The world is worried about the new variant of Covid that has emerged in Soth Africa, and according to the FT, rightly so:
That speed of spread, and the significant mutation that this variant seems to have, suggests that another worrying phase of Covid may be beginning.
The first concern that this gives rise to is to peoples' health.
The second is to the economy. As the Guardian's morning news email says:
Shares have headed for their largest weekly drop while safe-haven assets such as bonds and the yen have rallied as the new Covid variant adds to concerns about future growth and higher US interest rates. The Australian and New Zealand dollars dropped to three-month lows while Japan's Nikkei was down 1.7% in early trade and Australian shares fell 0.6%. The yen jumped about 0.4% to 114.91 per dollar and gold rose 0.2% to $1,792 per ounce. This morning according to futures trading, the FTSE could open 100 points or so down.
This is not surprising. The risk of further lockdowns to deal with this variant has to be high when we have already seen the deeply reluctant UK government already reimpose travel bans.
I am worried.
Please get vaccinated as soon as you can. I had my booster this week. The only reaction has been a sore arm for a day or so, and maybe a sniffly nose. But the benefit has to be worth it. We are far from out of this as yet.
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Booster on December 9th. Still wearing masks too. But I was watching rugby recently and at Twickenham in England v. South Africa I could not see many people wearing face masks.
At work they have gone as far as to say limit your exposure to or be protected when you socialise because they are worried that after Christmas people will be self isolating and they’ll have no people to run the service.
Three triple vaccinated family members have been ill with Covid and recovered with, as yet no long-term effects. However, there is plenty of evidence that it could have been much worse. So, my recommendation to everyone has not changed:
– Buy good quality FFP3 masks and make sure they fit well. (Well worth the extra cost)
– Always wear one in shops, supermarkets, and any crowded place.
– Sanitise hands after shopping and being in a crowded place.
– Before meeting friends and family, do the latest lateral flow test and ask them to do the same. The test is free and now really easy and readily available by post https://www.gov.uk/order-coronavirus-rapid-lateral-flow-tests
– Ignore anyone who thinks that it’s safe to do less.
I admit to only using FFP2 bit agree with the rest
I’m certainly no expert, but I read that the Valneva vaccine may be the most effective against this variant, but of course Johnson cancelled the contract.
No one knows such things as yet, is what I read
I think it worth noting that South Africa has done much better yhan the UK, though that is not so hard as the UK is about 10th worst in the World. Yesterday SA had 2500 new cases out of 38,000 tested. Total population is just under 60 million. Masks are compulsory, even outdoors in public areas, and have been since mid 2020. Their contact tracing system is quite effective. Vacination has reached 41% despite Europe and the US trying to monopolise supplies. All my relatives were done promptly and efficiently in Cape Town.