No, it quite clearly does not cover vaccination, there is a separate figure for that in the table as you can see.

https://cimg5.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.fly...cd75614326.png

What did we spend it on then? I don't remember much tracing going on, do you?

Ah, the fact that vaccinations aren't included is even worse. According to HMG, between January 1st and the last day of February there have been 67.5m tests performed and counted by the NHS in the whole of the UK. If T&T costed us £5.1bn in that period, and if all of it - as you imply - went on tests it means that we paid... what, £76 a test?

The contract tracers and other call centre staff, who were indeed under-employed, and the external contractors such as Deloitte who provided middle management. Contact tracing via semi-anonymous means was an expensive mistake, and pretty futile by the time we got to BA.1 and BA.2. It also took way too long. It would have been more efficient to give people the tools to do it themselves, and to encourage LFD use at early points in potential infections.

Ah ok, great value for money then!

Imagine what could have been done by putting that money in to social care, or the completely broken GP service which is quite clearly contributing to the problems in hospitals since people can't get to GPs. But of course some want to keep shelling out that kind of money indefinitely on T&T.

I'd be nice to see how much of this mountain of money has been spent on the actual LFTs and how much went to Deloitte, other consultancies and in fees to specific MPs.

It seems to be mainly a combination of:
LFTs
PCRs (including processing)
Staff doing tracing

Unless they've been using ivory swabs and Premier League footballers to do the work this is a misuse of funds of cataclysmic proportions, and I'm being charitable. £76 per test.

Same general area I guess. One group adds to the gaiety of the nation with their exotic activities away from their professional responsibilities.

Oh, I could think of 100 things more irritating, most notably the use of bull---- statistics by people on both sides of the debate, and people using these as an excuse to force their views on others. And also the extension of us becoming a rule-excessive, nanny-state, which was getting bad before Covid, but is now often intolerable.

Daily data:

Cases 30,435 (47,794 last Monday)
Deaths 116 (70)
Patients admitted 2,534 (2,532 the 29th)
Patients in hospital 20,051 (19,975 on the 1st)
Patients in ventilation beds 355 (352 on the 1st)
Vaccinated up to and including 10 April 2022:
First dose: 52,925,734
Second dose: 49,556,712
Booster: 38,974,239

The rolling seven day daily average for cases is now down 38.3% on the previous week and the same measure for deaths is up 45.4%. The rolling 7 day daily average for deaths is 230.4 today.

Sadly adding a 1 today's case count.... there goes my trip to the US this week!

Perhaps that is why today's data is delayed. Anyway I hope you recover quickly :)

Daily data:

Cases 37,819 (50,202 last Tuesday)
Deaths 288 (368)
Patients admitted 2,212 (2,404 the 31st)
Patients in hospital 20,032 (20,479 on the 4th)
Patients in ventilation beds 378 (351 on the 4th)
Vaccinated up to and including 11 April 2022:
First dose: 52,941,680
Second dose: 49,568,681
Booster: 38,991,568

The rolling seven day daily average for cases is now down 36.8% on the previous week and the same measure for deaths is up 30.6%. The rolling 7 day daily average for deaths is 219.0 today. There is a data issue which means deaths in England are under reported. The balance will go into tomorrows figure.

Daily data:

Cases 35,926 (51,253 last Wednesday)
Deaths 651 (233)
Patients admitted 1,871 (2,061 the 2nd)
Patients in hospital 19,770 (20,453 on the 5th)
Patients in ventilation beds 385 (364 on the 5th)
Vaccinated up to and including 12 April 2022:
First dose: 52,959,181
Second dose: 49,580,222
Booster: 39,009,357

The rolling seven day daily average for cases is now down 34.9% on the previous week and the same measure for deaths is up 63.4%. The rolling 7 day daily average for deaths is 278.0 today. Some of the high figure for deaths today is a result of missed data yesterday. It is still a high figure though.