President Emmanuel Macron of France deplored that "too many" French were "taking lightly" confinement rules that have been in place since Tuesday, saying they were "not being perfectly respected".

"When I see people going to the park, to the beach or rushing to markets, they haven't understood the messages," he said during a visit to the Pasteur Institute in Paris.

His comments come after unions for medical interns called for "total and absolute confinement of the entire population" and warning that the number of people out of their homes was threatening to scupper attempts to curb the epidemic, which has killed 264 people.

Earlier, the interior minister Christophe Castaner lashed out at "imbeciles" who refuse to obey confinement rules and promised to severely punish those who steal face masks as an inquiry was launched into the theft of 12,500 from Montpellier hospital.

UK data 

• Confirmed Cases - 643 (-33)


• Patients Recovered - 79 (+14)


• Total UK deaths - 144 (+41)

English data

Top 10 Local Authorities with the highest confirmed cases

1. Hampshire - 87


2. Southwark - 82


3. Lambeth - 81


4. Westminster - 78


5. Wandsworth - 75


6. Brent - 66


7. Kensington and Chelsea - 57


8. Harrow - 56


9. Ealing - 53


10. Hertfordshire - 52

Local Authorities with the fewest confirmed cases

1. Redcar and Cleveland - 1


2. Blackburn with Darwen - 1


3. Kingston upon Hull, City of - 1


4. North Lincolnshire - 1


5. Bedford - 1


6. Solihull - 1


7. Gateshead - 1

Regional data

• London - 1,221 (+268)


• South East - 340 (+55)


• Midlands - 282 (+48)


• North West - 220 (+40)


• North East and Yorkshire - 194 (+26)


• East of England - 147 (+19)


• South West - 140 (+23)

All changes with yesterday. Data based up to 9am today.

I wonder how significant this could be in the short term. Potentially a significant breakthrough if it works

Coronavirus: New treatment for critically ill patients to begin as soon as next week

Quote

 

 

 

Doctors are to begin giving critically ill COVID-19 patients a new treatment as soon as Monday. The experimental drug, code named SNG001, will initially be given to patients at Southampton General Hospital as part of the first trial of its kind. The inhaled treatment has already been shown to improve the recovery of asthma and COPD (chronic obstructive pulmonary disease) patients who have other lung infections, such as flu.

 

Doctors have high hopes that it could also help stop the coronavirus in its tracks. Tom Wilkinson, professor of respiratory medicine at the University of Southampton, told Sky News: "We are hoping that the drug will increase the rate of recovery from infection, that it will increase the protection in the bit of the lungs that are not infected yet and will reduce the number of patients that decline significantly and require intubation and ventilation."

 

The drug is an inhaled formulation of beta-interferon, a naturally occurring protein that orchestrates the body's anti-viral responses. Scientists believe it will prevent the coronavirus from taking over lung cells to make further copies of itself. Around 100 critically-ill patients in up to 10 hospitals will be given SNG001 through a nebuliser device that blows a fine mist deep into the lung. Professor Wilkinson said the drug could help stop intensive care units being overwhelmed with patients, as they have been in Italy. 

Actually...

https://twitter.com/Samfr/status/1240724144507019268?s=19

Thanks for the run down. I wonder why they don’t publish the numbers on Intensive Care?

For people posting data, keep in mind there are local authority regions that still have 0 cases (but the list does not mention them explicitly)

They include:

Rutland (E Midlands)

Telford and Wrekin (W Midlands)

Grimsby (Yorks and Lincs)

There may be others.

There are also a handful in Scotland.

My local Tesco, these photos taken a couple of hours ago and posted on facebook by a local resident. Madness, absolutely madness.

I would put money on some sort of vaccine being rolled out by end of the year,one that may not totally prevent you getting the virus but severly curtail the symtoms and transmission and it will almost certainly be found by American scientists. Trump has already said red tape will be slashed in order to develop an effective vaccine.

Plus there isn`t the police and army numbers to enforce it effectively.The uk will not be locked down like other European countries and china,thank god! 

We don`t need to be turned into a police state and if they try it will lead to civil unrest and a total breakdown of law and order. 

Apparantely we do, because people are still wandering around as normal. My local pub is apparantely full atm.

Ridiciulous.

Im furious and utterly depressed tonight. I really am. 

People are not listening. And frankly I dread to now think how this is going to play out.

Yes it's going to cause carnage and a quick and savage peak.

I'm genuinely thinking of locking myself away for a month because at this rate, it'll rip through in no time at all.

This can't go on. The average shopper can not keep buying and paying for that amount of shopping. They'll run out money for other things. 

You’ll also notice all the offers have disappeared from the supermarkets.... profit always has the upper hand.

This is interesting - China is anything but returning to normality:

10) Look at China today. Some people think China is back to normal now. It absolutely is not. Traffic levels and industrial activity remain severely depressed, nobody is going to the cinema, people are still prevented from leaving their housing compounds in many areas. pic.twitter.com/BSlRGbczBf

— John Burn-Murdoch (@jburnmurdoch) March 19, 2020

Ugh! My sympathies Crewe! I hope you will have, or be granted time, to let your body and mind have some well-earned rest. 

Thanks for all you do 

better switch my phone off then! 

'UK remains on a steeper mortality curve than Italy' https://t.co/5f1I1gA6QK

— *****Morgan (@piersmorgan) March 19, 2020

mostly young people in the pub tonight, laughing and joking about without a care in the world. Closing at 10pm though from now on 

https://theintercept.com/2020/03/19/coronavirus-vaccine-medical-supplies-price-gouging/

Hell awaits..