Let's hope this happens, the international community needs to put pressure on China and other countries.

Since when was IDS' word to be taken as gospel?

I think it is what Twitter users would call a joke (the comment not the commentator I mean of course...).

Michael Gove now self-isolating and working remotely after a family member shows symptoms of covid 19

I assume it was just a joke on twitter.

I thought robots were immune, but nobody is safe!

China reports zero daily deaths from coronavirus for the first time since January Milestone comes as nation struggles with ongoing outbreaks, including in Wuhan where dozens of residences have been locked down again.

As rates of infection dropped, authorities designated more than 7,000 residential compounds in Wuhan “epidemic-free”, allowing residents to leave their homes for two hours at a time. Travel restrictions were scheduled to lift on Wednesday, allowing people with green health codes to leave the city.

But on Monday, state news agency Xinhua said those designations had been revoked for 45 compounds due to the emergence of asymptomatic cases, among other unspecified reasons.

Chinese authorities have only recently changed their focus to asymptomatic cases, which until this month were not included in the tally of confirmed infections, despite being an estimated 18-31% of cases, according to Shanghai-based infectious disease doctor Zhang Wenhong.

Asymptomatic cases have only been included in the criteria for a residence being “epidemic-free” since 4 April.

https://www.theguardian.com/world/2020/apr/07/china-reports-zero-daily-deaths-from-coronavirus-for-the-first-time-since-january

Any more news on Dominic Cummings? I think yesterday they said that he had been in contact with Boris Johnson but that is a bit vague. Understandably questions were about Johnson's state but just wondering if anything more was said about Cummings?

Office for National Statistics have released their analysis of deaths for the week 21-27 March. Plenty of data there on age groups affected, etc. Also shows the effect of the data lag which has been commented on before. The actual number of deaths from covid-19 which occurred by 27 March was roughly double the number that had been officially announced in the daily totals which are provided every afternoon. 

https://www.ons.gov.uk/peoplepopulationandcommunity/birthsdeathsandmarriages/deaths/bulletins/deathsregisteredweeklyinenglandandwalesprovisional/weekending27march2020

The original Rasputin was indestructible. Poison didn't work. They had to shoot him and throw him in the river

If that Times article was accurate, when the Imperial team updated its modelling on 13 March, Cummings was actually the first one to change his mind. It then took him 10 days to convince Johnson to impose a lockdown due to the libertarian instincts of Boris and his concerns about the economy. Almost every expert now (both here and abroad) agrees that Britain lost valuable time and some of the deaths we are having were preventable. 

Again though this is the past and it will be the subject of a an inquiry, what matters more is what the govt is doing now and whether they will put in place a proper plan to end or relax the lockdown without having a second big surge of deaths a few weeks later.  

Our ports and airports remained open and unchecked during this time too, allowing us to spread the infection all around the globe whilst we dithered and dissembled. I expect we'll be getting lots of claims for financial compensation.

Belgium 400+ deaths. I assume counting in some older stuff because that is a big jump

And you would pay them out wouldn't you. You wouldn't go after China, the ones responsible for all this in the first place would you?

Lock downs are not universally popular- from a report in The Times:

France
A five-year-old girl was seriously wounded after apparently being hit on the head by a rubber bullet fired by police as they fought with youths on a housing estate on the western outskirts of Paris.

Officers clashed with youths at Chanteloup-les-Vignes on Saturday afternoon. The police were showered with projectiles when they tried to break up gatherings that breached the virus lockdown. Police used tear gas and fired rubber bullets. The girl’s mother reported she was in a stable condition.

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Not "older stuff" apparently, but they are now including COVID related deaths in care homes (according to Coronavirus Update).

November will be mark my 20th anniversary as a member here. Can it wait till then?

No change since yesterday?

His condition could be unchanged and I imagine there will be an update at the daily briefing?

Thanks Richard

Yes, i think the lobby briefing normally happens around now.

Probably several others of us too.