Covid - Plan B & Omicron

[Chippy_Tea]

One in 45 had Covid in last week of data - ONS

1. One in 45 people in the UK had Covid in the week to 16 December, the Office for National Statistics estimates
2. It's the highest level of infection ever seen even though it does not account for recent record daily UK figures
3. The UK reported 106,122 new Covid cases on Wednesday - exceeding 100,000 for the first time
4. There will be no new Covid rules in England announced before Christmas, the health secretary says
5. People should enjoy Christmas but "of course, remain cautious", says Sajid Javid
6. It does not mean there won't be any new rules for after 25 December but they won't be announced today or tomorrow
7. Scotland has tightened restrictions further - nightclubs will close for three weeks from 27 December
8. And two Premier League games set for 26 December have been postponed

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/live/uk-59764750

 

[Chippy_Tea]

While this is great news i am sure it will stop those people who are in two minds from getting the booster as they will think its not needed.


People catching Omicron are 50% to 70% less likely to need hospital care compared with previous variants, a major analysis says.

• 31% to 45% less likely to go to A&E
• 50% to 70% less likely to be admitted to hospital for treatment

The UK Health Security Agency says its early findings are "encouraging" but the variant could still lead to large numbers of people in hospital.
The health secretary said it was "too early" to determine "next steps".
The study also shows the jab's ability to stop people catching Omicron starts to wane 10 weeks after a booster dose.
Protection against severe disease is likely to be far more robust.
The report comes hot on the heels of data from South Africa, Denmark, England and Scotland which all pointed to reduced severity.

The latest analysis is based on all cases of Omicron and Delta in the UK since the beginning of November, including 132 people admitted to hospital with the variant. There have also been 14 deaths in people within 28 days of catching Omicron.
The report shows people catching Omicron are:

• 31% to 45% less likely to go to A&E
• 50% to 70% less likely to be admitted to hospital for treatment

However, a milder virus could still put pressure on hospitals because it spreads so fast.
The issue remains that any benefit of a milder virus could be wiped out by large numbers of people catching Omicron. The UK has set another daily Covid record with 119,789 confirmed cases. There were a further 147 deaths within 28 days of a positive test.
There is also uncertainty about what will happen when Omicron reaches older age groups because most of those catching it and going into hospital so far have been under the age of 40.
Dr Jenny Harries, the chief executive of the UKHSA, said: "Our latest analysis shows an encouraging early signal that people who contract the Omicron variant may be at a relatively lower risk of hospitalisation than those who contract other variants.
"Cases are currently very high in the UK, and even a relatively low proportion requiring hospitalisation could result in a significant number of people becoming seriously ill."

Full Article - Omicron up to 70% less likely to need hospital care

 

[Chippy_Tea]

Official findings that Omicron may be less likely to result in serious illness than Delta offer a "glimmer of Christmas hope", the head of the UK Health Security Agency has said.
But Jenny Harries told the BBC it was too early to retract her statement that the variant was the most serious threat the UK had faced during the pandemic.
The UKHSA's findings are "preliminary", she said, and data around Omicron's impact on the elderly is still needed.
UK Covid cases have reached a new high.
A record of 122,186 new infections were reported on Friday - while the Office for National Statistics estimates 1.74 million people in the UK had coronavirus on 19 December, up by more than 368,000 on the figure three days earlier.
This equates to 2.7% of the population or one in 35 people. In London, that figure is one in 20.
Meanwhile, the latest figures show 1,171 people with Covid or suspected Covid were admitted to hospital on Monday - the highest number since 19 February.
Responding to UKHSA analysis that those cases with Omicron - now the UK's dominant strain - are less likely to need hospital care, Dr Harries told Radio 4's Today programme: "There is a glimmer of Christmas hope... but it definitely isn't yet at the point where we could downgrade that serious threat.
"What we have got now is a really fine balance between something that looks like a lower risk of hospitalisation - which is great news - but equally a highly transmissible variant and one that we know evades some of our immune defences, so it is a very balanced position."

• Omicron: Good news, bad news and what it all means
• How many people can get together at Christmas?
• Covid boosters paused over Christmas in Wales

The UKHSA estimates that someone with Omicron is between 31% and 45% less likely to attend A&E and 50% to 70% less likely to be admitted to hospital than an individual with the Delta variant.
However, Dr Harries warned there was much that is still unknown about Omicron.
"We don't yet know what the average length of stay for an individual is in a hospital," she said.
"We're not seeing very significant rises in intensive care utilisation or in the use of ventilation beds. Now that may be because a lot of the people who've been infected to date are actually younger people and we will see that coming through."
But if the severity of the disease is actually "significantly lower than Delta" then some of the impact on the NHS may be less severe, she added.
Office for National Statistics chief Sir Ian Diamond said there were "indications" the Omicron variant was encouraging people to adopt "safer" behaviour but it was "far too early to suggest that we will see anything other than a continued rise" in cases.
He told BBC Radio 4's World At One programme all areas of the UK, except for south-west England, were seeing increases - although in Scotland infections had "gone up just a little bit".

FULL ARTICLE - Covid: Glimmer of Christmas hope on Omicron, says Jenny Harries

 

[Chippy_Tea]

 

[MrRook]

We can only hope that someone with integrity eventually crawls out of the swamp.

Don't hold your breath.

 

[simon12]

I think I may have just got covid late last night had a temp of 38.8 and felt shakey with all my joints aching, slept till 3 pm and 10 mins later had to go back to bed as I felt feint. I don't feel to bad now just no energy at all.

 

[Chippy_Tea]

I think I may have just got covid late last night had a temp of 38.8 and felt shakey with all my joints aching, slept till 3 pm and 10 mins later had to go back to bed as I felt feint. I don't feel to bad now just no energy at all.

Have you ordered a test kit?

Have you had both jabs and the booster?

 

[simon12]

Have you ordered a test kit?

Have you had both jabs and the booster?

Someone just posted me a test kit, have had 2 jabs but no booster.

 

[Chippy_Tea]

Someone just posted me a test kit, have had 2 jabs but no booster.

Fingers crossed its a bad cold.

 

[simon12]

Fingers crossed its a bad cold.

Just done the test and its showing positive only 3 mins later.

 

[Chippy_Tea]

Just done the test and its showing positive only 3 mins later.

Sorry to hear that, do you know anyone who has it that may have given it to you?

 

[simon12]

Sorry to hear that, do you know anyone who has it that may have given it to you?

There was blood on the swab which I just read makes the result invalid. One of my employees has the same symptoms as me but tested negative so who knows. I am feeling better quite quickly though.

 

[Northern_Brewer]

I think I may have just got covid late last night had a temp of 38.8 and felt shakey with all my joints aching, slept till 3 pm and 10 mins later had to go back to bed as I felt feint. I don't feel to bad now just no energy at all.

Doesn't have to be Covid - I picked up something similar over Christmas and not only am I testing negative, the timings are all wrong for Covid unless I've picked it up from the missus who hasn't had any symptoms. So I guess there's "the usual" Christmas bug going round. Really knocked me out on day 1 & 2, thought I was getting better on day 3, then day 4 not great again.

According to Zoe, the top 5 symptoms of omicron are :

• runny nose
• headache
• fatigue (either mild or severe)
• sneezing
• sore throat

 

[simon12]

I did another test late yesterday using the other nostril and no blood and it was negative. Today I am getting blood from that nostril too so result. But my employee has now tested positive and a customer I saw on Monday and Tuesday has tested positive both have similar symptoms. So I think most likely I have covid, I am feeling alot better today its up and down but at best I feel a bit tired and at worst a bit cold and shaky. Temperature is now normal.

 

[Chippy_Tea]

A brewery boss said the sector had lost about 50% of its Christmas custom amid concerns over the Omicron variant.

Andy Wood, chief executive of Adnams, said the hospitality industry was facing the "economic equivalent of long Covid".
The brewery, which is based in Southwold, Suffolk, owns 50 pubs and hotels and supplies many others.
Mr Wood urged the government to provide the industry with "clarity and consistency".
"We need that so we can rebuild consumer confidence but also have the confidence ourselves so we can invest in our businesses again," he said.

Speaking on BBC Radio 4's Today programme, Mr Wood described the festive season as a "lifeline" that helped the hospitality sector through "the dark months of January, February and March".
"There is going to need to be government support," he said.
"We have lost most of Christmas where the industry usually makes cash that sees it through January, February and March.
"The coffers are empty. This is an industry that has been in and out of lockdown and restrictions for 22 months now - it really hasn't had a chance to rebuild profits and loss accounts and balance sheets.
"It is suffering the economic equivalent of long Covid."
Mr Wood said to help the sector in the short-term the government could continue with the VAT reduction, while in the long-term it could look at "structural realignment of business rates".
He said there had been a 50% drop in visitors to pubs and hotels after the chief medical officer for England, Prof Chris Whitty, urged people to be cautious about socialising.
A HM Treasury spokesperson said: "We've supported people's jobs and incomes throughout the pandemic through our £400bn package of support, and will continue to do so through our additional £1bn support package for the hospitality and leisure sector.
"Hospitality businesses are also still benefitting from a 75% cut in business rates over the year, reduced VAT, eviction protection, government-backed loans, Time to Pay and our reintroduced Statutory Sick Pay Rebate Scheme."

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-suffolk-59818723

 

[samale]

I did another test late yesterday using the other nostril and no blood and it was negative. Today I am getting blood from that nostril too so result. But my employee has now tested positive and a customer I saw on Monday and Tuesday has tested positive both have similar symptoms. So I think most likely I have covid, I am feeling alot better today its up and down but at best I feel a bit tired and at worst a bit cold and shaky. Temperature is now normal.

You should really book a PCR test if you have symptoms.

 

[Chippy_Tea]

Covid: UK incomparably better placed this New Year - PM

By Alex Kleiderman & Adam Durbin
BBC News
Published25 minutes ago

The UK is in an "incomparably better" position now than this time last year but New Year's Eve revellers should remain cautious, the PM has said.

In a year-end message, Boris Johnson hailed the "heroic" vaccination effort, adding that all adults in England had now been offered a booster jab.

But he warned of the "challenges" of Omicron and rising hospital admissions.

The PM urged people who go out later to take a Covid test first and "remember the importance of ventilation".

It comes as UK daily Covid cases reached another record high of 189,213 on Thursday - including two days of data from Wales because of reporting backlogs over Christmas.

New Year's Eve celebrations are set to be scaled back across much of the country as the more infectious Omicron variant drives up cases.

A number of events have been cancelled, including the traditional Trafalgar Square party in London and Edinburgh's Hogmanay events.

Mr Johnson resisted calls to impose new regulations in England in the run-up to Christmas, but in Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland, tighter rules are now in place for pubs, bars and restaurants, and there are restrictions on the number of people who can gather.

Amid the warnings that people should celebrate outdoors or in well-ventilated places where possible, the Met Office said the UK was experiencing the hottest New Year's Eve on record - with Coningsby in Lincolnshire recording a temperature of 15.3 degrees.

The Department of Health and Social Care said it had met the goal set by the prime minister on 12 December to ensure all eligible adults in England had been offered a Covid booster by 31 December. The target was brought forward by a month in response to the emergence of Omicron.

More than 90% of the UK population aged 12 and over have now received a first dose of a vaccine, it added.

Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland also said they had met the booster target.

Full article - Covid: UK incomparably better placed this New Year - PM

 

[dad_of_jon]

The target was to OFFER a booster not actually Jab all those eligible by then. In fairness because of the location of places to get the jab and peoples other commitments it can be difficult to offer EVERYONE eligible a suitable date and location for their jab before January. However they can offer you a date in 2022 and as long as you are given that date before 2022 the target is met. The devil is in the detail as they say.

 

[Chippy_Tea]

Madness.

There is a Scottish pub owner telling the guy on 5 live her pub is very quiet because all the customers she normally has on NYE are in a pub 5 minutes away which is over the border

How can we have so many different rules on such a small island

 

[Hanglow]

I know chippy, its almost as if there are different countries on that small island. Incredible to think that different countries have different laws and cultures.