Right so your practice is on Emis, rather than Systm1, and yes you have had the new Moderna bivalent jab. There's a data update on that vaccine later today, in the press summary released yesterday the manufacturers are claiming a higher level of benefits than the initial pitch.

Yes, and they use the Patient Access app which is fortunate as from that I can order/view repeat prescriptions but cannot via the NHS app (something they seem unable to fix).

Bingo (and thanks)!

Comirnaty Original/Omicron BA.1 COVID-19 mRNA Vaccine 15micrograms/15micrograms/0.3ml dose dispersion for injection multidose vials (Pfizer Ltd)

0.3 ml Intramuscular

0.3 ml

I think this pertains to the UK version of the Moderna bivalent (targeting BA.1).

90-Day Analysis Shows Moderna's Omicron BA.1-Targeting Bivalent Vaccine, mRNA-1273.214, Demonstrates Superior Antibody Response as Fourth Booster Compared to Spikevax Prototype Booster - Moderna (NASDAQ:MRNA) - Benzinga

Fittingly COVID has made a U-turn today, with cases falling.

England cases 8,634 (9,7819 last Monday) - down 12.3% week on week
England deaths up 3.8% week on week
Patients admitted in England 1,121 (1,275 on the 10th)
Patients in hospital in England 10,387 (10,608 on the 12th)
Patients in ventilation beds 206 (221 on the 12th)
Vaccinated up to and including 15th October 2022:
First dose: 45,300,652
Second dose: 42,755,779
Booster: 33,676,360
The autumn boosters are running at over 250,000 per day now and have reached 37.9% of the over 50s.

BA.5 accounts for 86.5% of cases, BA.4 2.1% and others 11.1%.

Whilst the news that there has been a U-turn in infection rates is good, the fact that there is not currently a significant shift in the distribution of variants is also positive news, although it's probably still a bit early to tell.

Are we perhaps seeing the effects of the autumn/winter vaccination programme kicking in?

There must be a combination of reasons and hopefully vaccination is one of them. Schools may have seen infections pass through them by now. We should not read too much into one weeks figures, but we may be lucky with the way things are heading.

Thanks for your wishes. I managed to pass it on to Mrs, Mstr and Miss Wilsnunn too. They are all showing negative now but strangely after a few days of very faint T lines, my LFT is back up again to a thick red line.

Singapore allows you to exit self isolation after 7 days regardless, however we are meant to be visiting elderly relatives here who we absolutely want to avoid passing COVID to because of their various ongoing medical treatments etc, as such (and because I really don’t think I am comfortable with walking around whilst still positive!) I am still locked away.

Today's weekly data from the ONS survey. In the week ending 10-11 October 2022:

One in 30 people in England had Covid (last week one in 35)
One in 25 in Wales had Covid (last week one in 40)
One in 40 in Northern Ireland had Covid (last week one in 40)
One in 35 in Scotland had Covid (last week one in 50)

We are heading the right way this week:

England cases 5,812 (9,253 last Monday) - down 15.3% week on week
England deaths down 10.6% week on week
Patients admitted in England 870 (1,121 on the 17th)
Patients in hospital in England 9,131 (10,387 on the 19th)
Patients in ventilation beds 222 (206 on the 19th)
Vaccinated up to and including 15th October 2022:
First dose: 45,312,239
Second dose: 42,773,302
Booster: 33,707,906
The autumn boosters are running at over 240,000 per day now and have reached 44.9% of the over 50s.

BA.5 accounts for 88.4% of cases, BA.4 0.9% and others 10.3%.

Today's weekly data from the ONS survey. In the week ending 17 October 2022:

One in 30 people in England had Covid (last week one in 30)
One in 35 in Wales had Covid (last week one in 25)
One in 35 in Northern Ireland had Covid (last week one in 40)
One in 35 in Scotland had Covid (last week one in 35)

The latest data is below. All the numbers are falling at a good rate. The latest percentage of non omicron cases is getting higher though.

England cases 4,278 (6.114 last Monday) - down 32.1% week on week
England deaths down 24.2% week on week
Patients admitted in England 630 (870 on the 24th)
Patients in hospital in England 7,296 (9,131 on the 26th)
Patients in ventilation beds 175 (222 on the 26th)
Vaccinated up to and including 30th October 2022:
First dose: 45,325,749
Second dose: 42,794,997
Booster: 33,725,047
The autumn boosters are running at over 190,000 per day now and have reached 50.4% of the over 50s.

BA.5 accounts for 68.3% of cases, BA.4 0.4% and others 30.6%.

Do you know what is in the "others"? A resurgence of Alpha or Delta?

They are mainly XBB and BQ.1 Both are variants descended from the BA series. So XBB is BA.2 and a bit of BA.4. BQ.1 is rooted from BA.5. They are so similar to BA / Omicron that it's not something we need to worry about over above concern for Omicron's other variants, and the bivalent jabs from Moderna and Pfizer should - on paper at least - do the trick with them.