Today’s numbers

Incredibly sobering indeed Maw. The numbers now are truly shocking and each one devastating for the families and friends of the person who has lost his/her life to this wretched virus.
There are still people flouting the clear and humanitarian guidance, because that after all is what the guidance is. Perhaps some of these idiots will also sober up because we need them to.
In the main, I have noticed that this week it has got increasingly quiet where I live compared to last week but people need to keep heeding the message. We are in it for the long haul, the government are aware of that because otherwise they wouldn't be directing the most vulnerable, me included, to shield for 12 weeks. That may not be the end of it either because it may even need to be extended. I think the initial 3 week review will advise that current measures remain and if this trajectory continues even more stringent measures could be put in place.

It must be a very hard balance to strike - too severe and they are accused of scaremongering, too reasonable and the public get complacent. Morale must be kept up, but we need to realise the gravity of the situation.
As in WWI when the dead were buried where they fell in France and Belgium because the government did not want to face the PR disaster of the sight of thousands of coffins being repatriated.
Modern communications mean that we could see the truth but I suspect it will still not be shown on the media.

The number of deaths are down to how Bojo and his circus dealt or rather didn't deal with it ...they knew about it weeks ago and yet made no preparation .Lives have been lost because of them ..no one else is to blame.It hasn't reached a peak yet so if theres a god you need to start praying to him because your government is useless..or this was the plan all along..that "herd immunity "

Why Why are they leaving it till after Easter to evaluate the restrictions?

I live in Cornwall and we're dreading Easter as we are bound to get more people here, especially the 2nd home owners.

Total lock down. Only go out for food and medicines.

I would have thought that deaths would probably be about three weeks after infection, not two. A week before showing symptoms, another week before it became serious for those with previous lung damage, compromised immunity or whatever, then several days in intensive care. That would put the date of infection of the latest deaths at about 19th March or a bit after. The lockdown started on 23rd March.

I agree with you Elegran. Some people didn't take the "lockdown" very seriously at first, so I suspect we have another two or three weeks of a rising death rate.

The total number of deaths is doubling every two or three days, so that means that in two weeks' time there will have been over 75,000 deaths.

If it's true that the percentage of people who die is 1%, that means that about 7,500,000 people will have been infected - about 11% of us. That's nowhere near enough to achieve the so-called herd immunity, so there are going to need to be many further infections (and deaths) or a vaccine before it's safe to relax the current restrictions.

I’m beginning to feel extremely alarmed.

On Radio 4 today, I heard the NHS is crying out for ventilators.

Yesterday Radio 4 talked about 2 Italian engineers who had succesfully converted diving masks into breathing aparatus, put the details online and had 2 million downloads by hospitals and clinics world wide.
They had a Brazilian doctors saying it had saved thousands of lives.

Why hasn't that happened in the UK I wonder?

metro.co.uk/2020/04/01/engineers-turning-25-snorkel-masks-ventilators-12493253/

I did read that most elderly are getting the disease while shopping and younger people at work. Which makes sense as it's where you are likely to be. The government initially encouraged people to carry on as normal. That busy weekend was after Johnson actually said that people should go out and enjoy themselves. Which is what they did.

The lockdown may have started on the 23rd, but the advice and the start of much working from home was a week earlier. On the 13th my DD gave me “the lecture” about us older people social distancing/ self isolating based on conversations she had had with NHS friends -hospital doctors, an anaesthetist and some GPs . They said they were sh*t scared in the NHS, buying up body bags and making emergency contingency plans.
So the powers that be were not unaware, advice was being given, but because it was not heeded, the “lockdown” which is still patchy came into operation. I know it is easy to be wise after the event but the next 10-14 days threaten to be shocking.

Small tech' companies have been trying to solve the PPE situation by 3D printing masks but finances are an issue. They have the technology. They have been trying to coordinate with the government to help provision for the NHS frontline but it's all gone a bit quiet on that front. NHS staff are falling sick themselves and a loss of staff on duty is probably only going to add more people to the death toll.

I still don’t understand why people are going shopping in couples. That’s twice as many going round the shop, and, more alarmingly, twice as many near the checkout staff. In other countries only one person per household is allowed to shop.

Some couples have no choice but to do this DoraMarr but probably not as many that are doing it.

How have some couples no choice? How come it’s possible in other countries, but not here?

If one of a couple just can't be left alone at home while the other shops, yes is is impossible to shop alone. There are a lot of Gransnetters in that situation. For others, one of them could stay in the car while the other shops, or they could take advantage of the many schemes to help the housebound and/or vulnerable.

They might even get a supermarket delivery if they re very lucky - and if they are internet savvy and prepared to sit up after midnight hoping they will be next in the slot queue before the slots all run out (I got a slot last night after sitting at the PC half-asleep until after 12.30, watching the screen refresh, and refresh, and refresh. It isn't until 22nd April, but Hey! its a delivery!)