New Leaves

These are the new leaves beginning to emerge on my photinia red robin shrub, nice to see new life emerging after a horrible winter. More tidying up in the garden today, including cutting back my buddleia and doing some weeding. I booked 4 nights in a boutique B&B in Milton Keynes in July so I can meet up with family and friends 20 months after I last saw them. This afternoon I took part in an enjoyable U3A quiz, 8 rounds of 10 questions. Through the quiz I found out that wild boar have been seen in North Norfolk and that a baby boar is known as a humbug, isn't that cute!

Day 344 / Day 49 of Lockdown 3 (for my record only)
UK deaths up 548 to 121,305 (revised basis), with 8,489 new cases (lowest since 2nd Oct and only 12.5% of the peak on 8th Jan), 16,797 patients in hospital (lowest since 10th Dec), 2,273 on ventilation and 1,323 new admissions (lowest since 28th Nov). c17.9m have now received their first dose of the vaccine. The data is now showing much improvement in hospital data too. Despite the level of infections being much lower in Scotland (1 in 180 vs 1 in 115 in England), Nicola Sturgeon seems to be taking a slower approach to releasing restrictions in her roadmap announced today and will also return to a levels approach by area. An interesting debate will be whether Scotland is aiming for a near zero level of Covid whereas England thinks this isn't practical, and if so, whether this differential can be maintained on a relatively small island. A study reporting in the Lancet of long term symptoms from a sample of hospital patients in Wuhan in China, found that hair loss within 6 months is also a symptom (22%), particularly in women. The primary long term symptoms were fatigue, shortness of breath, dizziness and joint pain, but sleeping problems and anxiety or depression were also symptoms. Another study has found that whilst Covid is not linked to still birth or baby death, it could be linked to an increase in premature birth. 12m of one brand of high grade FFP3 masks used in the NHS have been withdrawn over safety concerns. Foreign holiday bookings have surged by 600% after the roadmap was revealed by Boris yesterday, with beach destinations in August being the most popular.