So the next part involves the care home chaos. The lack of PPE due to government failings. Boris catching covid. And what are China up to??
27/03/20
the government is still not explicitly outlawing driving somewhere but is obviously trying to discourage people from making unnecessary journeys.
stay local and use open spaces near to your home where possible – do not travel unnecessarily
you should only go outside alone or with members of your own household
keep at least 2 metres apart from anyone outside your household at all times
gatherings of more than two in parks or other public spaces have been banned and the police will enforce this
Buckingham Palace today announced that this year’s Trooping the Colour - the annual military parade to mark the Queen’s official birthday -will now “not go ahead in its traditional form”.
the Department of Health dismissed calls for providing NHS staff with certain protective gear – now needed for the coronavirus pandemic – in 2017 because stockpiling it was too expensive
A temporary mortuary is to be opened at Birmingham airport in preparation for a predicted rise in the number of fatalities from coronavirus in the region.
Work has begun on the site, which will initially be able to hold 1,500 bodies, although it will be expanded to hold more.
State governors are crying out for federal help, not for themselves but for the people they represent: the nurses and doctors who need protective equipment and testing kits, the patients who need ventilators. But instead of leaping to their aid, Trump tells the governors it’s their responsibility, even though they have a fraction of the procurement power of the US government – adding that if they want help, they’d better grovel. “It’s a two-way street,” Trump said this week. “They have to treat us well.”
PM FORCED INTO ISOLATION
28/03/20
The number of confirmed cases of coronavirus around the world has now passed 600,000. However, with many countries, including the UK, now only testing the most-serious cases, the true extent of infections is likely to be much greater.
The prospect of weeks trapped at home has seen Britons embark on unlikely shopping sprees as they create home offices and gyms but also embrace hobbies ranging from dressmaking to jigsaw puzzling and growing their own veg.
British industry has thrown its weight behind the fight against Covid-19 in a wartime-style effort to churn out protective masks, hand sanitiser and medical ventilators. A raft of firms across the country, in sectors from manufacturing to fashion, are setting up emergency operations that often involve striking out into unfamiliar territory.
experts have said lockdown is on course to cut the number of deaths expected down to 5,700 from what was originally expected 260k
A crowdfunder to raise money for personal protective equipment in British hospitals has reached £400,000. The fundraising effort was launched by a group of NHS doctors and a GP to source PPE “for those who need it the most”. The group originally set a £200,000 target, but this was met in 48 hours.
Boris Johnson, the UK’s prime minister, is set to warn British citizens that the worst of coronavirus is yet to come, and that tougher measures may be necessary.
The country’s 30m households will receive a letter from the prime minister including the warning, along with details of the government’s orders on social distancing, symptoms and handwashing.
It comes as the UK braces for a surge in coronavirus cases.
Northern Ireland gets tougher restrictions
Gatherings of more than two people have been banned in Northern Ireland, and anyone who can work from home must do so, authorities have announced.
Authorities will have the power to enforce restriction of movement and social distancing in Northern Ireland, in a deal agreed by Stormont executive.
The measures will come into force at 11pm on Saturday night, and enable authorities to hand out fines up to £5,000. The regulations also give the authorities the power to close certain premises and prohibit anyone from leaving home without a reasonable excuse.
"apparently the UK is expecting the death toll to rise to 20,000 by the end"
"I don't want to bring people down any further, but the 20k is seen as an optimistic figure"
29/03/20
UK lockdown to be in place for 'significant period'
Michael Gove has said the peak of the coronavirus is dependent on people’s actions and that the lockdown will remain in place for a significant period.
"It’s difficult to know precisely [when the UK hit the peak of the coronavirus outbreak]. It depends on the action all of us take. if we practice the social distancing measures. If we follow the rules the government has outlined, if we follow that good scientific advice, then we can delay the infection rate and that gives our NHS the chance to become more resilient.
Care home managers are refusing to accept elderly people discharged from NHS hospitals owing to coronavirus fears, and one has said government-issued protective equipment for residents and staff is “completely useless”.
NHS trusts have been trying to discharge patients to free up capacity. Testing for the virus is not a requirement under discharge guidance issued by the government last week
A senior director at a London acute trust, who asked not to be named, told the Health Service Journal: “There’s a real problem with private care homes refusing to take patients back unless they’ve been tested for Covid-19. But [testing] is not the national guidance currently and there just aren’t enough testing kits to do it.
Another acute sector director in north-west England said: “We need care homes to be really robust. We’ve been hearing from colleagues that nursing homes won’t accept their residents back after they’ve been discharged from hospital, unless they’ve been fully swabbed [tested] for coronavirus. This is not the national guidance, and we aren’t able to do that right now. This could cause a huge issue.”
On Saturday the health secretary, Matt Hancock, wrote an open letter of thanks to social care workers. Hancock, who is in isolation after testing positive for Covid-19, said the government was committed to doing “whatever is needed” for social care and the NHS, including allowing workers from both sectors free parking in council-owned spaces
“Whilst many people are now staying at home, I know that is not an option for most of you as your work caring for others cannot be done from home,” he wrote. “We will do all we can to make your lives easier during this period, including, for example, making parking on council-owned on-street spaces and car parks free for those who work in social care. We are committed to doing whatever is needed; that promise applies just as much to social care as it does for the NHS.”
"Lockdown now until June"
"What?!"
"Where is that from?"
"Source?"
UK textile firms say they could have begun making the protective equipment NHS staff so desperately need 10 days ago, when @cabinetofficeuk first contacted them.
Yet the govt is yet to place a single order.
30/03/31
Another suspected casualty of Covid-19 in the British government has emerged, the prme minister’s senior adviser, Dominic Cummings.
A temporary emergency hospital could open at the Scottish exhibition centre in Glasgow to cope with a surge in critical coronavirus cases in Scotland, Nicola Sturgeon has announced.
The first minister said the so-called Nightingale hospital would be on standby, with a first tranche of 300 beds being installed and a potential total capacity of an extra 1,000 beds if needed.
It could be become operational in a fortnight, she said, but they hoped it would not be necessary
01/04/20
Only 15% of NHS staff have been tested
02/04/20
LBC Live reporting Bloomberg Reporters
are saying China is not giving the
true amounts of Deaths
or infected
There are 1.5 billion people in China, and nearly 60 million (basically the whole population of the UK) in Hubei province alone
Given that we now know that Covid-19 spreads relatively easily in the community, I find it... Far fetched
The big question of course is, did they ever really get to "zero new cases". I personally think it's BS, and part of a massive-scale economic race that's playing out on the sidelines while we're all focused on the virus itself.
Don't Forget that Great China Doctor
that found about Covid 19
in China was Silenced and sacked
he Died a Hero
of Covid 19.
China has concealed the extent of the coronavirus outbreak in its country, under-reporting both total cases and deaths it’s suffered from the disease, the U.S. intelligence community concluded in a classified report to the White House
The outbreak began in China’s Hubei province in late 2019, but the country has publicly reported only about 82,000 cases and 3,300 deaths
The reality is that we could have been better off if China had been more forthcoming. long before the world learned in December that China was dealing with this, and maybe as much as a month earlier than that, that the outbreak was real in China.
While China eventually imposed a strict lockdown beyond those of less autocratic nations, there has been considerable skepticism toward China’s reported numbers, both outside and within the country. The Chinese government has repeatedly revised its methodology for counting cases, for weeks excluding people without symptoms entirely, and only on Tuesday added more than 1,500 asymptomatic cases to its total.
Stacks of thousands of urns outside funeral homes in Hubei province have driven public doubt in Beijing’s reporting.
China isn’t the only country with suspect public reporting. Western officials have pointed to Iran, Russia, Indonesia and especially North Korea, which has not reported a single case of the disease, as probable under-counts. Others including Saudi Arabia and Egypt may also be playing down their numbers.
Because of the Lack of Testing
UK will remain in Lockdown
Only 30 new British-built ventilators will be delivered to the NHS next week to treat coronavirus patients, the government has admitted.
Cabinet office minister Michael Gove told a press conference on Tuesday that the "first of thousands" of new devices manufactured in the UK would be sent to the front line next week but he did not specify how many would be in the first delivery.
Officials admitted on Wednesday that the first batch will only include 30 ventilators, with hundreds more expected in the coming weeks.
The NHS currently has around 8,000 ventilators to treat coronavirus patients but another 30,000 devices will be needed to cope with the expected peak of the outbreak in April.