The Sun is Back!

Exactly a month after I was last able to sit in my garden in the sun reading, I was able to so again this afternoon - wonderful. This morning I had a 6 monthly blood test - for some reason round here all of us from Holt have a half hour drive to Cromer, not convenient for the patient and not good for the planet. I then drove over to the Norfolk Showground at Norwich for the Garden Show. Despite the fact we’d all got pre-booked tickets, it still took half an hour to get in. I whipped round in an hour as it was quite busy, plus I recognise most stalls from other fairs, so can choose quite quickly. I got a few bits and bobs, nothing exciting. I loved the alpaca in the photo. It was only the 2nd time I’d driven in Norwich since the pandemic, I was a bit out of practice! I stopped at BP in Aylsham for petrol and M&S goodies (our only place outside Norwich for M&S food) and they were out of petrol for the 2nd time recently as a result of the HGV driver shortage. I managed to get some at the next garage though. 

Day 487 / Day 61 of Step 3 of Roadmap Easing (for my record only)
51,870 new cases were reported today. We’ve only ever seen cases this high for the first two weeks of 2021, and yet bizarrely remaining restrictions are still being removed on Monday. The ONS infection survey to 10/7 for private households shows increasing  rates, with 1 in 95 in England with the virus (1 in 40 in NE), 1 in 360 in Wales, 1 in 90 in Scotland and 1 in 290 in NI. England’s R rate has dropped a tad to 1.2-1.4 which doesn’t align with other data. The ONS reports hospital admissions and deaths are highest in the over 75s. They also report that a third of those self isolating after being a close contact of someone with Covid, go on to develop symptoms (asymptomatic unknown as not tested). PHE analysis showed only 1.6% of care home outbreaks at the start of the pandemic were due to seeding from hospital cases, but that still led to 286 deaths. The CMO says that the number of people in hospital with Covid is doubling every three weeks and could reach ‘quite scary numbers’. The WHO wants a 2nd investigation of the Covid outbreak in China, including audits of the Wuhan labs (can't believe they weren’t audited). The Govt now says it won’t tweak the Covid app as it’s doing what it should do.