The weather forecast looked bleak but the day turned out OK in the end. As it was raining in the morning I stayed in, edited my Sci-fi book – The Pornography Wars and finally sorted out the introduction (too long and turgid – it’s now shorter and snappier). I’ve been playing some Pete Seeger. Very pleasant and rousing.
This afternoon the sun unexpectedly broke through and we went for a walk up the hill. It turned into a pleasant day.
Meanwhile, out in Coronaland we are loosening up lockdown tomorrow (whether that’s good or bad). With the Indian variant taking off a delay of a week might have helped. Buy hey – we’ve got Dido on the case! (So we’ll probably be back in lockdown before too long!).
I thought it would be a good idea to have a look at the table of cases and deaths:
| Country | New cases | New deaths | Total deaths |
| USA | 65,277 | 585 | 585,000 |
| UK | 2,228 | 7 | 128,000 |
| Brazil | 67,009 | 2087 | 435,000 |
| India | 311,000 | 4,077 | 270,000 |
| Vietnam | 296 | 1 | 36 |
| Australia | 8 | 0 | 910 |
| New Zealand | 1 | 0 | 26 |
The USA is nowhere near suffering the same as under Trump but the virus is spread throughout the country and simmering away with 65,277 new cases and over 500 deaths. The vaccine is rolling out but it’s got a long way to go.
In the UK the vaccine has made a dramatic effect on the number of severe cases and deaths but the Indian variant is still on the rise. There are varying reports – some saying the vaccine works against it and others saying only partially (whatever that means). All we need is a variant that evades the vaccine and we’re back to square 1!
There are reports that 18 people in Bolton who have had their first jab are seriously ill in hospital with the Indian variant!
Brazil and India are going nuts! The stats for both are likely to be a gross underestimate.
Vietnam has an outbreak and has soared up to 296 cases!! They have registered their first death for months!!
Australia, with it’s strong quarantine policy has no new cases. They’ve kept all deaths down to just 910 – a fraction of what Brazil and India are registering in a single day!! But even Australia is outdone by New Zealand – just 26 total deaths and one new case! What would Johnson give for that?
As the India variant takes off attention goes on to Boris Johnson. It was a political decision that went against medical advice to not put India on the Red list despite the variant raging over there. It was all about Brexit and the desperate need for a trade deal with India. How many deaths will that cost us? How much further lockdown and damage to the economy??
We’ll know some of that in time – but they have a habit of both lying and covering things up.
Meanwhile the Tory sleaze continues with Priti Patel accused of lobbying on behalf of a face mask firm.
So, enjoy your loosening of restrictions! We’re still going to be very careful!
Stay Safe!!