I don't know to whom you're referring but honestly I couldn't care less whether the health problem arises in Kilkenny or Kolcatta. Wet markets in China have caused a pandemic. That problem nees to be resolved. 

If you look back I did list the viruses that did not originate in China. The source of HIV was central Africa, just as Ebola.  MERS comes, as the name suggests, from the Middle East/Gulf region.

Again, this has nothing to do with xenophobia if you have more than a passing understanding of these viruses and the local conditions that facilitate their jump into humans.

What do we think is the main route of transmission? Nobody, with the exception of health workers, are going near anybody coughing. In the main people are social distancing and are locked away. Hands are being washed. Yet it still seems to spread freely. I know there is a lag for us but Spain and Italy have surely been doing the same. Could it be more airborne than predicted?

Given the sheer scale of the challenge I think it's quite remarkable just how much has been achieved in the last 2-3 weeks across a wide spectrum.  Yes, there's an argument that some of the steps should have been taken sooner but as every other country has discovered, when there's a global pandemic everyone is in the same boat and resources are limited.

I see no evidence of 'starting to lose control'; in fact quite the opposite.

Mostly guessing on my side:

• families (due to the lags involved, the possible asymptomatics carriers etc.)


• construction workers etc.


• supermarkets

It is airborne: that is the sole route of transmission, either by direct contact with an airborne virus-laden droplet or via contact with a surface onto which the virus has landed. It is why everyone is adopting essentially the same restrictions such as social distancing, to try to limit the rate of transmission.

And health workers and carers who bring it home after work and then infect their families

Unless you do a Wuhan style lockdown, you can only reduce the numbers as we see in Italy

Public figures have to set an example but maybe showing how you can go to your dad's birthday and still be socially distanced isnt such a bad thing? Think the police are a bit OTT here

Hello @SKinnock we know celebrating your Dad’s birthday is a lovely thing to do, however this is not essential travel. We all have our part to play in this, we urge you to comply with @GOVUK restrictions, they are in place to keep us all safe. Thank you. ^cy

— South Wales Police | #StayHomeSaveLives (@swpolice) March 29, 2020

and its another tweet quoted by me. I had noticed that south-east Wales was a hotspot. Is this true there is a higher concentration of cases there per head of population than in London (some London boroughs are higher natch and there may be differences in testing criteria etc, etc.

Covid-19 cases per 100,000:
Aneurin Bevan - 86.9
London - 66.9
Cardiff & Vale - 56.8
Swansea Bay - 32.1
Cwm Taf - 27.9
Midlands - 26.4
NE & Yorks. - 22.0
North West - 21.1
South East - 20.7
Hywel Dda - 19.4
East England -18.4
Powys - 15.1
South West - 13.1
Betsi Cadwaladr - 9.9

— Lloyd🏴󠁧󠁢󠁷󠁬󠁳󠁿 (@LloydCymru) March 29, 2020

So you think repeating "25000 tests a day soon" and "PPE is on the road as we speak" every day for two weeks is making progress when the people on the front line say we are desperate and not getting any of this?

We know that. But it isn't supposed to form aerosols like measles and drops quickly to the ground. It is hard to imagine there is still anybody in the wider community who is getting coughed on now they have been distancing for a couple of weeks. Surfaces are still possible but unless there is a big drop in infections next week onwards it is hard to see why. I'm wondering if this virus, compared with others, can multiply from a much lower number of "strands".