Omicron 'not mild for everyone' warning issued in Northants

Omicron 'not mild for everyone' warning issued in Northants The Director of Northamptonshire's Vaccination Programme has issued a stark warning to locals.

Chris Pallot, who has run the vaccination programme since it was set up in the county at the end of 2020 has warned locals that the new Omicron variant of Covid "is not mild for everybody". Northants Live

See also: 

• Clinically extremely vulnerable people struggle to access Covid antiviral drugs despite guidelines iNews
• Former Covid patient launches fundraiser for Northampton General Hospital to get a family room after they saved her life Northampton Chronicle and Echo
• 19 neighbourhoods and villages in Northamptonshire with the highest Covid rates Northamptonshire Telegraph
• Kettering restaurant boss given big Covid fine after hosting lockdown wedding Northamptonshire Telegraph
• What Northants was up to while Downing Street hosted garden party Northants Live

Air ambulance scrambled to 375 missions in Northants last year

Air ambulance scrambled to 375 missions in Northants last year The Northamptonshire air ambulance was called to nearly 400 missions last year.

During 2021, air ambulances across the midlands were called to 3,300 missions as the service remained fully in operation despite covid restrictions. Northants Live 

The full list of products recalled by major supermarkets after salmonella warning

The full list of products recalled by major supermarkets after salmonella warning Supermarkets Tesco, Aldi, Morrisons,Sainsbury’s and Asda have issued an urgent warning after salmonella was found in several products

Bake Away products are among the items being affected, such as their ready-to-roll raw pastry and dough products. Northamptonshire Telegraph 

Chart of the week: The rise, fall and rise again of NHS staff sickness absences

Chart of the week: The rise, fall and rise again of NHS staff sickness absences With staff absences in the NHS having been in the headlines recently, Billy Palmer looks at the daily number of staff absent through sickness or self-isolation across NHS acute trusts in England since the start of the pandemic. The numbers are presented as an average across seven days. Nuffield Trust

Past and projected period and cohort life tables: 2020-based, UK, 1981 to 2070

Past and projected period and cohort life tables: 2020-based, UK, 1981 to 2070 Life expectancy (eₓ), probability of dying (qₓ) and number of persons surviving (lₓ) from the period and cohort life tables, using past and projected mortality data from the 2020-based interim national population projections (NPPs), for the UK and constituent countries. Office for National Statistics

See also: 

• Life expectancy calculator Office for National Statistics
• Latest data shows that a child born in the UK today will die nearly 5 years earlier than previously predicted The Health Foundation
• Children born today will die five years earlier than predicted a decade ago as life expectancy falls The Independent

‘Miracle’ Cystic Fibrosis Treatment For Children on The NHS

‘Miracle’ Cystic Fibrosis Treatment For Children on The NHS Hundreds of children are set to benefit from a ‘miracle’ treatment for cystic fibrosis, which has already changed the lives of thousands of people, the NHS has announced today. Patients here were some of the first in Europe to benefit from Kaftrio when NHS England secured a landmark deal in June 2020. NHS England 

More than 40 million people have now had a second jab after bumper week

More than 40 million people have now had a second jab after bumper week More than 40 million second doses have now been delivered by the NHS COVID-19 Vaccination Programme, after a bumper week saw over 200,000 people come forward for their second jab. NHS England 

About 4.3 million Covid infections estimated in UK

About 4.3 million Covid infections estimated in UK About 4.3 million people in the UK had a Covid infection in the week up to 7 January - up from 3.7 million the previous week, the Office for National Statistics (ONS) estimates.

That is 6.7% of the population, but the rise in people testing positive is slowing down in all four UK nations. BBC News

See also:

• Coronavirus (COVID-19) Infection Survey headline results, UK: 12 January 2022 Office for National Statistics
• Care services struggle with Omicron staff-sickness spike BBC News
• Covid: Hospital staff come in on days off to cover absences BBC News
• In full: Boris Johnson's apology over lockdown drinks party BBC News
• Boris Johnson: Senior Tories urge PM to quit after party apology BBC News
• What has the PM said before about No 10 parties? BBC News
• Covid: Chile starts fourth vaccine dose amid rise in cases BBC News
• Face masks can slash distance infectious Covid droplets travel by up to EIGHT-FOLD, study suggests The Daily Mail
• 'Eventually it will have to break': LMC alert systems show general practice in distress GPonline
• Sajid Javid urged to delay mandatory jabs for NHS staff in England The Guardian
• Use of ‘VIP lane’ to award Covid PPE contracts unlawful, high court rules The Guardian
• ‘What we saw alarmed us’: the long fight to expose ‘VIP lane’ Covid contracts The Guardian
• Boris Johnson admits attending Downing Street party during lockdown The Guardian
• Covid loses almost all its ability to infect beyond short distances, new study finds The Independent
• ‘Deltacron’: New Covid variant or laboratory error? The Independent
• Man fined £100 for standing in the street same day No 10 accused of holding party The Independent
• COVID-19: Patient in intensive care regrets being 'too lazy' to get vaccine Sky News

6m people on hospital waiting lists in England

6m people on hospital waiting lists in England The number of people on a hospital waiting list in England has hit 6 million for the first time, NHS data shows.

Around one in 20 of those have been waiting more than a year.

This figure is for the end of November and covers operations such as knee and hip surgery. That is before Omicron hit so it is likely these figures will have worsened. BBC News

Jonathan Van-Tam stepping down as deputy chief medical officer

Jonathan Van-Tam stepping down as deputy chief medical officer Professor Sir Jonathan Van-Tam, England’s deputy chief medical officer, is stepping down from his position, it has been announced.

One of England’s most recognisable and trusted medics of the pandemic, Prof Van-Tam is set to return to the Faculty of Medicine and Health at the University of Nottingham, where he has been on secondment from since 2017. The Independent 

PROF KAROL SIKORA warns thousands of lives will be lost to cancer without urgent action

PROF KAROL SIKORA warns thousands of lives will be lost to cancer without urgent action Anyone who tuned into the debate today amongst a smattering of MPs on the issue of access to radiotherapy would have found it a truly sobering experience.

MPs from all parties lined up to set out in chilling terms the desperate situation we are now facing with cancer. In their words, it is a crisis in every shape and form. The Daily Mail 

UK doctors could soon begin giving heart transplant patients organs from PIGS after US case

UK doctors could soon begin giving heart transplant patients organs from PIGS after US case Transplant patients could routinely be given animal organs within years, according to the surgeon behind the world's first operation to give a dying man a pig heart.

Many experts see the field – known as xenotransplantation – as a solution to a global shortage of human organ donors that is expected to get worse as we live longer.

Last week, a genetically modified pig heart was transplanted into a terminally ill heart failure patient and the organ appears to be functioning properly so far. The Daily Mail

See also: 

• Three ethical issues around pig heart transplants BBC News
• First pig heart to human transplant is a game-changer, say surgeons BBC News