i actually think it’s rational seeing as we import 80% of our food! What happens when exporters hoard more?

I had read an article saying the ban on those markets in China made things worse as it pushed everything underground. Proper regulation and enforcement could be a better option?

It was entirely possible to delay this with harsh measures until a vaccine was readied. However, they have seemingly chosen money over lives. That's the long and short of it.

Quite a few people I know think along similar lines. The argument (not mine!) could be that a severe economic fallout could harm more people.

We have rationing of certain items (like loo-roll packs) at one of the stores in Machynlleth. No more than 3 of said items can be purchased. So far, this is working well - and this from a community where, to date, there are no reported cases. The practice should definitely be introduced more widely.

Doing their bit for HMG and country 

They really  need to get on with it now. if we don't have significant quarantining, banning of public events and school closures by Friday it really will be nothing short of f##king reckless.  

That is precisely the point. Where I personally think the UK Government got it wrong, was in not restricting travel more and earlier. I know we cannot keep the virus out, but fewer people returning from hotspots would surely have reduced the extent and depth of the spread of the virus, helping to "flatten the sombrero".

France and Spain had no chance without closing land borders, but all we had to do in the UK was to put out storng FCO advice against visiting places which had demonstrable epidemics.

Looks like vaccine phase 1 will begin about April let hope it goes well!

https://www.theguardian.com/world/2020/mar/15/when-will-a-coronavirus-vaccine-be-ready-human-trials-global-immunisation

Yep 

I don't get why they are dragging their feet with this 

For all the reasons already discussed. Closing schools for instance - what would it achieve, other than forcing parents (including NHS workers) to chose work or possibly dumping the children on grandparents?

School children have mild symptoms if any, but closing schools would be incredibly disruptive. Likewise, I see no point in closing pubs or restaurants, provided strict hygiene measures are in force and any staff with symptoms self isolate.

A study showing expected death rates in the UK by age group using observed data from Italy

Yes, let's hope so. It would be bad news for some countries if all the horses failed to finish, then it would be possibly 2 years rather than 18 months

The issue is the length of time any controls are in place. There is nothing we can do to stop the virus from spreading - just look at the European mainland. Whatever measures they have taken have not seemed to make much difference. We are at least behind them by perhaps a week but we’ll soon have similar numbers to Spain, France and Germany. 

Not all horses finish but some always do working so hard behind the scenes 

I think so far we have seen a failure of leadership by HMG and European governments. Time will tell whether the strict measures employed by several European countries or the more cautious approach of HMG will work out best.

The Asian countries had provided clear models of how our countries should have reacted. Nothing academic, theoretical or modelling, proper action in real time.