Hunkering Down

These ladybirds were hunkered down in a crevice of a metal ornament in my garden. I didn't realise until I edited it that only two were in focus and also the red rust on the ornament with the red ladybirds was a bit much. So given it's mono Monday I posted it as a mono - far too late to take anything else. I made good progress on the pond today and now have all I need to finish it, except for the plants. 

Day 239 / Day 5 of Lockdown 2 (for my record only)
UK deaths up 194 to 49,238 (revised basis), with 21,350 new cases, 12,949 patients in hospital and 1,185 in ventilator beds. Globally total cases pass 51m, up 1m in 2 days. Excellent news today of a coronavirus vaccine that has been found in Phase 3 trials to be 90% effective within 28 days of having their two jabs (taken 3 weeks apart). The vaccine has been developed by Pfizer and BioNTech and the work has yet to be peer reviewed and full data has not been released as it's still ongoing (e.g. what age groups has it been tested on). The trial involved 43,538 people from 6 countries and no serious safety concerns were reported. The UK has already secured 40m doses, enough to vaccinate 20m people which is a third of the population. It still has to go through regulatory processes in the US and UK. This vaccine targets the S protein, which is good news as a lot of other vaccines under development have taken the same route. At our coronavirus briefing it was made clear that the vaccine would be too late to impact the 2nd wave and we all need to continue to comply with regulations for many months yet. A preliminary list of the order in which different groups would receive the vaccine is already in place, largely age based as that's the highest risk factor. No doubt there will be practical issues with distribution as well, for example the virus needs to be stored at -80C. Stock markets have seen sharp rallies following the news. 

To w/e 5/11 the highest number of new cases per 100k is Oldham at 773.9, North Norfolk is the third lowest at 51.5. Plans for testing at airports is making good progress per the Transport Secretary. Wales ends its 17 day lockdown - shops have been packed!