Blog Day 293 - Thursday 14 January 2021

 My sister who is a regular reader and contributor to the blog is a keen player of indoor bowls in her home town of Burnie in Tasmania.  In a post to yesterday's blog she has advised us that after 46 weeks of not being able to play bowls they are going to attempt to restart the competition.  They will still be required to have their temperatures taken and abide by a strict regime of cleaning and sanitising and that is only the players.  I hope that the Tasmanians have caught up with the modern methods of taking temperatures and still not relying on the old fashioned eye popping ways.

First day of tennis players and their entourages flying into Melbourne and already a player who has recently tested positive for the virus is on a flight on his way to Melbourne.  Still early days and there is some confusion about his actual status.  Apparently the plane was turned back to the gate at LAX but the latest is that the plane was eventually allowed to depart with the player on board.  The player concerned has tweeted "Craig Tiley (tournament director for TA) is a wizard".

So much for Lisa Neville's much vaunted world class and strictest quarantine regime ever. 

Victoria has recorded a further day of zero community infections and also zero ROT infections. Australia wide we reported eight new infections, all ROTs.  This outcome was as a result of 16,500 test results received in the last 24 hours in Victoria, 20,500 in NSW and 13,100 in Qld.

There are currently 275 active cases Australia wide including 90 ROTs excluding 77 ROTs in NSW.

Worldwide figures are continuing with their grim upward climb.  In the last 24 hours there were 764,000 new infections reported for a total of nearly 93 million infections worldwide for the pandemic and 16,900 deaths recorded for a total of 1.985 million deaths worldwide for the pandemic.  At the moment there is no sign of the worldwide infection and death figures flattening.

In the last week worldwide there were over 5 million new infections recorded and nearly 95,000 new deaths recorded bringing the totals to the figures as reported above.

Many of our old favourite countries have recorded significant increases in the last week with very few reporting any sort of decline.  A number of new countries have made an entry into the top deaths per million of population list.

Individual country stats for the past week as below, previous week's figures in brackets;

USA - increase in infections 1,758,729 (1,499,272). Increase in deaths 23,938 (18,549)

Brazil - increase in infections 382,920 (277,281).  Increase in deaths 6,966 (5,074)

Mexico - increase in infections 76,193 (70,878).  Increase in deaths 5,695 (4,963)

India - increase in infections 116,893 (147,056). Increase in deaths 1,393 (1,962)

These four countries account for 46% (45%) of the new infections for the week and 40% (38%) of the new deaths for the week.

India continues to record declines in the infection rates and death rates and is the only country in this group of four to do so.  The US infection rates are nearly 300,000 higher than the previous week and the death rate nearly 5,000 more than the previous week.  

Given the increases in the infection rates it is certain that the death rates will continue to rise especially in the US and Brazil.  (If I can squeeze it into my busy schedule I might have a look at the infection and death rates for the various states in the US - maybe do a comparison between the Republican and Democrat states, might make for interesting reading).

UK - increase in infections 374,775 (307,841). increase in deaths 7,421 (3,942)

Spain - increase in infections 193,545 (66,659). Increase in deaths 1,448 (945)

Italy - increase in infections 117,091 (104,600). Increase in deaths 3,449 (3,447)

France - increase in infections 124,824 (98,852). Increase in deaths 2,466 (2,401)

These four countries account for 16% (13%) of the new infections for the week and 16% (14%) of the new deaths for the week.

Anybody following the news this week would be award of the difficulties facing the UK in trying to control the spread of the virus and trying to avoid their health system being overwhelmed by new infections.  As we can see there were significant increases in the numbers of new infections and virus related deaths in the UK in the last week.  Even with these figures there has been reports from the UK of persistent and deliberate breaches of their lockdown.  As we have seen in Victoria, these quarantines and lockdowns only work when the majority of the populous obey the rules, otherwise it is a waste of time and effort.

The increase in new infections in Spain from 66,000 to 193,000 if correct is cause for concern however the difference is too great to be accepted as reliable.  Hopefully it is a reporting glitch or maybe the inclusion of previously excluded historical figures, lets hope it is one of the latter.  Next week's figures may cast some light on this.

In the scheme of things Italy and France have recorded reasonably small increases in both new infections and deaths, it would be nice to see some decreases though.

I have listed below the top countries by death per million of population with last week's ranking in brackets.  (As usual I have excluded the micro countries and included Australia and New Zealand for comparison purposes).

1. Belgium 1,738 (1)
2. Slovenia 1,477 (2)
3. Bosnia 1,345 (3)
4. Italy 1,330 (4)
5. North Macedonia 1,275 (5)
6. Czechia 1274 (6)
7. UK 1,245 (9)
8. Bulgaria 1,206 (7)
9. USA 1,186 (11)
10. Montenegro 1,173 (10)
11. Peru 1,156 (8)
12. Hungary 1,135 (13)
13. Spain 1,131 (12)
14. Croatia 1,093 (new entry)
15. France 1,056 (14)
16. Mexico 1,046 (15)
17. Argentina 990 (16)
18. Switzerland 981 (new entry)
19. Sweden 970 (new entry)
20. Brazil 966 (17) 

• Australia 35
• New Zealand 05

Both the US and UK have crept up the table a couple of spots but Belgium still holds the lead over Slovenia.  Switzerland and Sweden have crept into the top 20 ahead of Brazil.  I won't be travelling around the Balkans again any time in the near future.

Tables as below;

Corona Virus Daily Stats – Day 14 – New Year 2021 – Covid Normal (as much as possible)

Date	Aus Infected	Aus Increase	Vic Infected	Vic Increase	Aus Death	Vic Death	Aus Hospl	Vic Hospital	Aus ICU	Vic ICU
01/01	28,421	13	20,376	8	909	820	21	0	0	0
02/01	28,441	13	20,388	12	909	820	19	0	0	0
03/01	28,483	14	20,391	3	909	820	26	0	0	0
04/01	28,499	16	20,395	4	909	820	30	0	0	0
05/01	28,518	14	20,399	4	909	820	26	0	0	0
06/01	28,533	10	20,402	3	909	820	36	0	0	0
07/01	28,544	8	20,402	0	909	820	35	0	0	0
08/01	28,658	21	20,403	1	909	820	40	0	0	0
09/01	28,582	12	20,404	1	909	820	40	0	0	0
10/01	28,595	13	20,410	6	909	820	41	0	0	0
11/01	28,611	16	20,411	1	909	820	47	0	1	0
12/01	28,633	19	20,411	0	909	820	43	0	1	0
13/01	28,647	13	20,414	3	909	820	45	0	1	0

Country	Population	Infected No	Infected Increase	Deaths No	Deaths Increase No	Deaths per Million Population
Belgium	11,500,000	667,322	14,587	20,194	367	1756
UK	68,000,000	3,211,576	374,775	84,767	7,421	1247
Spain	47,000,000	2,176,089	193,545	52,878	1,448	1125
Italy	60,000,000	2,319,036	117,091	80,326	3,449	1339
Sweden	10,000,000	512,203	42,455	9,834	849	983
France	65,000,000	2,830,442	124,824	69,031	2,466	1062
USA	331,000,000	23,616,345	1,758,729	393,928	23,938	1190
Brazil	213,000,000	8,257,459	382,920	206,009	6,966	967
Mexico	129,000,000	1,556,028	76,193	135,682	5,695	1052
South Africa	59,000,000	1,278,303	128,712	35,140	4,616	596
Russia	146,000,000	3,471,053	162,452	63,370	3,419	434
World	7,800,000,000	92,747,904	5,112,401	1,985,405	94,619	255
India	1,300,000,000	10,512,831	116,893	151,765	1,393	117
Australia	25,000,000	28,647	104	909	0	36
New Zealand	5,000,000	2,228	40	25	0	5

Corona Virus International Stats as at 14/01/2021