Todays data:

England cases 3,218 (3,865 last Monday) - down 15.7% week on week
England deaths down 30.0% week on week
Patients admitted in England 522 (598 on the 7th)
Patients in hospital in England 5,284 (5,647 on the 9th)
Patients in ventilation beds 122 (150 on the 9th)
Vaccinated up to and including 30th October 2022:
First dose: 45,344,238
Second dose: 42,828,646
Booster: 33,784,042
The autumn boosters are running at over 115,000 per day now and have reached 58.2% of the over 50s.

BA.5 accounts for 51.9% of cases, BQ.1 33% with BA.3/4 on 0.6% each and others 13.9%.

I have been laid low with an awful flu-like bug for over a week now. Way more severe than anything I have ever experienced (I am normally pretty bullet proof with these things). It has now turned into a nasty sinus infection so am resorting to antibiotics. My daughter had a similar thing a week earlier, and I know plenty of others also impacted.

Funnily enough, noone even mentions covid when discussing it - shows how much we have moved on (thankfully). I did test a couple of times out of curiosity, but was always -ve. So I still havent had it after all this time...

There does seem to be a nasty one doing the rounds and I have heard many people describe your symptoms including my wife and daughter. I've dodged both so far (well as far as I am aware) but, as I like to say, "It's not the bullet that has my name on it I worry about...it's all those other ones marked 'To whom it may concern'.". All the best for a swift return to normal !

Today's weekly data from the ONS survey. Behind the headline figures there are continued falls in cases in all regions and all age ranges, particularly those over 50. In the week ending 8-9 November 2022:

One in 60 people in England had Covid (last week one in 40)
One in 55 in Wales had Covid (last week one in 40)
One in 55 in Northern Ireland had Covid (last week one in 45)
One in 55 in Scotland had Covid (last week one in 50)

What was the rationale behind the antibiotic prescription out of curiosity? Prevention or based on evidence of the bug being a bacterium?

I have no medical training, but when I described the colour and texture of my nasal discharge, he advised a course of basic Amoxycillin. Wont go in to more graphic detail than that :D

Weekly data:

England cases 3,285 (3,485 last Monday) - down 6.7% week on week
England deaths down 32.7% week on week
Patients admitted in England 503 (522 on the 14th)
Patients in hospital in England 4,600 (5,010 on the 16th)
Patients in ventilation beds 117 (122 on the 16th)
Vaccinated up to and including 20 November 2022:
First dose: 45,351,924
Second dose: 42,842,246
Booster: 33,804,868
The autumn boosters are running at over 78,000 per day now and have reached 60.4% of the over 50s.

BA.5 accounts for 44.7% of cases, BQ.1 40.1%, BA.2 0.6% and others 14.5%.

Today's weekly data from the ONS survey. In the week ending 15 November 2022:

One in 65 people in England had Covid (last week one in 60)
One in 65 in Wales had Covid (last week one in 55)
One in 55 in Northern Ireland had Covid (last week one in 55)
One in 65 in Scotland had Covid (last week one in 55)

So, the fact that all these end in 0 or 5 reminds me of the old golfing caddy joke when the player said to the caddy "it really seems odd to me that all the yardages you give me end in 0 or 5"....with the caddy retort of "well I didn't think you were good enough of a player to handle anything of a yardage that ended in anything else".

I'll get me coat :)

Got my booster yesterday (Pfizer Bivalent), efficient as always (I was the only one there at 7pm!), feeling the effects of it today though :(.

Really surprised there is no talk of extending boosters down to the over 40s - my last jab was so long ago I would be amazed if there is any immunity left...

The current variants really don't justify a mass rollout to younger people. And as I mentioned before the NHS is a bit black/white on this, it doesn't do the notion of "well you have it if you want it, but it's not vital for you to have it". I would point out that if your new boyfriend / girlfriend / etc is immuno-compromised then their "household contacts" can have the jab......

The reduction in cases we have seen for last few weeks has bottomed out. The 7 day average is well below 3,000 which was last seen in May last year. Omicron BA.5 is now overtaken by BQ.1. At the current rate BA.5 will be all but gone in a month.

England cases 3,807 (3,536 last Monday) - up 3.6% week on week
England deaths down 29.7% week on week
Patients admitted in England 639 (503 on the 21st)
Patients in hospital in England 4,964 (4,600 on the 23rd)
Patients in ventilation beds 128 (117 on the 23rd)
Vaccinated up to and including 20 November 2022:
Autumn booster total by 27th November: 14,412,346/61.9% of those aged 50+

BA.5 accounts for 34.7% of cases, BQ.1 46.2%, BA.2 0.6% and others 18.3%.

Today's weekly data from the ONS survey. In the week ending 21-22 November 2022:

One in 60 people in England had Covid (last week one in 65)
One in 75 in Wales had Covid (last week one in 65)
One in 65 in Northern Ireland had Covid (last week one in 55)
One in 60 in Scotland had Covid (last week one in 65)

There is a clear but slow rise in cases now. The number are still more than ten times lower than this time last year. Also the autumn booster numbers have slowed significantly. Weekly data:

England cases 4,447 (4,171 last Monday) - up 12.2% week on week
England deaths down 24.8% week on week
Patients admitted in England 724 (639 on the 28th)
Patients in hospital in England 5,501 (4,964 on the 30th)
Patients in ventilation beds 119 (128 on the 30th)
Vaccinated up to and including 20 November 2022:
Autumn booster total by 27th November: 14,628,502/62.8% of those aged 50+

There is no update to the variant data today. BA.5 should be well out of the picture by now.