We're into Advent here having nom'd a bit of the Paddington Bear calendar and guess what's returning rather like a boomerang?
Things had seemed fairly stable until last week as we appeared to be managing a reasonable balance between playing wac-a-mole with Covid and having a functioning economy and society.
Then late on in the week people started talking of a variant discovered in and around South Africa with a few returnees in the Netherlands showing signs and by Monday it was apparent it has crossed our shores.
The Omicron variant seems to had evolved the protein structure to get past any existing defences although so far in for most it doesn't appear to be any more dangerous of itself but clearly we need both more time to find out how it fits in with existing control measures and raise protections sooner rather than later.
That lead to a Press Conference where it was announced the rules around mask wearing in public settings were returning and caution needed to be taken.
It was announced that the current booster program would both be extended to under forties and the delay between having had a second inoculation and the booster would be reduced from six months to three.
As well children over 12 would be offered a second vaccination, the aim of all being to reduce the likelihood of serious illness from Omicron and up the overall protection as we get into colder more damp part of Winter and keep cases down.
In general I agree with this and feel the return of mask rules in England are overdue as really they do help reduce transmission and protect the most vulnerable on public transport and in the shops.
Many of us hope this will save a meaningful family Christmas for most of us.
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