I take exception to this statement from the Guardian article on Spain:

"The number of dead per capita is already three times that of Iran, and 40 times higher than China."

- come off it - the figures from Iran and China are completely fictive.

I think this crisis will expose a lot of bad leadership and poor decisions. It's still early days, but I've been relatively impressed with the greek govt. They established a task force in late Feb and started procuring ventilators and protective gear.

Then just 3 days after the deaths in Italy started rising quickly, they announced an immediate lockdown and their PM was brutally honest. He basically said that no matter what they do, their health system is not adequate and cannot cope with an Italian style crisis (their healthcare system is decimated after 10 years of crisis and severely understaffed with lots of Greek doctors working for the NHS here). He also explained that Greece is very similar to Italy (aged population, living in flats etc.), so they had to shutdown the economy in order to avoid a catastrophe. 

Even though more than 100 schools from Greece were in N.Italy in february, so far Greece has avoided the exponential growth and they only have ~25 deaths.

I knew I shouldn't read this thread. You are just a paranoid nationalist that only sees the worst in other countries. We don't know if their figures are right or wrong and in any case we shouldn't be ideological or too cynical and we shouldn't care about politics. We should be smart and practical, see what has worked in other countries and try to do the same here.

The trouble is that the usual laws apply unless the government changes them: the directors have certain duties and responsibilities under the laws and lending without security would put shareholders at risk and probably breach banking regulations.

Yet another wrinkle that someone needs to address.

If you have caught it let's all hope you get a mild version; a very good chance of that, based on the evidence and medical experts.

Hopefully it's just a random cough.

Hi Xioni, I watched the interview... an absolute classic of its kind with the  minister spouting platitudes and pretending to answer questions when of course he hadn't... I accept that sometimes Govt's can't say things as that could engender mass panic...but as Heavy Weather said above, just be straight with us when it comes to the numbers of ventilators and testing and protective equipment...rather than spouting wish lists and false promises... Anyway, a great interrogation from Emily Maitlis...!

China has a communist dictatorship known for cover ups and manipulating the truth.

Iran has a theocratic dictatorship known for cover ups and manipulating the truth.

What is the matter with you Xioni? - anyone could determine that the stats coming from those sources are entirely without basis in fact.

They are indicative only, since they will produce trends - but as for the raw figures, ROFL!

Nothing whatsoever to do with whether I am a "nationalist" or not - you don't have to be paranoid to know that the statistics from certain sources cannot be trusted!

Hear hear, contrast this with the greek PM who basically said 'we cannot cope and we will be fcked if we don't shut down the economy'.

You just confirm what I posted above and I won't waste any more of my time with you. I wish I could put you in a time capsule and send you 100 years back, where you really belong.

So you trust China and Iran? You and I don't see eye to eye, but then we never did.

There have been so many accounts of not feeling right, but wondering if its Covid One Niner or something else doing the rounds. Just so many different symptoms.

I have had a 'feeling' there is something in my lungs for a month now which at the beginning caused very slight breathlessness, but did not stop me doing anything different. I have also had a mild sore throat which comes and goes. Just a few days ago after all this time the feeling got slightly worse with a pain like a small fire, but has stabilised. I am just doing a bit less now rather all in one go. I nearly died with Asthma as a kid, but have 'grown out' of it and not used a inhaler since my thirties. I am in my late fifties now. This 'thing' has given me the slightest of wheezes after not having had these for years. If I haven't got it now but do get it with this feeling now onboard, I could be in trouble.

I don't want to go anywhere near hospitals so will just sit this out but seek attention if things deteriorate. Not much they can do now anyway! I am treating it that I've got it, probably like so many others, and will continue to sit it out.

In preparation for our return home next week, I've got the manager to write us a letter saying why we have to leave and go home, to show to any curious policeman. Besides our own stocks of medication , he speaking for the home  (in Southport) confirms they are being told to send all guests away and to be ready to accept corona convalescences by next weekend. Another home run by the same organisation, near Southampton which is more of a hotspot, has just started accepting its first convalescent patients.

Nor am I.

If a loan of £100,000 was made to a failed business and the owner had signed a personal guarantee, the bank would first repossess the assets of the owner or the business. Only then would the government step in to cover 80% of whatever loss remained and the bank would only have to fund whatever was left after that.

Business owners and MPs say that is not fair when the firms themselves are only seeking the loans because of emergency measures introduced by the government.

I have no idea where this will end but society will be a very different place to what we've known.

I had a glossy newsletter from Dorset Council a few minutes ago. They should have removed it from the RM delivery system and pulped it as it's so inconsequential and out of date. It's full of ads for places to visit in April such as leisure centres, parks and gardens with the main focus on a climate emergency. Nothing whatsoever on the pandemic although it was rearing it's head in February so they should have been making some plans and made some mention but no.

So I went on the Dorset Council site and the most sensible thing I can do today before my walk is make sure I don't get caught short as all the public toilets are closed. Not that it makes much difference for me as the nearest will be in Dorchester five miles away and a ten mile walk isn't on the cards right now.

And lastly my council tax is going to be £208 this year each month a whopping increase from last years £170. I think this is going to create some major issues. 

That's my rant for the time being.

Nick

What I find confusing is that they named the illness Covid-19 but the virus SARS-Cov-2.

That aside, the two viruses have fundamentally different characteristics on the two key aspects: 'Covid-19' spreads more easily whilst the CFR is lower (1-2% v potentially 15%)

This article is very interesting: https://www.thelancet.com/journals/laninf/article/PIIS1473-3099(20)30144-4/fulltext

Note that it refers to cases in Wuhan from 1st December and estimates the number of people leaving Wuhan: it's obvious that this started spreading from December and quite possibly late November. It knocks on the head any arguments that closing borders would have worked.

Just had a call from a nice sounding lady at an estate agent. The conversation went like this..

EA - "Jut wanted to reassure you we expect everything to return to normal in 3 weeks"

BG - "I think that's VERY unlikely"

EA - "Well to be truthful we think the slowdown may last 6 weeks"

We have just had this with the local Residents Association which is set up as a limited compnay - so we have to have an AGM. This was set for Apr 1st but of course that not possible; the laws say that an AGM has to held every year, within 15 months of the last one (i.e. from Mar 2019), and 2 weeks notice to be given. That would mean sending out notices mid-May when I can foresee we will still be in lockdown.

As there are only 12 residents who are also all the shareholders, we have done a virtual AGM, legal or not, with each person replying to the usual questions (approve accounts etc), actually only a formality. Before anyone asks, it has to be done on paper as 3 of the 12 are elderly and don't do computers!

There must be large organisations for which our solution is impossible - will they go for an exemption from from the time limits?

I did post something yesterday morning about analysis of some of the more reliable data coming from Iran suggesting the true number of cases could be 10x or 100x higher than they're reporting.

It could be a mix of lack of testing capability, lack of effective organisation/reporting and State propaganda.

China is more straightforward, IMO, because we know they have ramped up their propaganda machine to pump out two messages: (1) the virus didn't really start in Wuhan, and (2) what a brilliant job The Party has done to defeat the virus.

Yes, yet another 'wrinkle'...

This may be of interest:

https://www.whitecase.com/publications/alert/practical-considerations-impact-covid-19-holding-annual-general-meetings

This article from a few weeks ago of a Brit in Wuhan who clearly got it in November... he needs to take one of those antibody tests.

https://news.sky.com/story/fighting-coronavirus-one-of-the-first-british-sufferers-describes-his-ordeal-11950631

😳

Maybe she's been watching Trump on Fox News?

Basically offering loans to a large number of businesses whose credit ranking wouldn't otherwise qualify them !

The Government are aiming for 10,000 tests per day by the end of this week.

So far this week

• Monday 5,605 tests


• Tuesday 6,491 tests