I wasn't in any doubt he was very very ill. The sudden admission to hospital on a Sunday evening, the deterioration into an ICU, in truth I was expecting the worst. It was at that time going to bed wondering if he would be on a ventilator next morning with a 50/50 chance. There is now the slowly growing momentum of pressure on China, but I wondered at the time if he had died the feeling then on that country. Asking questions of China is on a slow burner now. The PM if he had died it would have directed more focus on China there and then.

Seeing Johnson on Thursday on the update, granted he is a new Dad but he still and sounded like he needs more time to improve from this and hope he can get as much rest as he can.

If there was no cover-up, why the hell were the Chinese authorities back at that time going out of their way to bully and intimidate the medics in their country who were trying to raise the alarm about the seriousness of the disease?

If the Chinese had been 100% honest and upfront with the WHO from the time they realised that something was seriously wrong and had not tried to mislead them, the WHO would very likely have declared an international health emergency long before they did, which was the end of January.

Precisely. But that doesn't stop the conspiracy theories and the usual nonsense being offered up.

Exactly.

My starting point it's anything coming from the Chinese authorities is that it's part of their carefully planned and coordinated propaganda campaign.

In other words, don't believe any of it.

Well said, Peter.

I think it is perfectly clear now that December was the month when the Chinese government should have got off its backside and done all they could to get proper control of the virus in their own country and mitigate, as much as they possibly could, the effect it would have on any other countries. Personally, I find it astonishing that while they saw fit to stop all travel within China at an early stage, they decided against closing their borders with their neighbouring countries thus allowing the virus to spread like wildfire to the rest of the world. That, for me, was criminal negligence by them to put it mildly.

Seems to me that China is another Russia and North Korea. In other words, it can do no wrong and if ever something goes seriously wrong in that country, it is always the fault of people from another country.

Imdeed, and it's why anyone expecting a quick easing will be disappointed (outside of Republican controlled states in the US, apparently).

The lessons from the Spanish Flu ought to be sufficient warning.

I think the US states that are trying to return to business as usual are going to get a nasty shock; maybe not immediately but sometime this year. Hopefully the gun-toting loons demanding freedom will get to experience what Covid-19 is like and why those restrictions are necessary.

So how come the USA don't get a mention in any of this? You have just described exactly the attitude they have taken! Trump was denying the virus was serious as recently as a couple of weeks ago. You cannot criticise the above Countries and not include the US and still expect to have credence for your argument.

Look, Trump is a total buffoon and his government's response back at the start of this crisis was every bit as poor as I believe that of HMG in this country was. IMO, both Trump and Johnson failed to take the threat of the disease seriouly enough three months ago and thus both failed to prepare their respective countries properly for its arrival, hence why both countries have paid a heavy human price.

However, there is no evidence to suggest that the virus originated in the USA in the first place and there never has been, so I frankly fail to see why you are having a go at me for not being critical of the Americans. All the evidence that has been available for some time now strongly indicates that the virus began in Wuhan in China. Given that, it was the responsibility of the Chinese authorities in the first place to recognise the seriousness of the disease and act on the information that their own doctors were trying to give them. If the Chinese had done so and had they seen to it that all international travel in and out of China was halted along with all domestic travel as soon as they knew what was happening, then maybe just maybe, this whole worldwide disaster might have been averted.

Morning Phil. Only guessing on this one, but the thinking may have well been "better to keep some control on slippage of rules", rather than allowing things to drift. The Govt will be determined to avoid confrontation with rule breakers - especially counter-isolation demos and anarchy - and probably reasons it is better to get everyone to comply with minor adjustments than to let things fall apart. My guess is it will focus largely on happy clappy VE Day distractions where a bit of a loosen up of contact between family and friends may be permitted - with lots of hoorahs and quirky patriotic ideas. "Bread and Circuses" for the masses to stop them doing anything dire too soon. Then at another guess they will busy people with something child-centred like a return to school, massive sports day with minimum contact, national sing-song etc.

I intend continuing with our social distancing - even though I miss mixing with folks a lot - as I fear it is way too soon to be taking risks with the unknown.

R.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QI40j17EFbI