We have been back in lockdown since Tuesday. I'm glad because last weekend, I realised I was becoming anxious again. I could see the trends of infections, hospital admissions and deaths and so far the only effective ways of reducing these have been lockdowns and summer. It still means we have at least another week before we might see any effect. I suspect that things are worse than we are being told. There is anecdotal evidence that the people being admitted to hospital are younger and sicker than in the first wave, often with no underlying conditions. This new variant emerged in the south east of England, but it seems to be spreading quickly across the country.

Where I live, the case rates have doubled in the last week with a rate of 356 per 100,000 for the week to 4th January and we are well below the national average. A recent survey suggested that in the UK as a whole, 1 in 50 currently has the virus and in London, it's as high as 1 in 30. What's scary is those numbers are for the week to 2nd January so today, the rates are likely to be much higher. (These numbers come from randomised sampling of the population by our national statistics body).

I know two people who have been vaccinated, both health care workers in London. Vaccinations have started locally. The current plan is to have given the first dose to everyone over 70, healthcare workers and those who are extremely clinically vulnerable by mid-February. After that, it's those aged 65-70, and then the biggest group (which includes me) of those aged 16-64 with underlying medical conditions which makes them more vulnerable to serious illness with Covid.