Monthly Archives: October 2021

A further 41,278 coronavirus cases and 166 related deaths have been reported in the UK, the latest government figures show.

It compares with yesterday's figures when 43,467 positive COVID-19 infections and a further 186 deaths were logged, and this time last week, when 44,985 cases and 134 fatalities were recorded.

A total of 49,922,090 first doses of a coronavirus vaccine have been administered in the UK, while 45,672,948 second doses have been given.

Meanwhile, the latest data shows that 7,564,463 booster jabs, or third doses of a coronavirus vaccine, have been administered so far.

The total number of COVID vaccine doses administered in the UK now stands at 103,159,461.

The latest figures come as coronavirus infections in England have increased to their highest level since the beginning of the year, according to the Office for National Statistics (ONS).

Around one in 50 people had the virus in the week ending 22 October - the highest level since 2 January, the body reported.

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That is the same proportion of people who were estimated to have coronavirus at the peak of the second wave in early January.

The weekly R - or reproductive - number in England is estimated to have risen to between 1.1 and 1.3 - with the number of COVID infections in the country now at its highest level since January.

The pandemic appears to be growing in England, as the R figure was estimated to be between 1.0 and 1.2 last week.

The R number indicates the average number of people each COVID-positive person goes on to infect.

Elsewhere, the ONS also said this week that the percentage of people testing positive remains highest for those in school years 7 to 11, at 9.1%.

Hospital admissions and deaths remain well below levels seen during the second wave in January, despite the prevalence of COVID-19 across the four nations.

Government data on Friday showed that over seven million of the UK's most vulnerable people had so far received their COVID-19 booster jab - with more than two million being administered in the last seven days alone.

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Health Secretary Sajid Javid has urged people to get their booster jab as the colder weather usually leads to increased transmission of viruses and will be challenging for the NHS.

"Our life-saving booster vaccines are ensuring millions are protected over the winter - and it's fantastic that more than seven million people have now received their third jab," he said.

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COVID-19: UK records another 41,278 coronavirus cases and 166 related deaths - Sky News

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A month ago, health experts thought Utah might have seen the worst of its autumn surge of the coronavirus. Cases were declining and hospitalizations were beginning to plateau.

But since mid-October, case counts have been rising rapidly again, driven by new outbreaks in some of Utahs less-vaccinated, rural communities.

Nearly 1 in 59 residents of Carbon County and 1 in 63 residents of Emery County tested positive in the past two weeks, according to Thursday data from the Utah Department of Health. Rates werent much lower in Box Elder, Morgan, and Tooele counties.

(Christopher Cherrington | The Salt Lake Tribune)

In eight communities, more than 1 in every 100 residents have tested positive in the past two weeks. Six of those areas posted vaccination rates of less than 45 percent: rural Box Elder County, Tremonton, Carbon County, Emery County, rural Tooele County and the Tooele Valley.

The seventh, Morgan County, reports that 45.3% of its residents are fully vaccinated. That leaves only one of the eight Brigham City with more than half of its residents (50.2%) fully vaccinated.

(Christopher Cherrington | The Salt Lake Tribune)

In Salt Lake County, over the last two weeks, the rolling seven-day average of new COVID-19 cases has risen from 399 per day on Oct. 14 to 497 per day on Oct. 27, according to the county health departments data.

Its 14-day case rate is 559.3 cases per 100,000 people or one out of every 179 people. Salt Lake County also boasts 59.5% of its people are fully vaccinated, a higher percentage than the less-populated communities with the highest case rates.

Southeast Utah provides an apt example of the effect of vaccination rates, said Bradon Bradford, director of the health department that oversees the three counties.

Grand County whose tourist center of Moab has made it a COVID-19 hotspot on and off during the pandemic reported less than half of the cases per capita than neighboring Emery and Carbon counties, which have the worst rates in the state.

In Carbon and Emery counties, the rate of fully vaccinated people is just not incredibly high, Bradford said.

Among those eligible to get a COVID-19 vaccination, 50.76% of Carbon County residents, and 48.25% of Emery County residents, are fully vaccinated, according to the Southeast Utah Health Departments dashboard.

In contrast, Grand County has 68.5% of its eligible population fully vaccinated. Grand County also has a mask mandate in place, Bradford noted.

Grand County is doing much better than Carbon County and Emery County, Bradford said. Certainly, we dont think of it as an experiment, but realistically, theres a lot to be gleaned from whats happening in our different counties.

Natural immunity does not appear to account for Grand Countys advantage in the recent surge. While influxes in tourists have led to sharp spikes in cases there, overall, since the pandemic began, a slightly smaller percentage of its residents have tested positive than in Emery or Carbon counties.

Castleview Hospital in Price recently issued a letter, basically a plea for help to the community, Bradford said. The letter, signed by hospital CEO Greg Cook, urged residents of Carbon and Emery counties to seriously consider getting vaccinated, as well as to wear masks indoors in large groups, and maintain social distance. Cook also advised people not to delay emergency care.

The uptick in hospitalizations, Bradford said, is putting a strain on a lot of their supply chain, oxygen in particular. Theyre going through a lot of oxygen. And the whole situation, as we hear from throughout the country, is really wearing on their staff.

Bradford said his department has heard from people who have close friends or relatives that are impacted by COVID, and in a serious way, and still continue think that its not going to reach out and touch their lives. Either they dont think theyre going to get exposed, or they dont think theyre going to get sick. So they dont access this very miraculous vaccine.

Case rates also were exceptionally high in Box Elder County, where vaccination rates ranged from 34% in Tremonton to 50% in Brigham City.

But low vaccination rates arent the only reason for the case spikes in Box Elder County, said Estee Hunt, spokeswoman for the Bear River Health Department. Hunt said poor access to COVID-19 testing is one factor, because that means people are more likely to go out in public without knowing whether they are carrying the coronavirus.

Also, Hunt said, the county has seen a number of outbreaks in elementary schools in recent weeks.

[Read more: Its real: Utah doctors and nurses talk about treating kids sick and dying from COVID-19]

Not all communities with low vaccination rates are reporting the states highest case rates. While transmission levels are deemed very high statewide, case rates were below 1 in 250 residents in six of Utahs 99 small areas. Health officials use the small-area data to track local health trends.

In those six communities with low case rates, three reported less than half of residents were fully vaccinated: Provo, near Brigham Young University and east of city center, and Hurricane and La Verkin.

The other three spots with low case rates were Park City, Cottonwood Heights and the west side of Orem.

But none of the states most-vaccinated communities reported anything close to the states highest case rates.

Of 20 communities that are more than 60% vaccinated, only one Midvale reported new cases for more than 1 in 150 residents. Nearly all of the rest reported new cases in less than 1 in 175 residents.

The Bear River Health Department, Hunt said, is ramping up testing in Box Elder County. The department recently began offering testing every day of the week in Brigham City, and four days per week in Tremonton.

Hunt said her department is preparing to distribute at-home coronavirus testing kits, to help vulnerable populations who may not be able to get to a testing site.

In Carbon and Emery counties, Bradford said his department has increased availability of testing, so we can hope to overcome this current surge.

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Utah's lull is over. Here's where COVID-19 cases are spiking yet again. - Salt Lake Tribune

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Active Wyoming coronavirus cases fall by 175 to end week - Wyoming Tribune

JUST A FEW months after Indias public-health systems collapsed under a tsunami of covid-19 infections, the country is starting to feel it has something to celebrate. In good time for the season of Hindu holidays now under way, on October 21st Narendra Modi, the prime minister, declared that India had administered its billionth dose of vaccine. In cities such as Delhi and Mumbai the dedicated covid-19 wards are virtually empty (smaller towns struggled to open any in the first place). A doctor at a major government hospital quipped that it must now be harder to contract the virus in Delhi than anywhere abroad. Indias economy is still wonky, but for most of the summer stockmarket indices have been reaching new heights. Yet this palpable sense of relief is hard to square with the recent memory of mass death, when fields of bodies were buried hastily along the Ganges. How did India manage to beat covid-19?

The plain fact is that, instead, covid-19 beat India. The world watched anxiously in April and May, when the caseloads were climbing almost vertically. The terror was justified. India was gripped by the first outbreak of the Delta variant (briefly called the Indian variant, until the WHO insisted on switching to Greek letters). Its ferocity taught lessons that some parts of the world are still learning. Indians died in untold numbers. To judge by the number of excess deaths, something like 2.3m lost their lives to the disease. Those who survived rued the governments failure to procure vaccines earlier, when India had positioned itself as a pharmaceutical factory for the world. The rate of vaccinations went from a trickle to an erratic drip, as systems of every kind shut down. And then in June, almost exactly as fast as the wave of infections had shot up, it shot down again. Not 10% of the population had been vaccinated (see chart). Within two weeks it was back down to pre-Delta levels. No thanks to any medical intervention.

A survey of blood samples published this week shows that more than 90% of Delhis residents have antibodies against covid-19 coursing through their veins. Having weathered the crisis at its worst, Indians are kept safe by natural immunity. The campaign to vaccinate India, slow and sometimes wobbly, has been making steady progress nonetheless. Sometimes it gets a fillip, as when a one-day jabbing extravaganza was organised to celebrate Mr Modis 71st birthday. During the darkest days of Indias pandemic, he had hidden himself out of view. Now Mr Modi is eager to put his portrait on every official vaccination certificate. On October 21st a private airline, Spicejet, emblazoned three of its planes with the prime ministers face to congratulate him on immunising so many of his countrymen. But the immunisation that mattered had happened months earlier.

More than half of all Indians have received at least one dose of the vaccine, and almost 25% are considered to be fully vaccinated. That is a fine thing, as even natural immunity wanes. The government is now vaccinating a solid 6m or more every day, while monitoring a caseload of about 150,000 covid-positive patients. At the current rate of progress, India ought to have safeguarded itself against a third wave (really, a second wave of Delta) by the time one might recur on a cyclical basis. There is no more discussion of containing or extirpating the coronavirus. For most people who managed to hold on to their health and livelihood through this grim year, life is getting back to normal (though the nations schoolchildren and their parents, still reeling from the worlds longest school closures, would like to have a word). Once again India may be stumbling into the leadas the rest of the world adjusts itself to endemic covid-19.

More from The Economist explains:Why official covid-19 deaths do not capture the pandemics true tollWhat are DNA vaccines?Why Hong Kongs zero-covid strategy could backfire

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How did India beat covid-19? - The Economist