The fundamental issue is the lack of transparency. If it is felt he needs to be briefed, and that is the government's choice and not his, then all they have to do is to say he is there to be informed and ensure follow-up, and not determine policy.

The fact that nothing was said makes even Conservatives nervous. He has always been something of an éminence grise.

Roger

Which is a good thing.

I think they were built for the lessening of restrictions 

I don't want to sound grumpy, but everyone on this forum has some understanding of statistics and is familiar with the concept of extrapolating from an appropriate sample. The only question is what size sample do we need to make a reasonable estimate of the extent and characteristics of the CO-19 infection? To be sure we can keep assimilating new data as it comes in and at the end of it all we may have a substantial body of information, but it can be gathered in stages. I will let posters suggest their take on an appropriate sample size for a population of 65 million.

[It is for this reason I expressed my regret that we had not started the process of sampling by including all care homes in the UK to get a geographical sample across the country of the vulnerable and their carers to add to the NHS data.]

Roger

IANAL - but I do not believe you would be committing an offence doing this in England. There is lots of legal discussion on this online but AIUI you can leave home for a non-exhaustive list of "reasonable" reasons:

http://www.legislation.gov.uk/uksi/2020/350/regulation/6/made

It's rather confusing as the legislation has recently been amended:

http://www.legislation.gov.uk/uksi/2020/447/regulation/2/made

But there is nothing about one hour max exercise, once per day, not driving to exercise etc. That was all in "guidance" which is not legally binding.

Personally I don't see anything wrong with driving a short distance to a quiet spot, going for a walk, then driving home. In some cases this might be less risky than a walk in a more crowded area just outside your house. Others might disagree and I accept you could get problems if hordes start descending on beauty spots.

I am definitely not a fan of public naming and shaming of people or self-appointed "locals" deciding which "outsiders" should be told to go home.

One attendee of the Scientific Advisory Group for Emergencies (Sage) said they felt Cummings’ interventions had sometimes inappropriately influenced what is supposed to be an impartial scientific process.

A second Sage attendee said they were shocked when Cummings first began participating in Sage discussions, in February, because they believed the group should be providing “unadulterated scientific data” without any political input.

• Flusurvey tested 1,000 people in the UK and found 2% infected


• Iceland had tested 12% of its population and found 0.3%


• Austria found a similar percentage in early April using a randomised sample

It's an unfortunate side of the crisis that some people have too much time on their hands and can only seem to fill it my finding fault in others.

Daily slides

Transport shows a slight rise again on motor vehicle usage maybe due to more essential firms reopening like B&Q

People in Hospital continues to fall bar Scotland where we have a slight increase

ICU admissions in England, Wales and Northern Ireland have increased slightly whilst Scotland remains steady

New cases. Pillar one continues to fall whilst pillar 2 looks like it may be a daily record

Thanks xioni.

The critical thing is a representative sample - and we have already seen how difficult it can be to compare countries - even regions. I am still fishing for someone to come out with what they would regard as a sufficient sample size for reasonable confidence we had captured whet we need to know at this stage. The flusurvey sample is a % of their small survey "population" - which I would expect to have been stratified to reflect the total UK population, so it is very interesting but has its weaknesses. Are they planning a repeat?

[I'm still doing it BTW]

R

The minutes of some other (but certainly not all) govt advisory committees are available online.

In view of the national importance of Sage and the need for transparency in gaining public confidence, it would seem essential that the minutes of this are public.

I know that! It’s the amount of grey haired keyboard warrior net curtain twitching people we have up here. Thinking it’s just not worth the aggro and wait til winter when the beach is virtually empty anyway. 

Yes  flusyrvey are planning a repeat. The govt is also planning a much bigger survey

https://oxfordbrc.nihr.ac.uk/large-scale-covid-19-infection-and-antibody-test-study-launched/

UK data

• 25,577 tests - New daily record


• 4,463 positive


• 413 deaths

Confirmed rate for positive tests has fallen to 17.45%

I know this is the case.Its the grey haired keyboard warrior net curtain twitchers that apparently didn’t know!

Ive got to the stage where I can’t be bothered and will wait until the winter when the beaches are empty again! 

But when everyone is ordered not to travel to these places and stay at their main residences, and therefore making self-sacrifices, having over-entitled, arrogant tossers thinking it doesn't apply to them and leaving their city homes to have a prolonged jolly by the sea/in the countryside is a red rag to a bull.

Either the restrictions apply to everyone, or they can screw it. Allowing already privileged people to flout restrictions and be even more privileged will provoke anger in any normal-thinking person.

Italy

• 2,324 new cases


• 260 new deaths - Lowest daily rise since March 14th

PM Conte will be speaking to the nation tonight

I'd only be 'upset' if I couldn't just lift the notice off, screw it up, and throw it away.

Locals in these areas understandably don't want urbanites potentially bringing infection to remote villages. Such a universal approach is going to ensnare innocent people like your friend, but in his position (a local from a neighbouring village) I'd be happy that people care so much to want to dissuade outsiders. 

Pillar 1 2,685

Pillar 2 1,778

Total 4,463

This week in England

• 19,574 new cases


• 4,019 deaths 

Last week in England

• 24,299 new cases


• 4,806 deaths