And here is today's data:

Cases 6,187 (4,802 last Friday)
Deaths 70 (101)
Patients admitted 354 (497 on the 15th)
Patients on ventilation 630 (879 on the 18th)

Inevitably the 7 day rolling average is now 6.4% up on the previous 7 days.

I tried this approach, but I was knocked back saying I needed to book through the GP surgery. I had Pfizer.

Hilarious. We're quarantining at the moment on our way home to Europe and apparently were meant to be receiving calls each day to verify we were following the rules. The poor woman was unsurprised to hear that this was our first call and were on our first jolly out and about on Day 5 through Test to Release!

Poor woman - she reckons most people are just getting family to answer the phone if they're breaking the rules as they only ask for your surname and DoB and can't do anything if they get the details correct. Apparently she'd referred heaps of cases to the cops of repeated missed calls but, in London at least, they don't have the resources to follow up and people know it too. I don't know why people can't wait the five days - gave me heaps of time to catch up on emails and there's hardly anything open outside anyway!

What a mess. To think that this time last year I was in HKG and they'd already established a sophisticated quarantine system complete with GPS wristband ...and the UK still can't get a phone call sorted a year on.

It's only if an issue if people break quarantine. And as you say, anybody could answer the phone if need be. Hopefully, a high majority of people are following the rules.

Two words: Dido Harding.

Given the government estimated some 20,000 are out and about breaking it at any one time, I think you might be needing those wristbands!

She should stick to the soppy ballads, hey?

The uptick in cases is discouraging, particularly given the vaccination rate in the UK. We are seeing similar increases in parts of the US - the NYC metro area is doing particularly badly. Is there any clarification on causes? The two most common reasons I hear are lockdown fatigue and variants, but there seems to be precious little data.

As far as I'm aware the national service is only offering AZ. My AZ jab that was done by the GP service yesterday is now in the system, and the NHS site has just let me book a second dose for June.

In the UK, the rise seems to be driven by the reopening of schools, leading to increased infection rates among 5-15 year-olds, who, in turn, infect their as-yet-unvaccinated parents.

Hospitalisations and deaths are down, which is good, but a sustained rise in cases increases the chances of a new variant emerging, which is something the government is rightly determined to avoid.

One can only speculate about the cause of the rise in cases and it is most likely a bit premature to worry about a few days or even a weeks data yet. I am not convinced about the link to schools. Well not at infant/primary level anyway. We all know that children will not follow the social distancing rules and they do not wear masks. I think if schools were a big problem, then we would have seen major outbreaks in almost every school before Christmas and last spring.

I've booked on the BA to Newcastle on Monday just for a little jolly away (coming back to London on the train) but I'll also take the opportunity to see how things are operating at LHR, what questions are being asked etc. Honestly can't wait to get on a plane again!

The Police said today they have issued 508 fines by forces in England and three in Wales to people failing to self-isolate after arriving from a country on the Government quarantine list up to March 14. Ultimately it is based on the honor system (i.e. people doing the right thing), and you have to have some very bad luck to get caught. I don't know anyone that completed it by the book for the full 14/10 days, with various justifications given.

HMG isn't certain either. There are some schools in there, a bit of Scotland, and we should be wary of reading too much into a day or two of data. The 14 day figure still fell slightly today to 115.6 per 100k (a week ago 116.7), the 7 day is 59.6 compared to 56.1. Next week should be interesting due to the schools being on Easter break.

Based on what I’m told, the overwhelming majority of people are just checked to ensure they have the paperwork. It still takes three hours and no one actually looks at what you’ve got as long as you have something. A bit like police checkpoints in Tajikistan, with the exception that at least there they count the bribes.

'Stay-local' rule in Wales to end from Saturday