From people in hospital, looks as if NI might have peaked for now, but rising in all other nations, with Scotland starting first.
People in ICU rising in Scotland too but starting from a lower base than in Dec.
Admissions rising fast in England & in all regions. 5/13
While <50% are currently there *primarily* for Covid, that number is rising faster than those there for another reason.
Plus, Covid can play a secondary role in many admissions and *any* Covid admission requires infection control measures causing issues for the hospital. 6/13
And it causes other problems... Number of NHS staff absent is rising in England (and remains higher than 2019-2021) & particularly Scotland (where wave started earlier).
Waits in A&E are still worst ever. The NHS is still under immense strain.
Deaths within 28 days of +ve test are flat in UK as a whole, but this wave is still recent.
In Scotland, where it started earlier, deaths within 28 days *and* on death certificate are going up.
Deaths from this wave might end up higher than first Omicron wave 8/13
Finally, let's look at kids. From ONS, they had one big wave in first 18 months but 3 waves July 2021 - Jan 2022.
They've just started their 4th v big wave - and <90 days after 3rd one.
They are also least vaxxed - esp <12s.
and yes it translates to hospital. 9/13
Estimates are that ~80% of primary kids have been infected already & ~40% in most recent wave.
When are we going to stop believing that infection stops future waves? How much school disruption will we accept?
Vax protects kids & we should *actively* promote it. 10/13
There is no vaccine yet for under 5s. BUT, latest data suggests that not only does vaccination protect pregnant women, it *also* protects their babies for the first 6 months after birth.
We need to redouble efforts to protect pregnant women and their unborn babies 11/13
So. We've had pretty high burden of Covid since July. Next variant will come & cld be worse (nature.com/articles/s4157…).
If we do not *actively* reduce transmission, then we *must* increase NHS support. (
Quick thread on current Covid situation in England and Long Covid.
I have Thoughts about the Inquiry Report published yesterday but am still trying to organise them.
TLDR: high Covid levels remain, Long Covid remains 1/11
This wave is not over. While the number of admissions with Covid remains lower than the autumn/winter waves, it has now remained highsh for several weeks.
This means there are a lot of people out there getting sick - and having their work, plans and holidays disrupted. 2/11
Scottish wastewater data to 9 July shows a sharp decrease, suggesting that prevalence might be on its way down.
Obviously Scotland and England can have different dynamics, but it’s the best we’ve got as long as England refuses to analyse its own wastwater. 3/11
THREAD: Given tomorrow's election, I've been thinking about our nation's (poor) health, the wider determinants of health and how these have worsened and what it means for policy....
TLDR: worrying only about NHS & social care is missing the point
let's dive in... 1/25
The UK has a health problem. After steady gains in life expectancy for decades, it flatlined during the austerity years and fell for the first time this century with the Covid pandemic.
The number of people out of work for long term sickness is near record levels. 2/25
There are huge inequalities between rich & poor. Boys born in the most deprived areas can expect to die almost 10 years earlier than their peers in the least deprived areas.
Even worse, they can expect to spend 18 fewer years of their life in good health (52 vs 70 years) 3/25
As ever, I am getting lots of pushback.
Here is a compilation of the European countries I've found with recent wastewater data. Some are going up a bit, some down a bit, some are flat, none are anywhere near previous peaks.
I can't see anything here to be panic anyone. 1/3
I can't find the dashboard for Spain, but others saying it is in a wave. Perhaps it is. England has just had one - the last data we had (a couple of weeks ago from Bob Hawkins) looked as if our wave had peaked.
So, I'm not seeing reason to think things are terrible here! 2/3
Yes there are new variants growing right now. They are not growing faster than JN.1 grew in December and that wave did not end up as bad as feared.
Clearly it remains true that Covid is NOT a seasonal disease (unlike Flu and RSV)
3/3
Quick thread on the Astra Zeneca (AZ) covid vaccine since it's been in the news today.
TLDR there isn't a new "smoking gun", the AZ vax was one of first and cheapest, it saved millions of lives globally, there are better vax out there now, adapted to new variants 1/9
the AZ vaccine was one of the first approved at the end of 2020, cheaper than Pfizer, and - importantly - easier to administer in lower resource settings as it didn't require super low temperatures for storage 2/9
In most countries it was first rolled out in older adults. As it was rolled out in younger adults, a *very rare*, serious, side effect was noticed - it could cause deadly blood clots
This was spotted quickly and studied. Vax monitoring did its job. 3/9
A short thread on why this is not a scary chart and why all the evidence suggests that there is not much Covid around right now. 1/6
the above chart is recorded covid hospital admissions / reported covid cases. It is close to 100% now *because basically only hospitals can report cases since Feb 2024*
It is to do with changes in case reporting and NOT hospital testing
2/6