In my case, its every month! I dread to think what state mine is in

Sickening to listen to all the TV news reporters praising Bozo for not taking paternity leave, without pointing out that he has NEVER taken paternity leave for any of his previous 6 or 7 kids, whom he never sees anyway. The state of British journalism is lamentable. At least O'Brien is still around

Speaking at a fringe event at the Conservative Party conference in Manchester, the former Tory leader said that cohabiting couples have “inherently unstable” relationships in comparison to those who married. https://t.co/vYprtzSmvm

— James O'Brien (@mrjamesob) April 29, 2020

On this proud and emotional day, I must thank Carrie Symonds for giving me the perfect chance to take yet another 2 weeks off work until this Panorama shitstorm has passed #borisbaby

— Boris Johnson #StayHomeSaveLives ᵖᵃʳᵒᵈʸ (@GetBrexit_Done) April 29, 2020

In Germany RKI reporting today that estimated reproduction number has dropped to  R = 0,75 (95%-Konfidenzintervall: 0,64-0,87)

Daily slides

Transport - Motor vehicle usage the highest since March 23rd

New cases. Pillar 1 is now below 2,000 to the lowest point since March 25th

Hospitals - London is dropping like a stone

Critical care 

Deaths in hospital with a rolling average

Deaths combines with a rolling average

That's brave of IDS. Talking bluntly about the leader's lifestyle, particularly when his latest partner in his latest relationship has just given birth.

Lucky it's not North Korea or his wife would be about to receive a life insurance payout.... 😉

Wetherspoon's has announced it is starting to plan for the reopening of its pubs "in or around June"

"I once created an online banking system, and used my monies to employ people cleverer than me to work on problems conceived 100 years ago, listen to my big brain opinions"

https://www.thelancet.com/journals/lancet/article/PIIS0140-6736(20)31022-9/fulltext#.Xqmlt9dsTmw.twitter

remdemisivr a waste of time along with HCQ.

I’ll repeat this again for the benefit of all the apologists: The U.K. has the highest death toll in Europe:

Have you got a larger image, Justin?

(edit: thanks!)

https://www.theguardian.com/politics/live/2020/apr/29/uk-coronavirus-live-priti-patel-questions-response-covid-19-crisis-pmqs-latest-updates

scroll down to 17:22

Italy 

• 2,086 new cases


• 323 new deaths.

Re: trust in the media falling, interesting stats gathered by Yougov.

https://yougov.co.uk/topics/media/articles-reports/2020/04/29/no-trust-media-has-not-collapsed-because-coronavir

Seems like SAGE isn't particularly impressed with the situation in Germany. I await with interest to see their superior plan to move the UK forward. 

I’m Not so sure

https://www.cnbc.com/2020/04/29/gilead-reports-positive-data-on-remdesivir-coronavirus-drug-trial.html

Gilead Sciences reported positive results from two studies that showed its therapy remdesivir could be a viable treatment to combat Covid-19

 The Dow likes this very much as we head into evening 

No control group. Bin it.

Lots of money going in no smoke WOF?.

https://www.cnbc.com/2020/04/29/stock-market-live-updates-dow-futures-up-150-waiting-for-gdp-alphabet-surging.html

UK data

• 33,455 people tested


• 4,076 positive tests

The confirmed rate has fallen to 12.18%

Maybe there is another RCT with even more sound methodology that shows it works but I doubt it.

These observational studies without control groups are a complete waste of time, they showed HCQ as promising too. In reality these are two random drugs that had just as much chance working as any other random drug. The unfortunate reality is that anything that initially looked promising (and I was also taken in by it) was as a result of methodological flaws rather than anything to actually be excited about.

Hopefully I'm wrong but I trust 1 RCT over a hundred studies without control groups.

Except that’s not what it says, is it...

Quote: “In this study of adult patients admitted to hospital for severe COVID-19, remdesivir was not associated with statistically significant clinical benefits. However, the numerical reduction in time to clinical improvement in those treated earlier requires confirmation in larger studies.”

It says quite clearly that the drug speeds up recovery but that finding requires a further, larger study to confirm - or otherwise.

Whether the reduction in time spent in a hospital bed warrants the cost of the drug is another matter, as is the issue of side-effects.