Snow - Day 6

I woke up at 6am to an outside temp of -3.8C, which rose to the giddy heights of 0.5C for a few hours before going below zero again.  There were a number of snow flurries, but not much impact. I spotted some icicles on the garage in the next road, so popped into the garden to photograph them (see Extra) and feed the birds. A blackbird came to the feeder whilst I was still putting the different food items out, I was only a metre away when I took the photo in Extras - he must have been desperate! A thrilling 5 set tennis match this morning between Thiem and Kyrgios which Thiem won. I was hoping Djokovic would retire with a hip injury, but after treatment and tablets he scraped though in 5 sets although he might still withdraw. 

Day 333 / Day 38 of Lockdown 3 (for my record only)
UK deaths up 758 to 116,287 (revised basis), with 15,144 new cases (total cases to date pass 4m), 24,352 patients in hospital, 3,036 on ventilation and 1,908 new admissions. The estimated R rate is now 0.7-0.9 with a daily infection growth rate of -5% to -2%. The UK's statistics agencies are reporting 134,000 deaths to date with Covid on the death certificate. The ONS infection survey to w/e 6/2 has shown a drop in infections, but still too high with 1 in 80 in private households in England having Covid; 1 in 150 in Scotland; 1 in 85 in Wales; and 1 in 75 in NI.  c14m have now received their first dose of the vaccine. Pfizer agrees to sign up to the Covax scheme to deliver vaccines to poorer countries. The scientist behind the Pfizer / BioNTech vaccine says doses of their vaccine shouldn't be more than 6 weeks apart and wants the UK to publish evidence to support its strategy. France's health authority has recommended a single vaccine dose for those who've already tested positive. A new saliva test has been developed which could eventually lead to people testing themselves on a regular basis at home. c8.8% of hospital cases in England in the 1st wave were hospital acquired according to SAGE if measured 15 days or more after admission, or 16.4% if measured 8 days or more after admission. The economy has suffered an estimated fall in GDP of 9.9% in 2020, the biggest since the Great Frost of 1709. There are 800,000 few people on company payrolls since the pandemic began. We're currently undertaking the largest peacetime borrowing programme in history, which is tipped to exceed £400bn in the current financial year