Direct link to Africa videos, https://www.youtube.com/c/WefwafwaAndrew

(Subscribing to Wefwafwa’s channel will help this work)

And Ben’s latest update
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hrcbQiAbBtQ

Omicron, BA.4 and BA.5

Growth advantage, good at evading the immune system

UK

ONS

https://www.ons.gov.uk/peoplep....opulationandcommunit

2.07% in England (1 in 50 people)

2.13% in Wales (1 in 45 people)

2.34% in Northern Ireland (1 in 45 people)

3.36% in Scotland (1 in 30 people)

Risk of re-infection

Seven times higher with Omicron (20 December 2021 onwards)

Compared with Delta (17 May to 19 December 2021).

BMJ, Covid-19: Omicron sub variants driving new wave of infections in UK

https://www.bmj.com/content/377/bmj.o1506

Start of a new wave of covid infections, BA.4 and BA.5.

Covid infections up 43% week on week

Independent Sage, Kit Yates, University of Bath

It is pretty much official from the latest ONS data that the UK has entered the next wave of covid.

It is most concerning to see that there has been an increase in covid infections in older age groups

Hospital admissions, England

Up 31% week on week

Beds occupied, 5,008

1st June, 3,800

Deepti Gurdasani, William Harvey Research Institute

This is our second wave in six months, and infection has remained very high even between waves.

It’s hard to predict how large the wave will be

Steve Powis, NHS England medical director

Expects fewer admissions than previous two 2022 surges

We are likely to see a bit of an increase over the next few weeks

South Africa

BA.4 and BA.5 wave has now passe, with fewer hospital admissions and deaths than BA.1 wave in December.

Portugal

BA.5 is now dominant but their wave has just peaked

United States

US, past 2 weeks

Cases, down 15%

Deaths, down 11%

Hospitalized, up 2%

100,000 cases announced each day in the U.S.

(flat for the month of June)

South and West, cases and hospitalizations increasing, Arkansas, Kentucky, Wyoming

More than 30,000 people hospitalized, up a little on the month

Fewer than 350 deaths being reported each day

(2,600 a day at the height of Omicron surge)

Mr Biden

https://www.nytimes.com/live/2022/06/22/world/covid-19-mandates-vaccine-cases?campaign_id=185&emc=edit_yct_20220622&instance_id=64705&nl=coronavirus-tracker®i_id=110300449&segment_id=96440&te=1&user_id=0b87b8c1eea981ec0514047bbfa553ca#nyc-kids-vaccines

Meets 17 families and their children (under 5)

monumental step forward in the nation’s pandemic response.

This is no time for politics.

It’s about parents being able to do everything they can to keep their children safe

Finally, some peace of mind