Here's to better news in  new month!

Meanwhile, in the Land of the Free.
https://edition.cnn.com/2020/04/29/politics/florida-coronavirus-death-figures-withheld/index.html

The Florida Department of Health asked the Florida Medical Examiners Commission not to release the commission's comprehensive list of coronavirus deaths, the commission's chairman told CNN on Thursday.

To start the day on a positive note it is clear the target of 100,000 tests per day will be reached or almost reached.

Coronavirus: Government 'likely' to get close to or hit 100,000 tests target - Shapps

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-52496227

It represents a massive improvement on where we were a few weeks ago now. The next steps must involve a more intelligent strategy and the use of antibody tests to take a "range shot". We also need to get the contact tracing teams working efficiently so that when infection numbers fall to manageable levels they are ready to go. The NHS app-ocalypse is also eagerly awaited, although I notice a tendency to downplay its importance in some quarters recently. 

I suspect we'll end the month considerably looser (restriction wise) than we start it. Will we be able to keep R0 comfortably below zero? Only one way to find out!

I’d be happy keeping it below one. 

Getting and keeping it below zero would be an interesting experiment

D'oh! Yes, I did of course mean keeping it below 1. R zero, below one.... too many zeroes (I blame being groggy after getting up in the middle of the night to book a Tesco slot!)

There's nothing like the warmth of human kindness

Since various percentages are often mentioned for herd immunity, it's worth mentioning that it's a function of R0. The global mean R0 for SARS2 is estimated to be around 2.6 and that would require ~62% of the population to be immune.

Also R0 is only supposed to be used early in the epidemic when there is zero immunity. Then it becomes Re (the effective reproduction number) or Rt, which I guess is the reason why it's often referred simply as R.

What about all the "legal" ones who bought passports to flee here from various justice systems and tax authorities?

Just a reminder that Royal Mail Saturday letter deliveries are temporarily suspended from tomorrow

https://www.royalmail.com/coronavirus

People who entered the country illegally, who then work illegally and pay no taxes or NICs, should not get a penny from the public purse.

Yeah. Let's pray they are all dead.

Corporations registered in tax havens extract far more from the UK economy and cost far more in terms of lost tax revenue than all the illegal immigrants put together. They still stick their hands out for benefits though....

They damage the public finances much more than illegal immigrants, but you won't hear Maunder et al talking about them much. Any company registered in a tax haven shouldn't get a penny of our money.

This is all deflection - I am not defending corporates which don't pay their dues (and something must be done about Amazon, Apple and Facebook to name but three), I am simply pointing out that those here illegally and not paying their dues to the rest of society don't deserve a penny from the state, other than a free flight back home should they request it.

If you recall, I was simply wondering what they are doing now all the black economy work they are engaged in has mostly dried up.

You would think this the simplest of rubrics to enshrine in law and operate in practice - xioni - but seemingly not.

Could there be a hidden agenda that we are missing? It's almost as it the offshore economy is government project!

R.

Any transgender types at this party of yours?

As for illegals, I assume they are still doing cash in hand work. Seems to be very little enforcement of anything round here

Perhaps Sweden has called this correctly? Have the rest of us panicked and overreacted?

Sweden is a model for the new coronavirus normal, says WHO

The World Health Organisation lavished praise on Sweden as “a future model” in the next phase of fighting the outbreak because it has trusted people to observe social distancing rules.

Uniquely in Europe, Sweden chose not to tackle the pandemic with an enforced lockdown even though the policy has led to a higher death toll than in Denmark and Norway.

Dr Mike Ryan, of the WHO emergencies team, said it was wrong to believe that Sweden had “just let the infection spread”, adding: “Nothing can be further from the truth. Sweden has set a very strong policy on public health, it is about physical distancing and how to protect the elderly in various nursing homes and much more.”

https://www.thetimes.co.uk/article/sweden-is-a-model-for-the-new-coronavirus-normal-says-who-dd8fgw7d0

What was that about in-groups whom the law protects but does not bind and out-groups whom the law binds but does not protect?

Hmmm....

Without getting into the rights and wrongs I am sure the black stuff is thriving at the moment.

Thanks for advising us of this, John.