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GOOD AFTERNOON and welcome to my regular South West Surrey update No 126. On Saturday we remembered the life of His Royal Highness Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh. Our thoughts remain with Her Majesty the Queen and the entire family after what really was a very moving and dignified send off. Back (alas) to the pandemic: as of today, we had a total of 4,387,820 positive cases of COVID-19 with 127,270 confirmed deaths in the UK. There have been 5,792 confirmed cases in Waverley and sadly 246 confirmed deaths, with  an estimated 28 active cases in Waverley. All data is accurate as of 11am this morning.

VACCINES & VARIANTS Nearly 33m people have accepted a COVID-19 vaccine in the UK so far and almost 10m have now received both doses ([link removed]) . In South West Surrey, 56,215 people have had at least one dose and the R number has decreased slightly to between 0.7 to 1 ([link removed]) across the country. In gloomier news, the global coronavirus death toll has reached 3m according to the John Hopkins University dashboard ([link removed]) . Scientists are also concerned about the new Indian COVID-19 variant ([link removed]) , although more data is required to establish whether the strain is vaccine-resistant or spreads more easily. However over 70 cases have been detected in the UK so we do need to watch out. Dr Hopkins, the pretty reliable Chief Medical Adviser for NHS Test and Trace says ‘we have seen a couple of cases
[of the Indian variant] that haven't arisen from travel but to escalate it up the ranking we need to know that it is increased transmissibility, increased severity or vaccine evading, and we just don't have that yet.’ Unsurprisingly, many people are calling for India to be added to the government's red list of banned countries ([link removed]) . In the last seven days: coronavirus cases ⬇️2.8%, hospital admissions ⬇️12.8%, and deaths ⬇️27.1%.

PREGNANT = PFIZER UK vaccine advisers from the Joint Committee on Vaccination and Immunisation (JCVI) have confirmed that if you're pregnant, you should be offered the COVID-19 vaccine when eligible ([link removed]) – like everyone else. The JCVI says that it is preferable for pregnant women to be given the Pfizer or Moderna jab as both have no reported safety concerns, according to real-world data of 90,000 pregnant women from the US ([link removed]) . Important to say though that there is though no evidence that shows that other jabs are unsafe for expectant women. Dr Mary Ramsay, Head of Immunisation at Public Health England (PHE), stated: ‘the available data on the Pfizer-BioNTech and Moderna vaccines provides confidence that they can be offered safely to pregnant women.’ Good news.

LONG COVID Preliminary survey data shows that between 10% and 30% of people who contracted coronavirus may struggle to recover - meaning that Long Covid has affected more than a million people, 200,000 very severely. Here ([link removed]) is an interesting interview with two infectious disease specialists who are conducting a Long Covid trial. I’ve previously written to Matt Hancock to highlight these issues ([link removed]) and although I welcome the NHS Long Covid clinics, we must continue supporting the needs of those with the prolonged disease and keep up with the latest biological studies.

OXFORD > PFIZER? Despite the recent vaccine drama, all the jabs approved to date, including the Oxford one, are safe and effective. In fact, new research in people aged 80+ shows that ‘stronger cellular responses were seen in people who had received the Oxford/AstraZeneca vaccine.’ More information on the study here ([link removed]) , which is one of the first to compare the immune responses of two different vaccines directly.

The key number to remember for anyone with pandemic-related difficulties remains 0300 200 1008 the Surrey Helpline run by Surrey County Council (Mon-Fri 9 am to 5 pm).

WHAT’S GOING ON IN WESTMINSTER

WEEK IN WESTMINSTER Over the years, me and my team in Hindhead have helped many families with autistic children and people with learning disabilities and that was a big focus of the Health Select Committee last week. Here ([link removed]) is a round up of last week in Westminster when we covered these issues extensively at the Select Committee.

STOCKHOLM CALLING Here ([link removed]) too from last week are some highlights from my Chatham House interview with former Swedish Deputy PM and Foreign Minister Margot Wallstrom, who became a good friend of mine when we were both Foreign Ministers. She is refreshingly open that the EU should have handled Brexit differently - as I said to her, the UK had 3 years of self-reflection and even self-flagellation following the Brexit vote but on the EU side the response has just been the need for 'more Europe’…isn't that putting heads in the sand about the need for reform? Her reply was revealing ([link removed]) as was her answer of the future of the Western alliance. ([link removed])

WHAT’S GOING ON IN SOUTH WEST SURREY

PFIZER Some concerns about people not being invited for second jabs in Haslemere. Things are still on track but invitations can only be sent out when supplies arrive and so it is sometimes quite last minute. I was in touch with Dr Phil Ridsdill Smith, who is running the programme locally, about this last week and will be talking to him later this week.

SAD NEWS ON BELLS PIECE I spoke this morning to Ruth Owen, Chief Executive of Leonard Cheshire about the decision to close the day centre at Bells Piece, which is not now going to reopen. It had a wonderful reputation for arts, cookery, horticulture and IT but has been closed for the last year and there has been a lack of demand for the services that used to be offered. Very sad news but the residential centre remains and I personally hope the open days continue as they were such a good way of bringing the community into the centre.

COUNCIL CAMPAIGN Last week the sun was shining in South West Surrey and after a pause campaigning resumed for the local elections. In Farncombe I met up with our energetic Godalming North candidate, Frank Young, who I have known for over 20 years. In Haslemere our candidate is the dynamic Ged Hall ([link removed]) , President of the Rugby Club, and a resident of 20 years but that was topped our Farnham Central candidate Alison Fitch who has lived in the town for 40 years ([link removed]) - which of course for Farnham residents makes her a newcomer. 17 days till polling day…

GYMS OPEN Good to see local gyms back in action - thanks to Matt and the team for showing me round Anytime Fitness open 24/7 in Farnham ([link removed]) . Information on membership here ([link removed]) .

See my list of local groups working to support vulnerable residents  here ([link removed]) .

THE ECONOMY AND JOBS

PHENOMENAL PDFs Charles Geschke, the co-founder of Adobe, has passed away ([link removed]) . Thanks to Charles we have PDFs which stand for Portable Document Format, never let it be said I don't tell you things you didn't know. A great technologist.

WHAT ELSE IS GOING ON

MONKEY BUSINESS Monkey embryos containing human cells have been developed by researchers in California and China. Although the aim of the experiment was to establish a better model to investigate human diseases, there are clearly huge ethical concerns. Is this apesolutely essential? Find out more here ([link removed]) .

MILK MESS A Welsh river turned white ([link removed]) after a milk tanker overturned. An udder disaster…no more jokes today I promise.

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Promoted by Sean Donovan-Smith on behalf of Jeremy Hunt MP and South West Surrey Conservatives, all at 2 Royal Parade, Tilford Road, Hindhead, Surrey GU26 6TD.

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