Blog Day 156 - Thursday 27 August 2020

The news reported last night the a university in Queensland is developing a virus vaccine and they are using hamsters as guinea pigs.  Why wouldn't you use guinea pigs as guinea pigs??

Straight into today's figures.  Victoria has reported 113 new infections for the last 24 hours, this is a great figure when compared to 149 the previous day and is the lowest figure since the 5th July. Unfortunately the death rate isn't declining as quickly with 23 deaths reported.  Of the deaths 1 was a male in his 60's, 1 male & 4 females in their 70's, 6 males & 3 females in their 80's and 3 males & 5 females in their 90's.  Twenty two of the 23 were from aged care facilities.  There is 522 Victorians in hospital with the virus and 29 in intensive care and 11 on ventilators.  The numbers in hospital and ICU are now declining most days and should result in a corresponding decline in the number of deaths in due course.

The world figures are not providing a similar level of comfort.  For this week there were 1,754,829 new infections reported worldwide compared to 1,773,451 the week before a reduction of 18,622 or of only 1%.  There were 38,099 deaths reported worldwide for the current week compared to 38,416 the previous week. As you can see not much comfort to be taken from these figures.

India reported the largest increase in infections for the week at 471,927 (440,351) well ahead of the 2nd place getter in the USA at 299,430 (340,629). Last week's figures in brackets.  The USA, Brazil, Mexico and India account for 60% of new infections for the week.

The USA is still leading in the number of deaths for the week with 7,313 (7,206) with India coming in at 2nd place with 6,635 (6,856) ahead of Brazil with 6,567 (6,926).  The USA, Brazil, Mexico and India account for 62% of the deaths for the week.

In Europe a number of countries have seen a significant increase in the number of new infections for the week.  Spain recorded nearly 39,000 new infections compared to just over 11,000 for the previous week.  Both France and Italy recorded increases in infections.  The increases in infections haven't translated yet into an increase in the number of deaths, but as we have seen here in Victoria it takes a little time for the increase in infections to flow through to an increase in deaths.  It will be worthwhile keeping an eye on Spain's figures over the next few weeks.

Closer to home, Australia recorded 99 deaths for the week which was more than the deaths reported individually by the UK, Italy and France.

Tables are as below; 

Corona Virus Daily Stats – Stage 4 Lockdown – Day 25

Date	Aus Infected	Aus Increase	Vic Infected	Vic Increase	Aus Death	Vic Death	Aus Hospl	Vic Hospital	Aus ICU	Vic ICU
02/08	17,920	685	11,557	671	208	123	366	385	44	38
03/08	18,318	444	11,937	429	221	136	408	416	46	35
04/08	18,728	451	12,335	439	232	147	439	456	43	38
05/08	19,444	740	13,035	725	247	162	483	538	44	42
06/08	19,890	483	13,469	471	255	170	566		51
07/08	20,270	461	13,867	450	266	181	600	607	52	41
08/08	20,697	475	14,283	466	278	193	632	636	51	44
09/08	21,084	412	14,659	394	295	210	659	634	53	43
10/08	21,397	337	14,957	322	314	229	657	640	51	47
11/08	21,713	353	15,251	331	332	247	664	650	54	47
12/08	22,127	428	15,646	410	352	267	673	662	51	43
13/08	22,417	290	15,924	278	361	275	685	664	51	37
14/08		387	16,234	372	372	289		659		41
15/08	23,035	312	16,517	303	379	293	680	661	47	41
16/08	23,287	284	16,764	279	396	309	680	662	47	40
17/08	23,576	289	17,046	282	421	334	680	657	47	44
18/08	23,783	225	17,249	222	438	351	674	665	51	45
19/08	23,997	228	17,454	216	450	363	682	675	52	44
20/08	24,235	246	17,686	240	463	376	682	665	52	43
21/08	24,417	180	17,862	179	470	385	682	626	52	40
22/08	24,607	191	18,034	182	483	396	682	610	52	36
23/08	24,811	204	18,231	208	502	415	631	585	43	32
24/08	24,915	120	18,330	116	517	430	604	629	39	31
25/08	25,053	151	18,464	148	528	438	659	617	38	35
26/08	25,204	156	18,608	149	549	462	644	578	42	39
27/08	25,320	115	18,721	113	572	485	603	522	46	29

Corona Virus International Stats as at 27/08/2020

Country	Population	Infected No	Infected Increase	Deaths No	Deaths Increase No	Deaths per Million Population
Belgium	11,500,000	82,447	3,550	9,878	-81	859
UK	68,000,000	328,846	7,748	41,465	68	610
Spain	47,000,000	426,818	38,833	28,971	174	616
Italy	60,000,000	262,540	7,262	35,458	46	591
Sweden	10,000,000	87,072	1,661	5,817	15	582
France	65,000,000	253,587	28,544	30,544	76	470
USA	331,000,000	6,000,361	299,430	183,650	7,313	555
Brazil	213,000,000	3,722,004	261,591	117,756	6,567	553
Mexico	129,000,000	568,621	31,590	61,450	2,969	476
South Africa	59,000,000	615,701	19,641	13,502	1,079	229
Russia	146,000,000	970,865	33,544	16,683	694	114
World	7,800,000,000	24,323,111	1,754,829	828,887	38,099	106
India	1,300,000,000	3,307,749	471,927	60,629	6,635	47
Australia	25,000,000	25,204	1,211	549	99	22
New Zealand	5,000,000	1,695	46	22	0	4

And now the State of Disaster remembers;

Remember: to stay indoors between 8.00pm and 5.00am, stay safe & stay strong, respect the 5km limits, don't try & get a haircut, drink your coffee at home, don't dither at the supermarket checkout, don't get Jim's Mowing in to cut your grass, get some virus approved exercise, shop at Harvey Norman for good service, be honest, if in doubt wear a mask and a face shield, remember the fallen, get plenty of sleep, laugh at my jokes, have a virtual beer with a Vietnam vet, if you have to ask - the answer is no, remain vigilant, act responsibly, apologise if you are wrong, use Zoom to keep in touch, put your bins out before curfew and be kind.