From the Telegraph:

'Allow young people out of lockdown early to get country moving'

Allowing young people aged between 20 and 30 out of lockdown early could help get Britain moving again and avoid an "extraordinary recession", business experts have said.

As the Government's chief scientific adviser, Sir Patrick Vallance, told the daily press conference that the epidemic curve appeared to be "flattening off", speculation is growing as to how the UK can escape from its lockdown.

Researchers at the University of Warwick calculated that allowing 4.2 million young adults to resume their daily lives would boost the economy by £13 billion, while shielding more vulnerable age groups.

Older adults could then be allowed out of lockdown later, through a strategy of staged release using antibody testing to identify those who had already recovered from coronavirus.

Our Science Editor, Sarah Knapton has the full story here. She's also answering all your coronavirus questions in today's lunchtime Q&A.

Originally Posted by: Maunder Minimum 

Hopefully there will be partial lifting before then. Allow shops to open with social distancing for example

Jeremy C+nt and Handjob are only looking at the medical side

Hopefully the economists in the Cabinet will carry the day. The cure can never be worse than the illness. Economic depression and actual depression will kill many more than Corona

Originally Posted by: The Beast from the East 

Revolting 

Originally Posted by: Justin W 

100% agree Justin. I wasn’t convinced this morning. He is clearly still unwell. Nothing in that message suggests otherwise. They continue to say he is in good spirits. My view is when they keep repeating that line they are using as a holding and deflection statement.

Of course we are just doomsayers.

Originally Posted by: Heavy Weather 2013 

BREAKING:

A total of 936 new deaths in the UK:

England: 828
Scotland: 70
NI: 5
Wales: 33

Just devastating.

Originally Posted by: Heavy Weather 2013 

Another record breaker for the UK sadly with an additional 82 deaths on to yesterdays data.

Originally Posted by: Gavin D 

A 15% increase which is the same as yesterday. The rate of increase is a lot lower than it was a week ago so that is a positive.

Originally Posted by: speckledjim 

Indeed and just a cursory glance at that graph suggests that 1000 barrier will be breached tomorrow. 

Originally Posted by: llamedos 

A 15% increase which is the same as yesterday. The rate of increase is a lot lower than it was a week ago so that is a positive.

Originally Posted by: speckledjim 

A 15% increase which is the same as yesterday. The rate of increase is a lot lower than it was a week ago so that is a positive.

Originally Posted by: speckledjim 

Not easy to spin that but nice try

Originally Posted by: Sevendust 

Hardly - we are about to have the worst mortality rate anywhere in the world outside the US. Not even you can spin that as a positive.

The percentage of increase is pretty irrelevant as the numbers rise. If you look at the CFR curve, you can see that we are not yet at the point of it starting to flatten.

Originally Posted by: Justin W 

Number of deaths changed a couple of times yesterday in the media, but Dept of Health gave it as 786, so I make that a 19% increase.  

It’s increasingly difficult to compare apples with apples the way data is being released though!

Originally Posted by: John p 

And to think all people seem to want to talk about is ending the lockdown!

Originally Posted by: John p 

Regional breakdown for the deaths in England

• London - 201


• Midlands - 171


• North West - 128


• South East - 120


• North East & Yorkshire - 101


• East of England - 70


• South West - 37

Originally Posted by: Gavin D 

Agreed. Right now we need to hope that the virus can be contained through diligence and that within a few days the number of casualties will start reducing rapidly. No time to even be considering a jolly, that's plain bloody selfish. By the end of this there will be thousands of families mourning the loss of their loved ones, who won't be in the mood for celebrating.

Originally Posted by: llamedos 

Agreed. Right now we need to hope that the virus can be contained through diligence and that within a few days the number of casualties will start reducing rapidly. No time to even be considering a jolly, that's plain bloody selfish. By the end of this there will be thousands of families mourning the loss of their loved ones, who won't be in the mood for celebrating.

Originally Posted by: llamedos 

We can not ignore the economic consequences though, because the more extreme these get the greater the damage that will be done to both physical and mental health going forward and there is plenty of evidence in various parts of Scotland as to how profound and long lasting the effects of severe economic dislocation can be.

I saw reports this morning that Scotland is facing an economic contraction of 25% - IIRC >10% over 2 or more quarters is often considered the definition of an economic depression. I wonder to what extent even that horrendous figure could be a significant under estimate for rural areas such as the Highlands and Islands?

I know a good number of people who move between seasonal jobs and they have basically fallen through all of the government's proposed safety nets so far, this won't just be an issue in rural Scotland but in various parts of the country with a big visitor based sector. The Scottish Ski Areas had a very poor start to the season, when the snow did come, storms practically wiped out February half term before the snow and weather was finally coming together in March only for them to have to close because of Coronavirus. They can't recover the lost time in the summer, its not at all clear all of them will be there next season either. There are many people in outdoor activities or various parts of the tourism sectors that would have started jobs this month that fall through the critera furlough scheme.

There will be a good number of businesses in the West Highlands that the peak walking season the West Highland Way is very important to and that will be wiped out entirely, its basically from Easter through to late June for by far the busiest period - the time you might call BM - Before Midges! Even if things start to open up in the summer, like the ski areas their most important period of the year once lost can't be reclaimed later in the year. There is also the issue of businesses struggling to hold on long enough to receive furlough grants to whom there is no chance of getting loans or overdrafts from a bank when they've just lost their main trading period and their future income is heavily dependent on things entirely outwith their control such as the Scottish weather!

There must be a lot of people and companies in various parts of the British Isles facing similar issues with the support schemes that have been setup. If ever there was a time for a basic income or guaranteed minimum income for every citizen it is now, at a time where people need help now simplicity is key and a basic income for all looks the simplest and fairest, no means testing, no questions - those that don't need it, well it will effectively be reclaimed through the tax system anyway.

Originally Posted by: haggishunter