Coronavirus in the UK

[Cleoriff]

The BBC have announced that two patients in the UK have been diagnosed with the coronavirus.

No further details have been given other than they are both members of the same family and are receiving specialist NHS care.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/health-51325192

At present, 83 Britons and 27 foreign nationals are flying back to the UK from Wuhan, the Chinese city at the centre of the outbreak.

The flight is due to land at RAF Brize Norton at 13:30 GMT.

The UK passengers will then be taken to Arrowe Park Hospital on the Wirral and quarantined for two weeks.

[jonsie]

Good luck

[pgn]

Great to see - vaccination is key. This'll keep the feet tapping 😉

[Cleoriff]

Great parody.

Funny things happen when you are vaccinated though. I'm off to hospital on Monday for a routine procedure. Despite being fully vaccinated, I still have to go for a Covid test at the end of the week.

What's that all about? Even with my nursing head on, I can't see the logic of it. All I see is a big fat waste of money.

[pgn]

I guess it is because the vaccine will guard the vaccinated person against the worst of the disease, but may not prevent them from getting the infection at a low grade and perhaps still be a "spreader"...? Perhaps even an asymptomatic spreader.
That said, if you now have antibodies that can recognise and deal with the virus, surely you would expect the test result to be positive, or at least inconclusive?
I remember the TB test at school - 6 pinpricks in the wrist, if they elicited a response (raised skin, itchiness, etc), you had the antibodies and needed no vaccine; but if your scratches went unnoticed, then you got the vaccine administered to you, arm or rump. Or is it the other way about for TB?
Anyway, yes, seems superfluous at most, @Cleoriff.

[Cleoriff]

I guess it's because we are still learning about the disease @pgn which is causing them to be overcautious. I think (Like MRSA, we will learn and find out we overspent the NHS budget.)

However that degree of caution is nothing compared to what comes next. I have this procedure every 3 months and throughout it, my husband has taken me into the hospital. The procedure is undertaken in radiology, we don't go near the wards at all. When I'm ready to be collected, I phone Ray and he comes in to take me home.

With no patients currently suffering with Covid, this has now changed.

We go to a pull up area and have to PHONE radiology and tell them I'm here. Someone from the dept than comes to collect me. Ray is NOT allowed inside at all.

When procedure is over and I'm ready to go, I ring Ray, who then rings me when he is at the drop off point and one of the radiology staff wheels me to the car.

Never heard of such a ridiculous performance in my life.

Never happened at the height of the pandemic. Now we can see the light at the end of the tunnel, we have this game of 'click and collect'. Bloody ridiculous.

[Cleoriff]

Now we are in the process of developing an antiviral Covid pill.

https://news.sky.com/story/covid-19-britons-who-test-positive-for-coronavirus-could-be-sent-antivira... 

We have come a long way in just a year.

Ps 2nd Covid vaccine just given.

[pgn]

"click and collect" comment made me smile, @Cleoriff 😆

Well done on the 2nd shot, hopefully matching the one you got first time around 🤞

So long as the pill form is not like the anti-malarial regimes of old (and possibly still used) - a daily pill starting 2 weeks before you travelled to wherever you were going, then one a day while there (in some geographies an extra and different one every 3rd or 5th day!) till you left, and you had to keep going for a full 3 weeks after getting back home... still, preferable to the recurring 8 to 16 week cycle of fever for life if you get the disease (yes, some I know did get infected by the parasite and it is not nice!).

Budgets, yes, they are good at spending money on dodgy deals, but make NHS and teachers feel like pawns when they cut back on "non-critical budget lines" 😡

[pgn]

A different variant (or two variations, depending what you read) and a nation in crisis: India.

 https://www.theguardian.com/world/2021/apr/28/india-covid-funeral-pyres-delhi-crematoriums-space

Not enough oxygen, not enough hospitals, nowhere to cremate the dead.

Similar scenes from Italy at the very start, a year ago - is this the end of it, or just the start of another wave...?

[TallTrees]

Distressing @pgn
Much of the population ignored advice and with those numbers huge problems. In the Punjab they don't believe Covid is real. Wonder what they think these extraordinary events are all about.

[Cleoriff]

I think it's so awful to watch. People being refused admission into hospital and left to die with the care of their families outside. Money changing hands to get oxygen. We as a nation sent ventilators, drugs and oxygen. Not sure this will be of any use if they don't have the hospital beds or staff to nurse them.

Just terrible.