Still impressed by BJ?

Too much rumination

What can be gained?

Professor Mohamed Abu Hilal, writing from Brescia, north Italy, warned officials must prepare more beds, doctors and nurses in light of the fiasco happening in Italy.

Is he also ruminating?

I dunno. We have to understand that whatever government is in power is privy to way more information than the general public and act accordingly. They may not always get it right, but on the whole, it is hoped that they are acting in what at the time seem like the best manner.

There are an awful lot of armchair experts on the internet, all contradicting each other with their own version of the "facts" and all with their view of what should be done, by whom, and when.

I've no time for politicians full stop, no matter what their political persuasion but I think we have to accept that the Prime Minister is taking advice from the actual experts in this, and acting accordingly.

Exactly HurdyGurdy. Boris doesn't make public health decisions, he draws information from a variety of experts in various medical and statistical fields then more experts come to a conclusion based on all the compiled information. It's altogether very complex. Boris isn't sitting around scratching his mop top and making decisions based on his own knowledge of virus control.

Well yes, unless he's going to make them suddenly materialise!

Materialise Beds doctors medicine nurses ect

I have just posted elsewhere that we in the UK are almost at the bottom of 35 european countries intensive bed availability. Where Germany has 31 beds per so many people, we have 6. That’s why our hospital beds are almost always full, leaving nothing fir emergencies such as this. Lucky old us.

Boris isn't just deciding what to do on a whim

Labour supporting commentators are bound to criticise

Jeremy Vine show has a virologist in most days.

He wasn't keen on locking down schools etc etc

Said it was pointless and a waste of time

Well, that's strange Oopsminty, because lockdown is exactly what has stopped the virus in China.

Germany funds their health service differently and is not so much against private or charity funded medical care as many in the UK seem to be.

Their compulsory contribution to healthcare is ringfenced, as is the employer contribution and their public health scheme co-operates with private insurance companies,something which seems to be an absolute anametha to many if mentioned here.

Anathema, sorry

Unless you can have real lockdown as per China the closing of schools etc. will just cause general chaos due to the number of parents off work. Real lockdown cannot be achieved in this country because our built up areas are so close together and our road network so convoluted. We have a dense population in a small area. Other countries have more space to work with.

I have a daughter who is an ICU nurse and has a specialism in ECMO - if only she hadn't moved to New Zealand because she felt she could no longer work safely in the UK she would be a gold plated asset just now.

The reality is that there are not enough hospital beds, not enough equipment, not enough staff - and most certainly not enough staff who are ICU/ECMO trained. Also when thinking about ICU staff, often overlooked are the cleaners, whose role is pivotal to good hygiene.

I would really like to be reassured that there are realistic, detailed, written plans to address these issues.

How can we be reassured when Johnson says NHS is ready and can cope when doctors say they can't? In fact it wasn't coping before all this kicked off. Why are so many other countries shutting down???

My original post has nothing to do with being a Labour supporter. The writer of the piece suggests we need a front man/woman, a trusted voice giving clear information. Would this not be the remit of the PM?

There is this myth that the NHS is so much better than healthcare anywhere else - not true folks it’s struggling and with a huge rise in pneumonia cases brought on by this virus it will definitely not cope.

No not now I've heard he may get rid of Dilyn because he is a sickly dog.

The government has said that they are putting plans in place to help with corona virus and will be spending millions on doing this. The PM said yesterday that this would include increasing the number of ventilators. Indeed they would do whatever is necessary. But where are they going to find the extra staff, where are the ventilators going to be found? They may well have shaken the magic money tree but they can't suddenly find more medical staff. The chairman of the NHS Federation said on Politics Live today that there are 100,000 vacancies in the NHS at the moment.

Who is Dilyn?

They cancelled "Pointless" so that he could give us some more "waffle".... I'm not a fan.

Are you for real Callistemon? Dillon is the PM's dog. He was paraded about with a union jack bandanna during Brexit. I think he is a rescued Jack Russell.

This is the result of years of underinvestment in public services by the Tories and everyone who voted for them must shoulder some of the responsibility for what we’re witnessing now.

What we’re trying to do now is flattening the bell curve to try and keep cases to a level that doesn’t exceed healthcare capacity - and there’s nowhere near enough being done to limit social contact and the resulting spread of the virus. Never mind, eh - we’ll just follow our Great Leader’s fantastic advice and take it on the chin.

I wouldn't call it waffle!

I'm concerned that schools will remain open. Teachers will be at risk and grandparents, who do after school child-care, will be in the firing line.

I am not a virologist so I have to trust the Chief Medical Officer and Chief Scientist.

I watched the whole of the broadcast from No 10, it was the first time that I have seen the PM so serious.