Former Health Secretary Jeremy Hunt has warned Britain has lost track of the coronavirus crisis because of its controversial testing scheme.

Mr Hunt warned one million Britons will have caught the life-threatening infection by the end of next week, as the outbreak continues to spiral out of control.

But he questioned the UK's policy to only test patients in hospital, asking: 'How can we possibly suppress the virus if we don't where it is?'

https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-8146061/Former-Health-Secretary-Jeremy-Hunt-slams-Britains-lacklustre-coronavirus-testing-policy.html

Originally Posted by: Brian Gaze 

Jeremy Hunt

Former Health Secretary Jeremy Hunt has warned Britain has lost track of the coronavirus crisis because of its controversial testing scheme.

Mr Hunt warned one million Britons will have caught the life-threatening infection by the end of next week, as the outbreak continues to spiral out of control.

But he questioned the UK's policy to only test patients in hospital, asking: 'How can we possibly suppress the virus if we don't where it is?'

https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-8146061/Former-Health-Secretary-Jeremy-Hunt-slams-Britains-lacklustre-coronavirus-testing-policy.html

Originally Posted by: Brian Gaze 

A good time to do some gardening. I assume we are allowed out in our own gardens ?

Originally Posted by: Steve 

I disagree with Jeremy Hunt on this topic - the genie is well out of the bottle already. We must concentrate on isolating those who are most vulnerable from cross infection - the elderly and those with pre-existing conditions. If the virus rampages amongst the healthy population, all well and good - it will provide some degree of immunity going forward. Health services are overwhelmed when the vulnerable get it - the question then is where to draw the line - evidence from Italy appears to show that people in their 50s and above can suffer from serious infection requiring hospitalisation, even though those in their 50s generally recover, it is still a stress on health services.

The key thing is to prevent hospital services from being overwhelmed - the more people who recover from the infection without requiring hospitalisation, the better in the long run. 

Originally Posted by: Maunder Minimum 

A good time to do some gardening. I assume we are allowed out in our own gardens ?

Originally Posted by: Steve 

Probably one of the best things to do!

Originally Posted by: xioni2 

What you describe would take many months, how do you propose isolating vulnerable people for many months? The UCL study I linked yesterday estimates that 10-15 million people in the UK are vulnerable (have at least one underlying condition and hence a higher risk of dying from covid). 

What you say is a recipe for disaster. The plan should (and will be) for the lockdown to reduce the number of new infections and then try to switch to a test, trace and isolate regime. This is the lesson from China.

Originally Posted by: xioni2 

I disagree with Jeremy Hunt on this topic - the genie is well out of the bottle already. We must concentrate on isolating those who are most vulnerable from cross infection - the elderly and those with pre-existing conditions. If the virus rampages amongst the healthy population, all well and good - it will provide some degree of immunity going forward. Health services are overwhelmed when the vulnerable get it - the question then is where to draw the line - evidence from Italy appears to show that people in their 50s and above can suffer from serious infection requiring hospitalisation, even though those in their 50s generally recover, it is still a stress on health services.

The key thing is to prevent hospital services from being overwhelmed - the more people who recover from the infection without requiring hospitalisation, the better in the long run.

Originally Posted by: Maunder Minimum 

On a different note I just received the government’s text to “stay at home”.

Originally Posted by: doctormog 

On a different note I just received the government’s text to “stay at home”.

Originally Posted by: doctormog 

We shall see - you cannot keep a lockdown in place indefinitely and as China and other countries lift their measures, we will probably see further waves of infection.

1.5 million people in the UK are receiving letters today urging them to self isolate for three months - that is the correct approach if it can be sustained. In the meantime, different therapies will be developed - it will take many months for a possible mass immunisation program using a vaccine to be possible, but in the meantime, there are therapies which will help to mitigate the worst effects of the virus.

Originally Posted by: Maunder Minimum 

Agree.  As I said in an earlier post, testing takes laboratory time, staff and space.  So we need to utilise and prioritise those resources as best we can, by testing those who most need it, ie hospital patients and staff.  

It’s a bit daft asking,  ‘How will we know where it is?’.  It’s everywhere!  All we need to know right now is where the most urgent cases are.

Originally Posted by: Caz 

 https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/technology-52017451

Originally Posted by: llamedos 

 All international evidence says you are wrong. If we don't know and stop trying to find out where the virus is, then we'll become the worst affected country in the world.

Originally Posted by: xioni2 

All international evidence says you are wrong. If we don't know and stop trying to find out where the virus is, then we'll become the worst affected country in the world.

Originally Posted by: xioni2 

In an ideal world we would know and believe me I agree that would be best.  But we clearly don’t have the resources at the moment.

Originally Posted by: Caz 

There is no "international evidence", we are all in the biggest mass experiment ever conducted on mankind.

We will have no idea which will have been the best approach for probably another two years.

Originally Posted by: Maunder Minimum 

There is plenty of international evidence from China and other Asian countries. They have their epidemics under control without lockdowns and without many deaths (outside Hubei). This is not a theoretical or idealised model!

Originally Posted by: xioni2 

That’s different to the one my hubby had.  We haven’t had that one yet.  

Originally Posted by: Caz 

It is no kind of evidence whatsoever - the pandemic still rages and whatever short term measures they have taken won't indicate the long term outcome.

Originally Posted by: Maunder Minimum 

It is nature responding to the anathema of the European Union.

Originally Posted by: Maunder Minimum