Boris Johnson has tested positive for Coronavirus

It's horrible actually, who is to tell a fellow human being to feel shame.

Firecracker123 criticism isn't political point scoring. The WHO made a series of recommendations to deal with this virus. Our government did exactly the opposite, until now when it has decided to take some of them on board. Johnson has boasted of his shaking hands etc do you honestly think that was a sensible thing to do while the country was being advised to social distance? Even Prince Charles who has been programmed almost from birth to shake everyone's hand, stopped himself.

Who started the “shame” thing? Not me, but the one doing the most political point scoring.

" Shame" is an ugly and nasty thing.

No shame on the political point scorers.

I don't wish Johnson ill either and hope he gets better soon.

Nevertheless, he needs to stop wanting to be liked. He needs to have the guts to do things people really don't like. If that means TOTAL lockdown, with the army in full protective gear delivering parcels of essential supplies, so be it.

Unfortunately, the number of Covidiots in the country, who don't take social distancing seriously, mean that the UK is on track to one of the highest infection and death rates in the world.

The number of deaths doubles every two or three days. Yesterday there had been at least 759 deaths. We can't turn back the clock, so that people currently infected won't develop the full blown infection, so in 15 days, the number of deaths is likely to be 24,000.

Unless people take social distancing seriously, in 30 days there could be over 770,000 deaths. Fortunately, most people are taking it seriously and the rate of deaths should begin to slow, but every single unnecessary social contact will result in thousands of unnecessary deaths.

My guess is that most MPs who have been in the HoP recently will be infected. Labour's Angela Rayner is the latest MP to show symptoms.

Shame on BJ for his nonchalant attitude and his slowness in behaving appropriately and failing to heed his own advice. I don’t think that is defensible however much you like him. Good luck to him and hope he is now getting it right.

Shame on YOU firecracker for not realising that even keyworkers should be keeping two metres apart, unless it's absolutely unavoidable. In which case they should be wearing protective clothing. Johnson didn't and he was even boasting that he'd shaken hands with Covid-19 sufferers, as though he was somehow immune.

firecracker spot on ??

On BBC news this morning I saw an interview with the MD of Boots (chemist) who have teamed up with the government/NHS to test front line staff starting with ICU Doctors and Nurses, has already been trailed in one area and rolling out across the country imenemtly.

(Sorry light in details as I was only just waking up)

firecracker They might be key workers but he didn’t follow the advice he was giving others - you should always lead by example and practice what you preach. There was no reason why social distancing rules shouldn’t have applied to cabinet meetings which could have been done by video links or press conferences. They are doing it now but didn’t do it for at least a week. Now he has the virus - and goodness knows how many contacts he has had. Key workers are no good to us if they are ill.

What utter rubbish, Boris and his cabinet are key workers trying to keep this country and us safe. Shame on you.

“You get tested if you have an underlying wealth condition”
So true.
Meanwhile FOUR paramedics are having to self isolate because a flatmate has symptoms........and they aren’t being tested.
BJ took no notice of his own experts’ advice on working from home and social distancing at the beginning of the crisis, with cabinet meetings, PMQs, press conferences etc all in close proximity. Be interesting to see how many he has been in close contact with.

You didn't like my wording in my reply to this post, Chestnut, so I'll ask my question another way.

"Really vampirequeen, do you not understand the way the world works? History shows us that all men are not equal and never have been. There are leaders and policy makers, kings and queens, dictators and geniuses. The rest of us are not 'equal' because we have never taken on such responsibilities or made decisions that change the world."

History shows us that whilst we accept inequality it will continue to exist and there are many instances where such inequality was fought against and overturned. Why then, should we not be equal to leaders, policy makers et al? They take on roles that they choose to take on. Even kings and queens can abdicate if they wish. Could you explain what you mean by geniuses?

I expect a lot more MPs will get it and more Cabinet members too.

I don't know if it is better or worse with the vast differences in communication between then and now.

No, that's paradoxical surely
Equality is the very essence of society
I don't understand the laughing emojis, it's not funny

Callistemon France and Britain have also been suggested as source countries. The first reported case was in Kansas, USA.

Labaik It wouldn't surprise me if most of the MPs who have been in the HoP recently are infected.

Yes, the 'Spanish flu' did not originate in Spain but probably in China.

vampirequeen Are you saying that some of us are not as deserving as others? Some are 'better' than others? Where do you draw the line? Kings and queens get the job through an accident of birth? What makes them 'better'? Politicians choose to stand for election? What makes them better?
You are making this up as you go vampirequeen. ??
I never said these people are more deserving or better than others
I said that all men are not 'equal' which is very different.

janipat Yes, I read that too. There's also a theory that some older people might have developed an immunity as a result of a previous similar virus. The reason it was known as Spanish flu was because Spain had been a neutral country in WW1 and its journalists were free to report the infections, which had been occurring throughout much of Europe. The mobility of troops during the war and the conditions in which they lived probably contributed too. There are people researching Spanish Flu because its DNA still exists in the wild.

I actually disagree that we've been getting the full picture about Covid-19. The Chinese government tried to suppress the initial rumours, but the UK government wasn't much better with all Johnson's stirring "take it on the chin" rhetoric and boasting that he'd shaken hands with sufferers. I'm not the slightest bit surprised he's been infected because he certainly wasn't carrying out social distancing until very recently. We don't actually know his symptoms now. The public is only told what the Number 10 press office chooses to tell us.

Initially, the public was fed the half-baked herd immunity line until there was some kind of damascene conversion and the government realised it had better actually do something.

growstuff off thread but you may be interested to know the reason Spanish Flu affected younger people disproportionately was because it sent the immune system into overdrive, which then attacked the person. The young, with their more efficient immune systems suffered a greater "overdrive" than the older people's less efficient systems.

I'm rather concerned for the Speaker who was in close proximity with all of them the other day and is high risk. In fact I mentioned it to my partner at the time. I'd imagine that's why Theresa May wasn't on the benches the other day either....