Christmas Jigsaw No.2

I finished xmas jigsaw No.2 this morning, and as I didn't do anything exciting today that is my blip. I had my haircut this morning for the first time in 11 weeks due to lockdown 2, that feels so much better and a nice chat too. I also had a chat with my brother D later. It seems recent virus news and all the changes are proving quite challenging. This afternoon I spent a couple of hours filling in a s75 claim to Barclaycard, first time I've made a claim so fingers crossed.

Day 281 / Day 2 of the 4 Tiers (for my record only)
UK deaths up 215 to 67,616 (revised basis), with 33,364 new cases, 18,771 patients in hospital and 1,364 on ventilation. Globally cases to date pass 77m. NERVTAG met again after more work over the weekend and their view is reinforced that the new variant is transmitting more readily. Documents show the potential increase in the R rate that we were told of 0.4 due to the new variant was at the bottom end of the estimate (0.93 being at the top). It is also known to have seeded in all regions in the UK mainland, but not yet at levels seen in London and the SE. The UK is evidently second only to Denmark on genomic sequencing, so it will be interesting to see how many countries it actually is thriving in. Over 40 countries now have bans on air travel / passengers from the UK. France has banned freight drivers from Dover for 2 days to ensure appropriate controls are put in place. The PM assures us that only Dover is affected and that 'human handled freight' is only 20% of all freight and that the vast majority of food and medical supplies are unaffected by the move (Sainsbury's & Tesco say there may be shortages for some fruit and veg). Plans for the transitional arrangements ending have enabled the freight log jams in Kent to be partially mitigated, and we're told that these lorries are mainly European hauliers trying to get home. Boris has spoken to Macron to try to resolve the issue. Royal Mail has suspended deliveries to Europe and Germany's DHL is stopping all parcels and deliveries to the UK. Health officials have said that anyone entering Gtr MCr or the West Midlands from Tier 4 areas and Wales should self isolate for 10 days - obviously the rules are that they shouldn't travel outside their area! The EU's medical regulator has approved the Pfizer / BioNTech vaccine for use. There is an online campaign to get people to ring a bell or bang a saucepan on their doorstep on xmas eve to spread 'togetherness'.