Weston Super Saint

Where exactly have I stated I believe that. Pretty sure I've said I don't believe that to be an accurate figure. Thank you for finally answering the question.

Lol.

Ah, yes, a bit of personal abuse is way better than answering the question isn't it! Do you honestly think that even with a 'flattened curve', the moment that restrictions are lifted we will all go back to normal and can celebrate victory over the virus day? https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/health-51963486

I've already stated that 'locking down forever' isn't economically viable. Carrying on as before is clearly not an option as the NHS will be overwhelmed which will cause unnecessary deaths. The 'something else' can only be to lift the lockdown - at a certain point which will be determined by NHS capacity and rate of infection at the time (before you ask, that's not something I can answer!). It also means being prepared to put the lockdown back in place once infections start to rise again in order to 'flatten the curve' once more. That is of course in the absence of a vaccine / vaccination program, but that seems a way off yet. This would then need to be combined with antibody testing to ensure 'immunity' has been achieved (see previous discussions on 'herd' / 'community' immunity which needs in the region of 60% of the population to have been infected). However, there is currently some debate regarding whether or not a person can be 're-infected' having succesfully recovered from the virus, but nothing proven either way there at the moment.

Do you honestly think that even with a 'flattened curve', the moment that restrictions are lifted we will all go back to normal and can celebrate victory over the virus day? https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/health-51963486

It's not a simultaneous view, the two things are not mutually exclusive! To recap, I believe that yes, the Government are doing everything that they can (within reason, I accept they could put far more stringent measures in place but that would not be a reasonable response and would affect the economy to a far greater degree) in order to FLATTEN THE CURVE of infections and therefore REDUCE THE NUMBER OF HOSPITALISATIONS at this moment in time, in order that the NHS DOES NOT BECOME OVERWHELMED, thus reducing the number of incidental deaths that could potentially be caused if the NHS cannot cope with demand. At the same time I accept that MORE PEOPLE WILL DIE THAN WILL NORMALLY BE THE CASE in any given year. This is due to the potency of the virus and the affect it has on people with pre-existing medical issues and the subsequent increase in death rate. I'm not convinced of the 500,000 figure but I guess time will tell whether that is correct or not. With the current assertion that people can be infected more than once with the virus, this figure could potentially increase.

What do you mean by 'done', Jesus wept? Do you mean treated / cured - given that there is no known cure, surely 'nothing is being done'? Yes, I appreciate that the curve is being flattened, as highlighted in the link to the Guardian, but that is not the same as 'eradicating' the virus, or is it? Once the lockdown is lifted the infections will rise once more and we will start a new curve, or have we 'beaten' it now?

I would like to issue a formal apology for any confusion that has occured due to my inclusion of the word 'transmission'. I intended to use the word 'infection' as previously written but must have had a brain fart. 80% is of course a figure that has been mooted by the Chief Medical Officer : https://www.theguardian.com/world/2020/mar/12/coronavirus-as-many-as-10000-in-britain-may-already-have-it-says-pm Please accept my sincere apologies for any confusion caused and my thanks to Doctoroncall for picking up the error. I'd also like to thank Shurlock for picking the error up - oh, wait, no, he just jumped on someone else's bandwagon as usual.

The figure quoted was dumbed down on the BBC - presumably so that dinlos like you could understand it

According to Imperial’s Ferguson he puts infectivity at 2.6 and possibly as high as 3.5 https://healthmedia.blog.gov.uk/2020/04/19/response-to-sunday-times-insight-article/ That'll be £1.50 please

Well, they would say that wouldn't they. They were forewarned, so these are clearly foreseeable failings! The whole bally lot of them should be shot!

It's been on this thread for many weeks - I originally saw it on the BBC website on one of their 'live' news feeds. The claim was quite clear that 4 out of 5 people will contract the virus in the absence of a vaccine. I've not seen it debunked anywhere, but I don't have a link to the quote as it was on a live feed. I believe it was also repeated in a daily update speech.

You're very welcome Odd that one of the very first words that Maajid uses in that clip is 'hindsight'....

Commuters pictured on April 8th in Taipei. Seems like exemplary practice....

ooopppsss, somebody forgot the script.... Daily new cases : April 11 = 3 April 12 = 3 April 13 = 5 April 15 = 2 April 18 = 3 April 19 = massive jump to 22! Not sure what happened to April 14, 16 & 17 though. Data taken from here : https://www.worldometers.info/coronavirus/country/taiwan/ Who knows, maybe the April 19 figure will be adjusted by tomorrow

Of course I do - every PM in history has screwed up in some way shape or form, certainly enough to take a good mauling. This isn't the thread to discuss it though.

Nice post, very informative. Interesting to note the timeline. They seem to have reacted at the beginning of March following their spike at the end of Feb. Being a lot closer to China than we are, it certainly seems strange that the Times and some of our lot are calling for the Prime Minister's head regarding a meeting on the 24th of January and not locking the country down any sooner! Also interesting to note that they are saying PPE should be stockpiled (on the 5th of April) but our lot are expecting the UK Government to have been soothsayers and to have sorted this on the 24th Jan and the following five weeks!

So many 'experts' on here, so anyone know the answer? I suspect a lot of people (even on here) will be shocked to discover that even when the lockdown is lifted, the virus will still be in existence. I imagine those same people will have a meltdown when lockdown part 2 is instigated.

Even the Prime Minister has a 'legal' right to a holiday..... He took it at a time when there was no 'pandemic', no 'emergency' in the country and was briefed by those that work for him / the Government. There are numerous things that the Prime Minister should take a beating for, but taking his legally owed holiday isn't one of them!

Was that the 'working' or the 'holiday' part of his 'working holiday'?

How are you going to stop the deaths when the virus has a transmission rate of 80%? Do you lock the whole country down indefinitely until a cure / vaccine is created?

He was on a 'working holiday' in the UK at the time. He was still in touch with the Government and was still being briefed and making decisions on a daily basis....

According to the Guardian : https://www.theguardian.com/world/2020/apr/19/michael-gove-fails-to-deny-pm-missed-five-coronavirus-cobra-meetings The WHO didn't declare a pandemic until 11th March.

It's not a rhetorical question, I don't know the answer. Is it a requirement that the PM attends all Cobra meetings? The one in question - from the Times article - happened on the 25th of January. There wasn't a single death recorded in the whole of Europe at that time. If it IS a requirement for the PM to be present and he didn't attend, then there is only one logical conclusion to be drawn...

Is it a requirement for the PM to attend each and every Cobra meeting or is it possible for Senior Ministers to hold / chair them?