15 June 2021 This page is no longer being updated
Covid: Is there a limit to how much worse variants can get? BBC, 12 June 2021
"This virus has surprised us a lot. It is beyond anything we feared," said Dr Aris Katzourakis, who studies viral evolution at the University of Oxford. "The fact it has happened twice in 18 months, two lineages (Alpha and then Delta) each 50% more transmissible is a phenomenal amount of change."
It's "foolish", he thinks, to attempt to put a number on how high it could go, but he can easily see further jumps in transmission over the next couple of years. [...] "Ultimately there are limits and there isn't a super-ultimate virus that has every bad combination of mutations," said Dr Katzourakis.[...]
One thing that is often claimed, but attracts scientific scorn, is that the virus must get milder in order to spread more easily. There is very little evolutionary pressure on the virus for that to happen. The virus is already off into the next person long before it kills the person it infected. And the people who do the most spreading (younger people) are those who don't get very ill.
Covid: Is there a limit to how much worse variants can get? BBC, 12 June 2021
"This virus has surprised us a lot. It is beyond anything we feared," said Dr Aris Katzourakis, who studies viral evolution at the University of Oxford. "The fact it has happened twice in 18 months, two lineages (Alpha and then Delta) each 50% more transmissible is a phenomenal amount of change."
It's "foolish", he thinks, to attempt to put a number on how high it could go, but he can easily see further jumps in transmission over the next couple of years. [...] "Ultimately there are limits and there isn't a super-ultimate virus that has every bad combination of mutations," said Dr Katzourakis.[...]
One thing that is often claimed, but attracts scientific scorn, is that the virus must get milder in order to spread more easily. There is very little evolutionary pressure on the virus for that to happen. The virus is already off into the next person long before it kills the person it infected. And the people who do the most spreading (younger people) are those who don't get very ill.
COVID-19 Latest Government Information
Find the restrictions in your local area See also the Government's Covid-19 Response - Spring 2021 (Summary) explaining the 'Roadmap out of lockdown' O X F O R D University of Oxford staff member anonymously reports concern: 'What worries me is that none of those above me have mentioned the possible impacts of the new strain and it seems we are just expected to carry on as last term with just fewer numbers of students." (The University of Oxford's Hilary term started on Monday, 11 Jan. Oxford Brookes's new semester starts on 25 Jan, with remote teaching for the majority of students.) Oxford Mail 12 Jan 2020 Over 200 new Covid-19 cases at Oxford University for second week running Oxford Mail, 2 Nov 2020 Nearly 70 new coronavirus cases at Oxford Brookes University Oxford Mail 21 Oct 2020 Covid-19: Nottingham party students fined £40,000 BBC News 21 Oct 2020 Infection rates at universities up to seven times higher than in surrounding areas The Guardian, 12 Oct 2020 61 Covid cases at Oxford University in one week Oxford Mail, 12 Oct 2020 100 new cases at Oxford Brookes University after partying Oxford Mail, 7 Oct 2020 'Virtual Town Hall' event on 28 September Oxford City Council explained: 'The event is for residents to hear from both of Oxford’s universities, students’ unions, the City and County Councils and the police about the COVID-safety plans and measures in place around the return of students in order to address the problems that have emerged in recent days.' [See item below re article in The Times] Report on Oxford Brookes University's freshers week The Times, 19 Sept 2020 'The university said students partying “off campus” led to a surge in coronavirus cases last week and they were taking action against a “minority of students” who were breaking rules... Police were called at about 12.30am on Wednesday to Cheney Student Village, at Oxford Brookes. Students said that as soon as the police left they came back out and partied for several more hours. When The Times visited the student village, which houses 770 students in blocks of six-person flats, on Wednesday evening there was a heavy police presence, with marked cars and vans patrolling the roads and a team of private security contractors who said they had been called in that day. Undergraduates who spoke to The Times said they were unrepentant at breaking the rules or could understand why their fellow students were doing so. Most were seen ignoring the “rule of six” as they queued for taxis into the city and off to local pubs ... Most students said they were not worried about catching the virus' ... Lexi, an anthropology student, said there was nothing to do apart from hold their own parties. “What else are we going to do? There are no clubs open,” she said. “Why send us to uni if we are not going to have freshers?'. Coronavirus: Facebook row over student crowding in Headington Oxford Mail, 19 Sept 2020 The BBC News website reported on 17 Sept 2020 that Oxford Brookes students 'could be expelled for gatherings', that the university had said the previous Wednesday it was dealing with a "small but growing number of confirmed cases", an "outbreak" had developed the previous week in private accommodation, and Professor Alistair Fitt, the university's Vice-chancellor, had spoken with Thames Valley Police to put measures in place to prevent further gatherings.. The first confirmed case of coronavirus at Oxford Brookes University was reported in The Brookes Tab on 13 March 2020. All campuses remained open at that time. The Tab mapped the rise of coronvirus cases at UK universities in an article posted on 22 Sept 2020 |
Not to be forgotten: this Intensive Care Consultant, recorded talking to LBC radio on 20 March 2020 (before stricter restrictions on movement were imposed on 23 March): click here
Reuters Covid-19 Global Tracker
Covid-19 news from France RTL (French radio station - text) (Right click in your browser to get English translation option) Note: machine translation is now very good but it can still sometimes go badly awry! 16 04 2021 BBC News Summary:
'England's reproduction number, or R value, is between 0.7 and 1.0 - meaning every 10 people with Covid will infect between seven and 10 others' 'A new Covid-19 variant in the UK, first identified in India, features two mutations that could be a cause for concern, an expert says' 'Chancellor Angela Merkel says the third wave has Germany "firmly in its grip" and the situation there is "very serious"' The European Medicines Agency (EMA) declares AstraZeneca vaccine safe, effective and not associated with a higher risk of blood clots The Times, 18 March 2021 Covid-19: Brazil 'variant of concern' detected in UK BBC 28 Feb 2021 Medical experts believe Germany faces a third wave of the Covid pandemic Die Welt, 27 Feb 2021 (Right click should bring up English translation option in your browser) University of Nottingham - vaccine under development that should be effective against new variants Sky News, 14 Feb 2021 Covid trial in UK examines mixing different vaccines BBC 4 Feb 2021 World faces around 4,000 Covid-19 variants New York Post 4 Feb 2021 Scientists in Switzerland are developing a vaccine to protect against all variants and also protect the virus from mutating. Le Matin, 26 Jan 2021 (Right click on article and your browser should offer translation to English) Covid-19 - can you get it twice? BBC News 17 Dec 2020 Covid-19 - nothing like 'flu for this man: BBC News 17 Dec 2020 New Covid strain has striking amount of mutations
Daily Mail 17 12 2020 Nasal spray based on seaweed might ward-off Covid-19 infection Mail Online 29 Nov 2020 Japan supercomputer shows how low humidity increases aerosol spread of coronavirus Reuters, 14 Oct 2020 Nearly a third of UK coronavirus cases spread through pubs and restaurants
The Independent, 9 Oct 2020 'A dog could be the first in Britain to have contracted Covid-19 after it chewed a tissue used by its owner, ... who had symptoms of the virus' The Times, Tuesday, 4 Aug 2020, p.9. The article reports that the dog is now on the mend after treatment with steroids |
Tributes paid by Capt Sir Tom's family at his funeral, BBC News 27 Feb 2021
Trees to be planted in honour of Captain Sir Tom, BBC News 26 Feb 2021
Captain Sir Tom Moore dies: video lookback on his life - BBC News 2 Feb 2021
Trees to be planted in honour of Captain Sir Tom, BBC News 26 Feb 2021
Captain Sir Tom Moore dies: video lookback on his life - BBC News 2 Feb 2021
Captain Sir Tom Moore - Daily Mail 2 Feb 2021 Reuters 2 Feb 2021
Captain Tom knighted at Windsor Castle
on 17 July 2020, the same day as Princess Beatrice's wedding to Edoardo Mapelli Mozzi.
See photo full size in
Telegraph article 17 July 2020
Captain Tom Moore awarded a knighthood
BBC News 20 May 2020
Photo from Twitter @RoyalFamily 30 April 2020
Captain Tom, who was made an Honorary Colonel on his 100th birthday, seen here with his card from the Queen.
Captain Tom's 100th Birthday Walk For the NHS (Charities Together) JustGiving page closed for donations at midnight on his birthday, 30 April 2020, having raised £32,793,688. See earlier BBC News article, 30 April 2020. The fundraising site JustGiving, itself, contributed £100,000 and 97% of the money raised will go to the charity (see Reuters, 27 April 2020). Donations can still be made directly to NHS Charities Together.
BBC News 20 May 2020
Photo from Twitter @RoyalFamily 30 April 2020
Captain Tom, who was made an Honorary Colonel on his 100th birthday, seen here with his card from the Queen.
Captain Tom's 100th Birthday Walk For the NHS (Charities Together) JustGiving page closed for donations at midnight on his birthday, 30 April 2020, having raised £32,793,688. See earlier BBC News article, 30 April 2020. The fundraising site JustGiving, itself, contributed £100,000 and 97% of the money raised will go to the charity (see Reuters, 27 April 2020). Donations can still be made directly to NHS Charities Together.
Coronavirus - more and more protective equipment is ending up in the sea
"We are putting 129 billion face masks and 65 billion plastic gloves into the environment every month, according to Ocean Conservancy" BBC News 8 July 2020
"We are putting 129 billion face masks and 65 billion plastic gloves into the environment every month, according to Ocean Conservancy" BBC News 8 July 2020