Chive Flower

I forgot to take a photo today, so nipped into the garden and took a photo of a chive in flower from my herb containers. I walked into town this morning, it felt quite chilly compared to recent days. This afternoon I returned to my U3A photo group as Covid cases have reduced - still would prefer it if more than 3 of us wore a mask. It was lovely to return and see everyone though. 

So delighted to hear that Milton Keynes (where I was born and lived until 5 years ago) has been awarded city status as part of the celebrations for the Queen’s Platinum Jubilee - a great honour, much deserved. 

Day 792 / Day 83 of no Legal Covid Requirements in England (for my record only)
The UK’s coronavirus alert level has been reduced from 4 to 3 following advice from the 4 Nation’s Chief Medical Officers and the NHS England medical director. However their statement did say that ‘whilst it is reasonable to expect the number of cases to increase due to BA.4, BA.5 or BA2.12.1, it is unlikely in the immediate future to lead to significant direct COVID pressures.’ BA.4 and BA.5 have been reclassified as variants of concern by the UKHSA who said they are likely to have a growth advantage over the currently dominant BA.2 variant. They may also have some degree of ‘immune escape’, so the body may not be able to recognise or fight the virus, but there is no indication yet of new symptoms or more severe disease and current case numbers for these variants are extremely low. The weekly ONS infection survey of private households shows a continued decline in cases to an estimated 1.3m across the UK. With 1 in 55 cases in England (down); 1 in 45 in Scotland (down); 1 in 40 in Wales (down); and 1 in 60 in NI (down). Yesterday the JCVI recommended to the Govt that there’s an autumn jab for over 65’s; care home residents and staff, frontline health and social care workers; and people over 16 in vulnerable groups. For some, this may be their 5th jab. A parliamentary committee has said that fraud and errors in the Govt’s business support scheme for Covid will cost taxpayers at least £4.9bn. I believe this to be a disgraceful disregard for adequate fraud prevention and detection controls as indicated by the fact that more than 170,000 new companies were registered in March 2020 at the start of lockdown, presumably most being set up to fraudulently apply for Covid loans.  New companies registered between 2020 and 2021 were up over 20% compared to any of the previous 5 years. Ironically Professor Jonathan Van-Tam has had to delay receiving his knighthood after he caught Covid!