We're actually averaging under 100 new cases a day now, for the first time since August 2020! Although of course that is largely a result of low testing levels.
The latest wastewater figures show that the levels there are still low (the lowest in nearly two years), although it does look like there has been a slight increase during the first week of May.
The hospital occupancy (or 'Currently In Hospital') figures had a change in their methodology this week.
Previously, a Covid-19 patient who has yet to be discharged from hospital would stop being counted as a Covid-19 patient after 28 days. This has now been cut to 10 days.
I think that figure is supposed to show the number of people in hospital with the virus who are currently infectious, rather than just the number of people in hospital because of issues caused by the virus.
So I think for that definition, the change makes sense.
The change applies to the 8th of May onwards. It cut out around 250 patients, so there is a pretty big drop in the chart!
Also, the equivalent ICU figures don't appear to have been updated for this week.
The figures showing new hospital and ICU admissions because of the virus were updated as normal though, with both continuing to show a downward trend!
The number of new deaths reported from the virus was thankfully down, for the fourth week in a row!
Excess deaths were also down by quite a bit this week, and slightly into the negative. Although the Coronation bank holiday weekend likely impacted reporting here.
And lastly, here are some of the most recent vaccination figures from the Spring Booster Dose rollout!
Around 65% of those aged 75 and above have had their booster now, along with just over a quarter of those with a weakened immune system.
Leaving Botswana we headed into Namibia and spent a few days driving towards Etosha National Park!
It was great to see different parts of this beautiful country, and also see some animals we’ve not seen anywhere else!
During the journey we stopped at Windhoek and Waterberg Plateau, which were both really nice spots with some great hiking trails!
One of our camps had Pumbas running around causing havoc 😅
Once we reached Etosha we did a full day safari drive, which was exhausting, although worth it as we got to see another Leopard, Cheetahs, and a whole bunch more.
Have been having a break from Twitter, but I'm back now and wanted to share some pictures from a trip I took around Norway recently! 🇳🇴
It was a cruise from Southampton, up to the North Cape and back over the course of about two weeks.
The first stop was Haugesund. The weather was perfect, and it almost felt like I was out in the Inner Hebrides!
Next up was Olden. It was just the second stop, but it was definitely the highlight of the trip! 🏔️
The whole area is stunning. I went up the Loen Skylift (one of the steepest in the world), and got to spend time watching people jumping off cliffs and gliding down the Fjords!
After three years, and 800 updates, today marks the final time I'll be updating the Scotland Coronavirus Tracker.
Thank you so much to everyone for all of the support and encouragement over that time. Being able to run this page for so long has been the honour of my life 🥹
Reported case rates are still mostly falling throughout the UK, and across the planet as a whole. Although of course, a large part of that is due to a reduction in testing.
The hospital figures are falling across the UK too!
Here are some of the hospital admission figures for England. It has been a lot of up and down over 2022/2023, but the rates right now are some of the lowest they've been throughout that period.
So quite a large jump in reported cases this week, across most age groups and council areas.
The number of new tests reported also increased again. I wasn't sure if we'd see many more increases like this at this point, with testing access so limited.
Deaths from the virus were thankfully down a little bit this week.
Although excess deaths were unfortunately up, and were 12% above average for this time of the year. That is the highest they've been since the middle of January.