Cases are down in every region of England and fewer over-80s are catching the virus than ever before, according to the latest figures from PHE. So why are restrictions not being lifted for another seven weeks? What happened to data not dates? MailOnline has more.
Public Health England’s weekly Covid report found just 6.3 per 100,000 people in the most vulnerable age group caught the disease in the week ending April 25th, the lowest since surveillance data began last June. The infection rate among over-80s peaked at 623 in mid-January.
For over-60s, the rate was 9.1, down from 9.9 the week before and a high of 454 at the peak of the second wave. Both lockdown restrictions and vaccines — which were given to the elderly first — have helped turn the tide on the crisis.
Every English region also saw falls in cases in the past week — despite millions more tests being deployed — with the lowest rates recorded in the South West (14.2), South East (17.2) and the East of England (20.5).
Meanwhile, the Department of Health’s daily update revealed there were 2,445 cases in the past 24 hours and 22 deaths, with infections down 10% from a week ago and deaths up slightly on the 18th last Thursday.
Latest figures show another 462,000 second and 134,000 first vaccine doses were dished out on Tuesday. It means more than 34 million Britons have had at least one dose and 14 million have been fully vaccinated.
Experts said the UK was moving out of the Covid pandemic and into a situation that was much more manageable after separate figures showed the number of people falling ill across Britain is also at a record low.
But despite a plethora of evidence showing the virus is firmly in retreat, England faces at least seven more weeks of restrictions. June 21st has been earmarked as the earliest possible date that most curbs can be lifted.
Worth reading in full.
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Good article. They are vastly more expensive to consumers – 2 or 3 x more is a reasonable approximation when all the subsidies, grants, etc are factored in. I have seen 5-10 x in some cost comparisons.
1-They are not ‘green’. Far from it. None of these technologies are Gaia friendly. Don’t let these half wits promote themselves as eco-angels with ‘green’.
2-Hypocritically, all of this tech is reliant on abiotic, clean, naturally replenishing hydrocarbons from sourcing to production, to implementation and operations. 30 Tonnes of steel per bird chopper etc etc Therefore – it is not, nut-zero neutral whatsoever.
I assume that “balancing the grid” is a euphemism for lighting a gas turbine and burning some hydrocarbons as efficiently as physics will let you.
Maybe not. I think it might be when we beg* France to direct some of their nuclear generated electricity over to us instead of to Germany.
*Beg: Assume the position.
Some real time details of the interconnection links here: https://grid.iamkate.com/ There is a tiny bit of storage in hydroelectric form as well. More details about it all here: https://www.nationalgrideso.com/electricity-explained/how-do-we-balance-grid
If renewable energy is cheap but prices are going up then someone is profiteering.
A lot of the profits go offshore
https://davidturver.substack.com/p/offshore-wind-follow-the-money
While you state that FiTs are index linked, it might be worth noting that September RPI is used at the start of each fiscal year. That’s baked into each contract. It also might be worth observing that incoming cash from FiT is not regarded as taxable income by the HMRC; makes sense, otherwise they’d be issuing cash in one hand and clawing it back in the other.
If it had been taxable, it might have discouraged certain customers to invest in the kit at all, when doing the sums on the investment.
The question that everyone needs to ask of anyone advocating renewables is “when do prices start to fall?”
Unlike fossil fuels, with prices fluctuating at the whim of international players, renewables costs should be quite easy to predict with a degree of certainty, therefore it is possible to show a clear dated path to the nirvana of cheap power.
Over to you greenies, a simple spreadsheet will do.
I hear all the time on mainstream news (BBC, SKY etc and even on GB News) activists telling the viewers that “renewables are now cheaper than coal and gas” ——–THIS IS FALSE. It is a blatant LIE. On a level playing field with no subsidy coal is by far the cheapest way to generate electricity. Some of us might remember the words of Obama when he said “Sure people can open a coal fired plant, it is just that it will bankrupt them”. The reason all over the western world for this is the picking of winners and losers by government. Western governments choose Renewables as their winner and they then set about hammering fossil fuels with carbon taxes and other mandates and environmental costs to force coal out of business. ———The other thing to take into account is that wind and sun are part time energy. Coal and gas are full time. So comparing the two can only be done if you take into account the back up required when the wind does not blow, which is often, and that backup mainly comes from gas which has to sit ticking over, and costing money till the wind stops. ——-Also please take a look at your electricity bill since we started using wind. A three year old could easily see that their bill has virtually trebled in this time. So much for all the “Free Wind”.
Send to everyone you know.