Back on the Beach

G and I went for a lovely walk this morning at West Runton beach. A lovely sunny morning with not many people around and a low tide. Another trip to Carl Bird this afternoon with a car full of stones and block paver edging I've removed, I like that it'll all be recycled. 

Day 180 / Full Day 172 of Lockdown / Day 70 of Step 3 (for my record only)
UK deaths up 6 to 41,614 (revised basis), with new daily cases up by 3,539 (up 20% from yesterday) and 863 patients in hospital (up 16% from last week), with 'worrying signs' of infection in the elderly. The rate of transmission is now exponential with an R rate of 1-1.2 which is above the critical level (Eng same, Scot 1.1-1.5, Wales 0.5-1, NI 0.3-1.4). The ONS popn survey estimates 3,200 people a day in England are being infected, up 60% from last week's 2,000, and 1 in 1,400 people had it last week outside hospitals / care homes. Bizarrely some Ministers, Tory MPs and organisations are reportedly unhappy about the stricter measures despite these no's - they should note that already Spain has 12,183 new cases, c15 times our serious / critical patients and 48 deaths today (6.5 wks on quarantine list) and France 9,406 new cases, 8 times our serious / critical patients and 80 deaths (4 wks on quarantine list). 

Birmingham, Sandwell and Solihull have banned from Tues people mixing with any households indoors or in private gardens unless in a support bubble. Restrictions also tightened in Lanarkshire. The coronavirus contact tracing app is to launch in England and Wales on 24th Sept, Scotland has its own app which launched yesterday. GDP grew 6.6% in July although the economy has still only recovered half of its lost output.