back on them…Election Day is less than 30 days away. Over 210,000 people have died in the USA of Covid-19. Just saying.

Oh dear

Trump’s personal physician (love the word) Dr Sean Conley said it was touch and go, and that there’s still “some way to go” before the President is fit again.

https://www.webmd.com/lung/news/20201004/trump-could-be-released-from-hospital-monday

In UK regional news, the usual latest disasters continue. Apart from the underperforming hugely destructive privatised Test/Trace system, now with added Google-Apple app (finally), Medical supplier and Pharmaceutical Company Roche (they of the Test manufacture) announced this morning that there will be at least two weeks of major Swab and Reagent shortage in the UK due to a “relocation and automation of a factory”. Great. The promised 15-30 minute saliva tests for “currently having Covid” STILL haven’t happened. The reliable antibody tests are STILL only available privately unless you’re a frontline health worker (you can get one for £50, ask for the Abbott or Roche test). HOWEVER, there are a few companies as of October 2020 in the UK who offer home test kits which are more reliable than the earlier ones, and which cover antibody tests and PCR Covid (antigen) tests. One such company is https://www.testingforall.org/individuals/ which charges £39 for an antibody test, all the tests are the certified Roche tests, but details are on the website.

In an additional silly and evil development, tens of thousands of people infected with coronavirus were incorrectly given the all-clear by England’s Lighthouse laboratories, a High Court trial has been told. Court documents seen by The Independent show that the labs are accused of selecting software that was found in a test to have produced a significant number of errors and false negatives for samples that should have been classed as positive or needing to be retaken.

The two companies behind the PRIVATE Lighthouse Labs in England – Medicines Discovery Catapult Ltd and UK Biocentre Ltd – are accused of treating British company Diagnostics.ai unfairly and giving preferential treatment to Belgian company UgenTec, despite the British firm’s software performing better in the test. The case also includes a judicial review brought against the health secretary, Matt Hancock, over the procurement decision – one of the first court hearings over the procurement processes followed by the government since the start of the pandemic.

https://www.independent.co.uk/news/health/coronavirus-testing-lighthouse-laboratories-high-court-trial-b595328.html

This government has already shown a frightening amount of croneyism but its desire to use dodgy firms who can’t do the job is just so, so, so er…GRAYLING.

With the UK reporting over 14,000 new infections daily, and the rest of Europe and the Americas having ever increasing numbers, it seems pretty vital over the course of the Pre-Vaccine stage of Covid-19 that isolation via testing and tracing wherever you are is the only remaining method available to attempt to control virus spread. Parts of major cities across Europe have gone into second lockdown including Madrid and Paris, even though the virus has still not been regarded as entering a “Second Wave”. What does this mean? The first wave hasn’t been controlled properly in here territories.

In India for example, there are the most new cases per day with nearly 1000 deaths daily. They are desperately trying to increase the level of testing across the whole of a rather large country. This week, they have announced a “Paper test”, which is called a Feluda Test. This is very cheap, like a pregnancy test, and costs about £5. These will be crucial, because the standard PCR swab test and the cheaper but not so accurate antigen tests are in relatively short supply in India. The Feluda test will be nearly as accurate as the PCR test! Hurray. Can we have some please?

In the UK, the capacity of standard testing via PCR (swab) will never get to the promised 500,000/day because the seven “Lighthouse Labs” which process the public “community” tests will never have that capacity, and the current results time is anything up to 10 days, where tests have to be taken up to 100 miles from the testee’s home. This is why the newer technology covid test methods are essential. Now. We’ll report when they’re starting to become available. They’re late.

https://www.thelancet.com/journals/lanres/article/PIIS2213-2600(20)30445-8/fulltext

Schools and Universities going back are in big big trouble as more and more students are testing positive, and are having to be locked down in Halls of Residence and Student Houses. This is another reason why effective strategies are flipping important to avoid a self-created Second Wave pre-Vaccine. Merry Christmas everyone! My day trip to Brighton (my 2020 vacation) eased my mental heath a very small amount. I’m hoping some more trips out to the seaside in the cold months to come will prevent total insanity setting in before, before…ah! Before That Vaccine Arrives! Despite the warnings last week that Europe in particular France and the UK will have problems delivering vaccines due to a massive shortage of infrastructure and glass vials to contain the stuff, there WILL be the odd vaccine soon. Ish. So where are we on that?

The Guardian Vaccine Tracker gives us this today:

This means that there are TEN vaccines in Final Phase three trials (light blue) which involve tens of thousands of people being tested. There are also several major but smaller trials going where people are deliberately infected with Covid (all younger folks) and vaccines administered right away!

All of the above could be ready if they pass the trials 90% successfully or more by January 2021. Fingers Crossed.

Comment below if desired please. Keep as sane as you fancy. Christof

TUESDAY 6th OCTOBER 2020 DATA (Johns Hopkins/Via Worldometes)

Covid Committee In Action 21st September 2020

PRE-2nd LOCKDOWN EXCLUSIVE PIC!

Johnson Hancock and Cummings with their handlers

As the UK, already under many local restrictions, largely being ignored, goes into further lockdown, as schools have returned, and Universities are about to follow, many BOLD statements have been made by Government types, like Johnson Sturgeon Starmer and others. One (Johnson) suggested there would be a “Moonshot” mass testing programme introduced by the end of the year, involving saliva technology that hasn’t been approved or officially accepted. Another (Hancock) suggested that Track and Trace was reaching 80% of its target. Government’s own figures when analysed by the ONS put this at 53% at best. Less than 80% means the system is failing. BUT HURRAH. There WILL be an app for England finally. It’s the Google/Apple Test-Trace app (used by a lot of the rest of the world for months and turned down by Public Health England), and it will be released on September 24th.

ALL the other finger-prick tests, saliva tests, free antibody tests and more have not been delivered. Not one. They’ve all been detailed on these pages here, but STILL, if you want an antibody test, you pay £85-125 for it, if you want a Covid swab test, you can hardly get one at all (because the private labs the government have tendered results analysis to have NOT got the capacity to deal with the number of applications) and the government didn’t think the NHS labs (of which there are loads) should get the work, and if you want a home test kit or a drive in appointment, “You’ll be lucky”. Or rather, according to the Government’s friend the Daily Mail:

Britain's biggest Covid testing lab 'is prioritising private work over NHS after signing contracts to test rugby stars and travellers to Dubai while missing targets for public.' Randox Lab in Northern Ireland have admitted that as a Private Company handling a quarter of the UK’s tests, very much fewer than one in ten tests are done on time (on September 9th, for instance) and a private deal done with “a multimillionaire” has resulted in passengers travelling to Dubai getting priority screening.

The lab employs Conservative MP Owen Paterson as a consultant for £100,000 a year which easily surpasses his salary as an MP. 

Paterson has previously lobbied the government on behalf of the company. Randox has insisted its relationship with Mr Paterson had no role in it winning the multimillion contract from the government.

The firm is said be having major staffing problems - with 35,000 tests voided since the start of August. 

The company, based in County Antrim, Northern Ireland, is said to be blaming leaks, damaged tubes and people sending urine rather than saliva, as the reason for voiding the tests. This flipping company has been around since 1982! Tory consultants have resulted in people like now BARONESS Dido (Trace? Who’s Trace?) Harding being placed in control of that “system”…..

In July, Randox was forced to recall half a million test kits after checks revealed they were not sterile. 

In short, in this country, the rule of incompetent and immoral cronyism again results in disgusting incompetence. Overseas observers galore have mocked the hopeless testing (and tracing) strategy in the UK. If more patients are released into Care Homes (to prepare for increasing hospital capacity if there’s a full on Second Wave of infection, which looks like is rapidly approaching), there will simply be More Deaths. End Of (as the youngsters say).

https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-8752513/Britains-biggest-Covid-testing-lab-prioritising-Premiership-Rugby-stars.html

https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2020/sep/18/government-faces-legal-action-over-moonshot-covid-testing-project

https://www.abingdonhealth.com/uk-covid-19-rapid-antibody-tests-approved-for-professional-use/

World Data Sep 20th 2020

With infections rising all over the world, Europe potentially seeing a “Second Wave/Spike/Phase” and India and the Americas suffering continually, it’ll be interesting to see who’s got the best strategy to get through the upcoming Northern hemisphere winter.

Me? I’ve had my flu jab! If I get offered a Covid Jab sooner rather than later, I may just grab it, and go to California, asap!

Comments welcome as ever…

Test test test, I must attest I can't GET A TEST!

September 8th, 2020. London, UK

It’s the latest edition of the Covilicious Times, Autumnal Edition #1

HELLO EVERYONE. I think it’s pretty much been established that the UK has been really way way back in the list for effective testing for this Coronavirus. There was a bit of hope when a gentleman called Mr Hancock said three months ago (see way below in this blog) that the testing system was up to capacity of 200,000 tests or more per day for the virus itself. This included Home Kits (with a 40-50% success rate that these in fact worked at all), Drive in Centres (which could take up to 8 days to get any results back), and hospitals and care staff where hopefully, you could be tested when needed, and patients only with Covid symptoms were allowed a test.

Now it seems in doubt the numbers of places up and down the country, either you have to drive over 100 miles to get tested, OR, er, well, OR NOTHING. The UK Testing system has broken down totally. Often they have RUN OUT OF TESTS. Obviously, Dominic forgot to order them from Ocado. Oh and that applies to the Drive-In sites too, which have become Unavailable up and down the land (see below).

This is all rather distressing as six months ago, Test Test Test was the International mantra.

Ah well, and the Abbott/Roche antibody test (the reliable one) is only available PRIVATELY (shape of things to come?) with finger prick variations still not distributed across the UK. It’s all a bit dreary and with the Next Wave expected in the UK now as Universities and Schools go back, and as people come back from their holidays to be greeted with increasingly confused quarantine conditions here in the UK, with still no testing at airports, unlike most of Europe, testing (let’s not get started on the UK’s pretty awful Test and Trace, where the app is “still being readied”), is going to continue to be the only way to control this outbreak.

The first mass Antibody University study in the UK came back two weeks ago to suggest that 96% people of the 100,000 who tested positive for Covid-19 had sufficient antibodies to perhaps last a few months, rather like the current flu vaccines introduced annually (I’m about to get mine next week). So, fingers crossed…

https://www.imperial.nhs.uk/about-us/news/largest-home-antibody-testing-publishes-results

The UK’s specially commissioned Antibody test (finger prick/20 minutes) is called the AbC-19 rapid test, and it’s been developed by Abingdon Health in the UK. Similar Tests have been used in the US and China for several months but are said to not have the same sensitivity or accuracy. These are being “rolled out” at 500,000/month from October,  and the test showed very low rates of false negatives and false positives, with a sensitivity of 98.03% and a specificity of 99.56%. Hoo flipping ray. But medical professionals need to actually give the test. Right? So hopefully, get down to yer GP and everybody grab one I say.

https://www.fiercebiotech.com/medtech/u-k-antibody-test-approved-to-support-government-s-free-coronavirus-screening-efforts

Worldwide, infections are rocketing in certain countries. On the 7th September, INDIA was announcing over 75,000 infections a day with over 1000 deaths, USA 25,000 with nearly 300 deaths, and in Europe, the “spikes” have started to happen in terms of infection rates. France over 4,000/day, UK up to 3,000/day, Spain 2,500/day with everywhere in South America seeing thousands of new infections daily.

Sep 7th 2020

Any good news so far in September?

Yes. Australia have been beaten twice by England in T20 Internationals! Hurray!

More soon, comments still welcome here.

I'd love a bleach! I mean, BEACH.

August 17th 2020

Summer arrived in the UK so that means lots of far too much hot weather (“I can’t sleep!”) followed by thunderstorms and floods (“Ah, I can’t sleep, I’m wet”). Rather than continue to uh “discuss” the competence and honesty or not of HM’s Government regarding contracts awarded, true numbers of testing, tracing and deaths, the scrapping of the government’s app, now replaced quietly with the Google-Apple one, eventually, soon, sometime…..well, the kids are in the headlines with exam results fiascos, when to go back to school, which pubs to go to, theatres, live performances etc, and companies like Debenhams having to close lots of stores and lay off staff…the UK test and Trace system has practically been replaced by regional ones, as in lots of other countries, who also have AN APP. So, well done Blackburn and Calderdale Local Councils!

Yup, when a vaccine comes (vaccine news coming up), getting everyone back to something will be a massive problem in the UK. There’s still a 1000 a day being infected in the UK and over a 100 a week dying from Covid-19 in England (none in Scotland or Northern Ireland).

How about contract news, for instance, have the right people got the right and money to supply PPE say, in the UK?

Oh dear.

Oh dear.

MEANTIME, recognising that of hugest importance worldwide is in the area of testing testing testing, the company rather surprisingly given the contract to produce RAPID antibody tests DNANudge/Oxford Nanopore hasn’t revealed when these tests will be available…was supposed to be now. They also haven’t revealed how accurate these tests will be no matter how rapid……(more pix below)

ALSO, in TESTING NEWS, a company in Cardiff has developed a test for coronavirus T cells - which can potentially provide longer-term immunity to the virus than antibodies. The body develops T cells when fighting an infection and they can create more antibodies if a person is exposed again. people could be antibody NEGATIVE but T cell POSITIVE! Some people have been discovered to display this….

This means the immune system could remember how to fight Covid-19 even after original antibodies have faded. Indoor Biotechnologies is "hopeful" the test will help in vaccine development…..

VACCINE NEWS In Moscow, Putin last week revealed he had given his daughter a vaccine developed by the Gamaleya Institute in Moscow, that hasn’t even had any Phase 3 (mass testing) trials. He’s called it “Sputnik V”. Yeah, right.

MEANWHILE the UK government has bought up millions of doses of SIX separate vaccines of four different types. So here goes. These are reported:

• Oxford/Jenner/AstraZeneca Phase 3 Trials partially completed, and T cells and antibodies successfully produced (ZD1222) 100 million doses of this ADENOVIRUS vaccine

• Pfizer/BioNTech (Germany) 30 million doses, an mRNA vaccine BNT162 (Phase 3)

• Valneva (France) 60 million doses, “Inactivated whole virus vaccine” (Phase 1)

• Janssen (Belgium) 30 million doses of this ADENOVIRUS vaccine (Phase 2)

• Novavax (USA) NVX-CoV2373 60 million doses, Protein Adjuvant vaccine (Phase 2)

• GSK/Sanofi/Clover/Dybavax, Protein Adjuvant vaccine (Phase 1) SCB-2019 (Australia)

The Novavax vaccine is under Phase 2b trials in South Africa

The following are also in later development worldwide in major trials.

• Moderna/NIAID (USA) (Phase 3 trials) mRNA-1273

• CanSino (China) (Phase 3 Trials) Ad5-nCoV

• Sinovac “CoronaVac” (Phase 3)

• Sinopharm/Wuhan (Phase 3) Inactivated vaccine

PLUS there’s loads more being developed….watch this space!

AND FINALLY FOR AUGUST:

Death Destruction Devastation Desperation and Dodgy Directing.

No, not only from the UK Government, that’s my review of last year’s movie JOKER, which I saw, loathed and just thought I’d love anyone to mention any recent non-violent movies, that I’d enjoy. Fluffier the better.

AND HERE’S THE DATA CHART (Aug 17th, 2020)…comments welcome below as ever.

ANTI-VAXXERS!

Doris says Anti-Vaxxers are NUTS

So far, I’ve found the majority of what the UK Government has had to say as rather confusing, complicated, wrong, detrimental to the wellbeing of the people of the UK, (England, particularly), contradictory, and factually well and truly dodgy. Anyone who has read the pure facts contained here would see that I’ve tried to outline the facts accurately, as I’ve checked and double checked on the web, in medical journals, in the online and printed press, and on the broadcast media.

However Dear Reader, I finally agree with the sentiment of the largely confused, and allegedly dishonest PM of this country, for whom a majority apparently voted.

The sentiment is this:

“ANTI-VAXXERS ARE NUTS”

If anybody reading this blog has a different view, I’d love to hear it. Please get in touch, and particularly, only serious honest views acceptable please.

It’s just that in the USA there are vast numbers of people who have all manner of theories, and who as of this very week have declared that no vaccine will ever be taken by them. They won’t take Flu vaccines, won’t take MMR vaccines and outbreaks of measles have not been uncommon in North and South America, not to mention in parts of Europe.

Ah well.

Vaccine news then: PHASE 3 (ie larger scale and possibly final vaccine trials on humans) are underway with the mRNA-1273 vaccine (Moderna) in the USA. Other Phase 3 trials as reported here (!) are the AZD1222 (Oxford/Jenner Institute/AstraZeneca), CoronaVac (Sinovac), and the BNT162 from Pfizer/BioNTech in Germany. Two other candidates from Sinopharm and CanSino both in Wuhan China are in final development pre-Phase 3. The UK has invested in nearly 200 million doses of four of these vaccines already in the last two months.

The DNA Nudge and its inventor!

Treatment news: the DnaNudge company has produced a little device which will analyse a miniswab from the nose and mouth in 90 minutes…the tests are called LamPORE tests and are useful because hospitals, schools and labs will have thousands of these machines by September apparently, so they’re being described as “on the spot” tests. They can also detect flu and other viruses it is claimed, so with winter coming soon in the UK, the accuracy of these tests could be vital for how we handle the virus in the next six months. They are approved by Oxford University, and should help the government reach its half a million tests per day goal much more quickly (it says here) and they won’t get lost in the post. The speed is the most important thing, and as of this morning a report on the NHS Track Trace system revealed that less than 55% of people tracked are being reached and are supplying details, and until that figure reaches 75%, it is said that the Tracing setup will not be of much use.

The major worry is that with spikes of infections emerging (not just in the UK by the way) constantly, there may have to be additional local or total lockdowns. Melbourne, Australia is undergoing a six week semi-lock down with bars and clubs shut. South America is seeing the highest increase in deaths at the moment (Mexico in particular) and the infection rate in the US has increased dramatically in the last four weeks.

Courtesy: BBC News

OPINION

The World is certainly experiencing a virus that isn’t dying out. Testing is pretty good in quite a few countries, in many others it is taking a very long time to get the testing/tracing/strategy to any decent position. Until vaccines are produced and administered, the poor parts of the World will see shocking continuations in infection and death, whilst many economies are going down the pan. The people who ignore the rules, i.e. having mass gatherings (completely stupid), not wearing masks A LOT (irresponsible) and of course not washing hands (goes without saying) are just going to find death, damnation and destruction (Ed.-“steady on, Buster”) thrust upon them.

What’s life all about? Phew. Well it’s being with mates, family, working to earn a crust and/or to create, build, investigate, explore and discover stuff. It’s about other stuff too obviously, But wherever you are in the World (except New Zealand perhaps), nobody can do much of this at present, and won’t be able to until it really is safe to resume where we left off.

I’ve got to say the few times I’ve been out and about in the last few months I’ve found pretty spooky, and got most wary of being close to people, especially in locations where I feel they’re flouting the rules, being selfish, uncaring, inconsiderate and particularly stupid.

I don’t wanna moan about other people’s behaviour. I suspect if you’re a selfish stupid maybe heartless or greedy, maybe simply unintelligent person, you can’t cope with this strict situation and the need to prevent this nasty thing spreading. In the UK we have Politicians in Power sneaking vast amounts of really unpleasant legislature through our Parliament system, and it scares me. We’ve just had a vast increase in the number of Peers in the unelected House of Lords, and they’re nearly all friends and family of the Prime Minister (see links below). In the US (where I was planning to be for a bunch of 2020 working and catching up with fantastic friends I have out there), there are all manner of unusual plans for the incumbent President to remain in Power even if he loses the Election this November, or even if he delays it by whatever means he can. Well, 2021 may end up being a whirlwind of a different year from this one. Let’s party for a vaccine or two please, let’s pray that the treatments available help to reduce the death rate and let’s hope people act with decency to reduce the spread of this ghastly virus, which may even contribute to long term damage in people’s heart and brain function and tissue (we’ll discuss the evidence for that next time), but wouldn’t it be gorgeous if we all ended up being better people too?

F. C.

Donna and Doris

WORLD DATA UPDATE (15 DAY CHANGE)

699,000 deaths worldwide as of 4th Aug 2020

Deaths  - Deaths/miliion pop.

Belgium 9850 (9800) - 850 (845)

UK   46210 (45000)  - 680 (667)

Spain 28470 (28420)  -  609 (608)

Peru 19800 (13200) - 600 (400)

Italy   35100 (35000) - 582 (580)

Sweden   5750 (5600) - 569 (556)

Chile 9750 (8500) - 509 (445)

USA 159000 (143000) - 481 (433)

France  30200 (30100) - 464 (462)

Brazil 94700 (79600) - 446 (374)

Mexico 48000 (39200) - 372 (304)

Ecuador  5767 (5310) - 326 (301)

Canada    8950 (8850) - 237 (234)

….

Russia  14350 (12500)   95 (85)

…..

India   39790  (27500)  29 (13)

https://edition.cnn.com/2020/07/30/politics/trump-delay-election-no-authority/index.html

https://www.nih.gov/news-events/news-releases/phase-3-clinical-trial-investigational-vaccine-covid-19-begins

https://www.raps.org/news-and-articles/news-articles/2020/3/covid-19-vaccine-tracker

https://www.newscientist.com/article/2237475-covid-19-news-new-dna-and-swab-tests-give-results-in-90-minutes/

https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2020/aug/03/cronyism-at-work-as-johnson-packs-the-lords

"We're DOOMED, Mister Mainwaring, OR ARE WE????"

TESTS, TRACES, INFECTIONS, DEATHS, VACCINES, TREATMENTS, LONG-LASTING EFFECTS, GOVERNMENT LIES, EGOTISTICAL MORONS FROM THE PLANET THARG and other stories

Well it’s been 19 days since the last blogthing here, so what’s happened?

1. DATA The World has seen the highest global increase in Covid-19 cases in one day, nearly 260,000 on 18th July, 2020. The biggest daily increases were in USA, Brazil, India and South Africa, with an additional 7,000 plus deaths in one day. All of South America having dramatic rises in infection.

2. TREATMENT UK company Synairgen have developed a treatment using Interferon Beta (a protein produced by the body when viruses hit it!) by direct inhaling into the lungs using a nebuliser and results to date show a reduction by 79% of people needing a ventilator. Good News.

3. VACCINES a) 100 million doses of the Oxford AstroZeneca vaccine made from a genetically engineered virus have been ordered by the UK government…ready before the end of the year? b) 30 million doses of the German BioNtech/Pfizer vaccine, which injects part of the coronavirus' genetic code have also been bought c) 60 million doses of the Valneva vaccine, which uses an inactive version of the coronavirus, will arrive in the UK, when it’s ready, probably 2021.

4. ANTIVAXXERS In the US as of July 1st, 12% of people surveyed said they would NOT take any vaccine whatsoever, with a further 22% being “unsure”. This is despite the US’ worst Measles outbreak in history in 2019. People seem to want to NOT wear masks, NOT stay at home, NOT reject conspiracy theories and NOT take vaccines. Bless ‘em. Funeral Directors’ profits will continue to soar.

5. USA It’s Election Year! Say no more. Other than there were 10,000 new infections in Florida alone (the US epicentre) on Sat 18th July. (See 4 above, plus there may be connections between how Republican the State is and what kind of advice that State Governor is providing. Louisiana, Texas and Arizona ALL registered over 400 cases per day per million people. With White House releasing what figures it thinks fit, and pretty much the same in the UK and other places, information accuracy may become scarce.

6. VIRUS NEWS Yup, a baby in the womb has caught the virus (in France), but the child was born, and seems to have recovered (details in reference below). Kings College London has revealed that antibody content in the blood can drop hugely after 3 months, and so immunity due to antibodies MAY NOT LAST LONG at all. GREAT. We don’t know of course whether any successful vaccine will be effective for a long time either. ALSO Edinburgh Uni has discovered heart Ultrasound abnormalities in 55% of cases, indicating that the heart probably has to work a lot harder when there is virus in the blood (as it does in the worst cases of flu). Finally there’s apparently SIX types of Covid-19 syndrome that can determine what treatment will be needed and how serious it will be due to research in the UK and US. Apparently this will help if there’s a second wave washing our shores away this winter.

WELL GOOD LUCK everyone.

Especially massive luck to the countries where things are now going quite crazy, and vaccines are going to be so in demand in a very short time. Well, NOW really. See vaccine details below. But beware, as said in the Vaccine Tracker website: “The US government is choosing three vaccine candidates to fund for Phase 3 trials under Operation Warp Speed: Moderna’s mRNA-1273 in July, The University of Oxford and AstraZeneca’s AZD1222 in August, and Pfizer and BioNTech's BNT162 in September. Members of ACTIV have suggested developing safe controlled human infection models (CHIMs) for human trials could take 1-2 years……”

Loosening Lockdown has to happen if society is going to survive obviously, but normality is a long way off as the World is suffering from a million infections PER WEEK.

I’ve been to the pub. Safely. Wore a mask. Nobody else did. Mmmmmm….

Hopefully see you soon. Comments galore please!

—————————————————————

References

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-53454558

https://www.raps.org/news-and-articles/news-articles/2020/3/covid-19-vaccine-tracker

https://news.sky.com/story/coronavirus-six-types-of-covid-19-identified-by-scientists-in-major-breakthrough-for-treatment-12030652

https://www.theguardian.com/world/2020/jul/12/immunity-to-covid-19-could-be-lost-in-months-uk-study-suggests?utm_source=eml&utm_medium=emlf&utm_campaign=MK_SU_NewsletterCanvas&utm_term=Email_VOHD&utm_content=variantA

https://www.theguardian.com/world/2020/may/29/anti-vaxxers-fight-against-coronavirus

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/health-53467022

https://www.theguardian.com/science/2020/jul/14/baby-boy-infected-with-coronavirus-in-womb?utm_source=eml&utm_medium=emlf&utm_campaign=MK_SU_NewsletterCanvas&utm_term=Email_VOHD&utm_content=variantA

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/health-53469269

https://www.theguardian.com/science/2020/jul/13/heart-scans-of-covid-19-patients-show-range-of-abnormalities?utm_source=eml&utm_medium=emlf&utm_campaign=MK_SU_NewsletterCanvas&utm_term=Email_VOHD&utm_content=variantA

https://www.worldometers.info/coronavirus/?utm_campaign=homeAdUOA?Si%3Ca%20href=

WORLD DATA UPDATE (19 DAY CHANGE)

609,000 deaths worldwide as of 20th July 2020

  Deaths   Deaths/miliion pop.

Belgium 9800 (9750) 845 (842)

UK      45,300 (43700)  667 (645)

Spain 28420 (28400)    608 (605)

Italy   35000 (34800)   580 (575)

Sweden   5600 (5300)  556 (530)

France  30100 (29800)    462 (457)

Chile 8500 (5700) 445 (300)

USA 143000 (130000)   433 (395)

Peru 13200 (9700) 400 (295)

Brazil  79600 (59700)  374 (281)

Netherlands   6136 (6110)   358 (357)

Ireland 1750 (1740) 355 (352)       

Mexico     39200 (27150)  304 (215)

Ecuador  5310 (4530)    301 (257)

Panama 1096 254

Canada    8850 (8600)    234 (228)

Switzerland   1969 (1963)  227 (227)

Portugal 1690 (1580) 166 (155)

Iran 14200 (11000) 16 (130)

Germany      9165 (9130)    109 (108)

….

Russia  12500 (9540)   85 (65)

…..

Pakistan 5600 (440) 25 (20)

India   27500  (17500)  13 (9)

WE'RE GOIN' DANN THE PUB IN ENGLAND FROM JULY 4th (or rather, I'm certainly not!)

SIX MONTHS of 2020 have passed. After an extensive statistic analysis on 29th June 2020 (link below), the following facts have become clear, FACTS that is (links to data at foot of blog):

1. The UK was the hardest hit of all the G7 nations in the weeks leading up to early June.

2. England fared the worst in Europe for deaths.

3. Covid-19 deaths and excess deaths showed the UK worse than US, Germany, France, Italy and Japan.

4. The UK Testing and Tracing scheme will not be effective until September at the earliest. This is largely due to attempting a centrally stored data and distribution system, which so far has been totally inadequate, plus the abandonment of development of an App, which many other countries have been using for months. On alternate days, the Health Minister Matt Hancock last week announced that the government had turned to Apple/Google to use theirs, then stated that an App may well now be abandoned.

5. No “new numbers of people tested” data is issued anymore by the government. The maximum of 79,000 tests in a day is massively below the hundreds of thousands tested daily in Germany, USA and Russia. The UK was using all kinds of tests for its data, then after much criticism decided to abandon providing numbers entirely.

6. Finally the number of UK deaths per population continues to head the world table (after Belgium that is, see updated statistics at foot of today’s blog). This is surely absolutely disgraceful.

WORLD NEWS

• Massive surges in all of South America and huge increases in North America indicate that the policies across Brazil and US States such as Texas and Florida where lockdowns have hardly come into place at all have led to desperate last minute measures to slow down the virus spread. Watch this space for all of July, to see a) how the virus spreads in Europe (Germany and Spain have seen relatively small spikes in the last week) and b) Whether many more extensive lockdowns are introduced in South America and USA.

• Russia, India and Portugal figures indicate the virus is still in its first phase with many countries reporting the need to slow down re-opening of bars, cinemas and restaurants. Apart from Leicester in the UK, England is opening everything up. Plus, it’s going to be very decent weather in July 2020 in the UK so from my point of view, I’m most concerned about the virus spread over the next four weeks here in England.

TESTING - TREATMENT - VACCINE NEWS

• The UK tests are STILL for essential workers (or their co-habitees). These are Antigen or Swab tests to see if you actually currently have the virus. They’re applied for online and delivered in a test site somewhere (usually drive-through) or a home test kit (which take ages to get the results back still).

• The SARS CoV 2 IgG Antibody test (in the UK, US and Europe, this is the Abbott test which is 99-100% effective) can be taken at a cost in private clinics only so far. This test takes 24 hours to produce a result. Stocks of the similar Roche test are being directed towards currently Health professionals only, and currently in limited supply. These Abbott tests cost between £98 and £179 and have to be blood drawn from a vein, whereas there’s also a finger-prick almost instant test available at clinics from “SureScreen” which is slightly less reliable, but has Guy’s and St Thomas approval currently.

• In the next 6 weeks, the finger-prick “Spike Response” test as mentioned in an earlier blog here, which also tests for antibodies, and also gives almost instant results, should be available. N.B. There are MANY other tests for Covid-19 antibodies, including here in the UK, and NONE of these are currently recommended here. In the US, there are three or four tests for antibodies which have received FDA approval, but the Abbott/Roche tests are still the most acknowledged as reliable.

• There are 17 Vaccines further along in development of the 150 candidates are as follows at 29th June 2020 according to the WHO. Phase Three: Oxford/AstraZeneca……then, Phase Two Completed: CanSino (Beijing), Moderna (NIAID/US), Wuhan (Sinopharm/China), Sinovac (China), Novavax (China), BioNTech/Pfizer (Germany)..the rest are at Phase One and Pre-clinical trial levels and are scattered worldwide. The list of WHO vaccine development can be found here.

WELL…it’s all been a bit factual. We all do what we do, and while we listen to our own respective politicians bluster and make excuses, there’s a virus still extremely active and uncontrolled in many countries. Plus there’s a whole barrel load of industries about to go down the pan.

Comments always welcomed below.

Now, fancy a pint, mate?

Mounting deaths in Brazil and all of South America

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-53222182

https://www.newscientist.com/article/mg24632863-300-how-south-america-became-the-new-centre-of-the-coronavirus-pandemic/

https://walkin-clinic.co.uk/blood-tests/covid-19-antibody-test

WORLD DATA UPDATE (12 DAY CHANGE)

515,000 deaths worldwide as of 1st July 2020

  Deaths     Deaths/miliion pop.

• Belgium 9750 (9700) 842 (840)

• UK                    43700 (43000)       645 (620)

• Spain 28400 (27100)     610 (580)

• Italy                     34800 (34000)       575 (571)

• Sweden                 5300 (5000)       530 (500)

• France                    29800 (29600)      457 (454)

• USA                   130000 (121000)     395 (375)

• Netherlands           6110 (6100)       357 (350)

• Ireland                        1740 (1700)      352 (350)

• Chile 5700 (3800) 300 (200)

• Peru 9700 (7500) 295 (230)

• Brazil                        59700 (51000)      281 (225)

• Ecuador                    4530 (4100)        257 (232)

• Canada                     8600 (8300)      228 (220)

• Switzerland       1963 (1930)  227 (230)

• Mexico               27150 (19000)    215 (160)

• Portugal 1580 (1500) 155 (149)

• Iran 11000 (10000) 130 (115)

• Germany                  9050 (8900)    108 (107)

  ….

• Russia                         9540 (7700)     65 (52)

  …..

• Pakistan 4400 (3100) 20 (14)

• India     17500  (12600)    13 (9)

WORLD DATA UPDATE (7 day change)

  Deaths     Deaths/miliion pop.

• Belgium 9700 (9500) 840 (850)

• UK                          43000 (41000)       620 (620)

• Spain 27100 (27000)       580 (580)

• Italy                         34500 (34000)       571 (565)

• Sweden                     5000 (4800)       500 (470)

• France                    29600 (29000)      454 (440)

• USA                       121000 (115000)       365 (350)

• Netherlands           6100 (6000)       355 (350)

• Ireland                        1700 (1700)      350 (350)

• Ecuador                    4100 (3700)        232 (220)

• Peru 7500 230

• Switzerland              2000 (1900)  230

• Brazil                        48000 (41000)      225 (195)

• Canada                      8300 (8000)      220 (220)

• Chile 3800 200

• Portugal 1500 149

• Mexico               19000 (16000)      148 (125)

• Germany                    8900 (8800)    107 (105)

  ….

• Russia                           7700 (6500)     52 (45)

  …..

• Pakistan 3100 14

• India                           12600  (8500)        9 (6)

NEEDLES AND PRICKS

• NEW ANTIBODY TEST

Just when you thought the World Acknowledged Roche/Abbott Antibody tests had received global approval to test if people have HAD the virus, it seems the 100% testing results are only true after 18-20 days of producing antibodies. So what about testing if people have just had the virus, had hardly had any symptoms, should be antibody positive, but Roche hadn’t caught it yet? Thanks to the University of Birmingham, there is a multi-antibody “spike response” antibody test (M3/Univ of Birmingham, UK - will be manufactured by their associated company “The Binding Site”), which can not only detect 98% of antibodies in a much shorter time, it is a FINGER-PRICK test. It tests for recognised “Covid-19 antibodies” but can also spot Paediatric Inflammatory Multi-System Syndrome - Temporally associated with SARS-CoV-2 (PIMS-TS) and to date this has affected around 100 children in the UK with further reports of cases across Europe and the United States. This test will be as useful as the Roche tests perhaps as all kinds of different antibodies (all produced after infection with this virus and other SARS related viruses) can be quickly detected.

• CONFIRMATION OF STEROID TREATMENT

As predicted on these very posts, Dexamethasone which is a “Glucocorticoid” steroid, has been shown after successful trials to greatly reduce deaths among Virus patients receiving Oxygen and Ventilator treatment in hospitals.

It reduces inflammation by mimicking anti-inflammatory hormones produced by the body. This drug works by dampening down the body's immune system…. coronavirus infection triggers inflammation as the body tries to fight it off. But sometimes the immune system goes into overdrive and it's this reaction that can prove fatal - the very reaction designed to attack infection ends up attacking the body's own cells. Dexamethasone calms this effect.

N.B. The drug does not work on people with milder symptoms, and suppressing their immune system at this point would not be helpful. But it’s estimated that deaths could be reduced by 30% or more…

• VACCINE NEWS

The China National Biotec Group (CNBG) have claimed 100% success so far from their first vaccine…. plus another Chinese company SINOVAC seems successful too. Others in Phase III stages are Moderna (USA), CanSino (China), Pfizer/BioNTech (Germany), AstraZeneca & Oxford University (UK) ….

IMPERIAL COLLEGE LONDON will be the first test of a new self-amplifying RNA technology, which has the potential to revolutionise vaccine development and enable scientists to respond more quickly to emerging diseases. The vaccine has undergone rigorous pre-clinical safety tests and in animal studies it has been shown to be safe and produced encouraging signs of an effective immune response. Over the coming weeks, 300 healthy participants will receive two doses of the vaccine. If the vaccine is safe and shows a promising immune response in humans, then larger Phase III trials would be planned to begin later in the year with around 6000 healthy volunteers to test its effectiveness.

https://www.imperial.ac.uk/news/198314/imperial-begin-first-human-trials-covid-19/

DESPITE TREATMENTS and VACCINE NEWS, it should be remembered that as of this morning, there have been over 450,000 deaths in total worldwide, and there are STILL over 5,000 Covid-19 deaths PER DAY globally, over 150,000 new cases daily and Brazil, Mexico, Russia and India become very grim hotspots for new infections. Germany and China have both encountered Second Wave infections, and have started regional lockdowns.

THIS IS A LONG WAY FROM BEING OVER unfortunately.