I would have thought that unless someone who had tested positive in hospital had died, the reporting would be the responsibility of the county coroners office, following post mortem examination.  Otherwise they wouldn’t know the deaths were from Covid 19, as we haven’t been testing in care homes. 

Originally Posted by: Caz 

Times editorial backing Starmer:

However, other European nations are starting to set out the initial details of their plans to emerge from complete lockdown and it is time, as the leader of the opposition, Sir Keir Starmer, has been arguing, that the British government did the same. President Macron has announced that some restrictions will be lifted in France on May 11. Austria, the Czech Republic, Denmark and Norway have all announced their intention to relax the lockdown laws by the end of this month. Even Spain and Italy, the hardest-hit countries until Britain began to contest that unwanted title, will soon begin to ease restrictions.

https://www.thetimes.co.uk/article/the-times-view-on-easing-britains-coronavirus-lockdown-exit-plan-jxz9btckc

Originally Posted by: Brian Gaze 

I don't think this is how it's done currently, but I can't remember the article I read. A coroner is involved only if a doctor did not see or treat the person for the condition from which they died within 28 days of death.

Originally Posted by: xioni2 

 There have been various reports (including a whistleblower on Channel 4 news) that this number is underestimated as some GPs haven't seen the deceased in the previous 28 days and sometimes they are not seeing their bodies either. 

The forms used by care homes also didn't have an entry for CV19 until the end of last week.

Originally Posted by: xioni2 

Also looks like it’s going to be a pretty miserable Christmas! 😒

Originally Posted by: John p 

It seems our extension is a gimme with another three weeks.

While we will be one of the last to announce the relaxing, we are also in a position where we can observe those countries already 'relaxed'. Imagine at the point of our three weeks extension in May that suddenly there's a sharp spike in new infections somewhere. Why on earth would we relax then if we knew what was coming again. The blame game would be going on again.

If we promise something now and have that taken away as well that won't go down too well either. I think most sensible people know that precarious position, but a lot wouldn't.

I think they should announce the extension and then say they will review in two to three weeks with relaxation measures depending on news from elsewhere. I would use us being two-three weeks behind other countries to our 'advantage' in this case. Why commit ourselves now when we can observe.

Originally Posted by: Phil G 

Just watched some of Merkel's press conference. Like chalk and cheese compared to Trump. The UK approach is somewhere in the middle. She explained the situation extremely well IMO.

Originally Posted by: Brian Gaze 

Just watched some of Merkel's press conference. Like chalk and cheese compared to Trump. The UK approach is somewhere in the middle. She explained the situation extremely well IMO.

Originally Posted by: Brian Gaze 

I haven't watched it .

What I do wonder sometimes is what people remember. Is it the content or is it the presentation ?

Originally Posted by: llamedos 

One thing governments could do is give an indication of what the threshold is for reimposing their respective lockdowns. For example, if infections rise above x daily we bringing the shutters back down. At least it would help people prepare.

Originally Posted by: Brian Gaze 

In the times today

Schools outside coronavirus hotspots such as London and Birmingham could reopen from next month under plans being considered by ministers. Ministers are also considering opening primary schools before secondary schools.

Originally Posted by: Gavin D 

 I can say that from my limited experience that is what happens. The cause of death for a frail old person is usually written automatically as whatever they were suffering from when last seen by a physician. There is little or no attempt to verify that this was the case or consider that it might be something different.

Originally Posted by: RobN 

In the times today

Schools outside coronavirus hotspots such as London and Birmingham could reopen from next month under plans being considered by ministers. Ministers are also considering opening primary schools before secondary schools.

Originally Posted by: Gavin D 

If recent reports are correct, testing isn’t yet reliable enough to be rolled out nationally, so I think we’re a while off that yet.  Then there are the logistics, the distribution, recording results etc, as we’re much further down the line than other countries that used this method. 

Originally Posted by: Caz 

And yet, South Korea have used this tactic from the start - and the impact of CV19 on both number of cases/deaths and the wider economy has been a lot lower than we have had here. In Germany, where they were not as rigorous as SK but still embarked on a much wider programme of testing, and their cases/deaths are below ours and some restrictions are to be relaxed soon.

Testing works - it's just that a lot of resources need to be devoted to the whole trace-test-isolate function, and it needs to be applied universally and with strict adherence to any isolation order.

Originally Posted by: Saint Snow 

 Indeed. It makes a farce out of Hancock's statement that it is proving impossible to find more people to test in the UK. 

Originally Posted by: Brian Gaze 

They’re also floating the idea of the 20-30 year olds returning to work first. Who’s going to manage them?

Originally Posted by: John p 

Here is one article  about the death certificates at care homes, it beggars belief that until 6 April, the Care Quality Commission did not ask for information on coronavirus deaths and only started doing so when it realised the information coming back was out of line with reports of a rising death toll.

Originally Posted by: xioni2