Snowdrops

I went for a short walk this afternoon and popped into the churchyard to photograph the snowdrops - good to see they survived the snow. Two interesting matches at the Australian Open this morning - I'm really enjoying the tennis. I watched most of an Arts Society Zoom talk this afternoon on Signs and Symbols: Hidden Messages in Art. I didn't make it to the end though as it was all about religious paintings, not a good subject for an atheist!

Day 337 / Day 42 of Lockdown 3 (for my record only)
UK deaths up 799 to 118,195 (revised basis), with 10,625 new cases, 21,001 patients in hospital, 2,805 on ventilation and 1,487 new admissions. c15.6m have now received their first dose of the vaccine. An extra 1.7m have been added to the shielding list, bringing the total to c4m. This is as a result of a new computer model developed by Oxford University looking at various factors including age, ethnicity, BMI and living in an area of deprivation (id via postcode). A lot of these factors have been known for some time, so I'm surprised this has taken so long to develop. They will receive letters this week and will also been entitled to a priority vaccination. Shielding is now extended until the end of March.  Another new variant has been identified in the UK (38 cases) which is described as a 'mash up' between the Kent variant and the South African / Brazilian E484k mutation (nicknamed the Eek variant). The ONS has reported 7,320 deaths with Covid on the death certificate in England & Wales in the w/e 5/2, down from the previous week but still representing 42.6% of all deaths. Covid was the main cause of death in 89.1% of these cases. The ONS also reports over 40% of over 80s in England tested positive for antibodies, good to see the vaccine having an effect. An interesting article on the SKY News website about scientists being baffled by a sudden drop in cases in India, with daily cases now only about 11% of those at the peak. In Scotland there will be a phased return of pupils to classrooms, starting on Monday with the youngest pupils. 4 air passengers to Birmingham Airport have each been fined £10k for failing to declare that they had travelled from a red list country.