It's just been announced that we have passed 100,000 deaths.

They wanted herd immunity at the beginning and they still want it. If a lot of grannies and vulnerable people die in the process it's a further win for them as they'll make savings on benefits.

Crashing the economy also works in their favour. If there is mass unemployment then the working people will put up with anything (increased hours, reduced pay, no sick pay etc) to keep their jobs and the unemployed will be so busy fighting to survive that no one will question government decisions.

Grammaretto, my eldest lives in NZ too - where it was properly nipped in the bud and there is no problem.

Boris can keep his 'deepest condolences'. He's 'deeply sorry' yet has the nerve to say 'we truly did everything we could' - really? Who is he trying to kid?

Kandinsky has it exactly right. I honestly feel that whatever one’s politics are it’s undeniable that huge mistakes have been made.

And 30,000 more predicted within the month. (The Times)
Limited hotel quarantine announced.

Remember a lot of those people only had the virus mentioned on their death certificate along with other issues! Unfortunately people die can’t say when or how. Thousands have survived but not reported so much.

So it’s not so bad? Is that what you’re saying ?

If I hear that phrase " lessons will be learned " once more I'm sure I'll do damage.
Try telling that to the families etc. of 100,000 !!

This should NEVER have happened. It was avoidable.

I hope whatever comes in the aftermath of this pandemic we as a nation not only hold the government to account for the decisions made but also seriously tackle the reason our obesity levels have risen so much.Having personal experience of nursing and relatives who are directly involved it's not surprising that poor diet and health choices has also contributed.Simply moving and turning a lot of patients nowadays is harder -often requires special equipment. Several of our family have had Covid,myself included. The only one seriously ill was the one carrying an extra 3 stone and by their own admission knew they should have done something about it.I know that not always the case.But watching a regular quiz show DH commented we really are turning into a nation of fatties.Harsh but true ?

Yes harsh. Yes, true !!

NotSpaghetti

We were slow to lock down at the beginning and hadn't implemented our pandemic planning.

I believe we are in the top 4 countries for per capita deaths.
Awful.

I think we are number one in the world for the amount of deaths per capita but I notice that they don't mention that in the news very much and neither do the politicians.

paddyanne

yet they are closing a vaccination centre to let the racing go ahead for 7 days over the next few weeks??? Doesn't sound as if Bojo and co have learned anything to me

What? I just despair of this government.

Shirlb

Remember a lot of those people only had the virus mentioned on their death certificate along with other issues! Unfortunately people die can’t say when or how. Thousands have survived but not reported so much.

The excess death rate is almost the same as those who have died form Covid. Those are people who in a "normal" year wouldn't have died. Yes, some of them have underlying health conditions. Some of them might even have been diagnosed with a terminal illness, but the point is they would have lived for longer, if they hadn't been infected with Covid. Maybe you think 100,000 unnecessary deaths is a trivial number. I don't agree. You've been listening to too many people like Isabel Oakeshott, who said on GMB yesterday "They would have died anyway".

So many things to think about here
So very sad
Beyond words

Being political
I do not wholly apportion blame to the government

But all politicians and not just Westminster

And then also the people,deniers,and those who didn’t
Attempt to keep the rules

And then...... ongoing

Does any of this help us?

Firstly I agree that the number of deaths, each and every number, is heartbreaking and yes the Government haven’t got this totally right and we do need to learn from this terrible experience.

However, you should read about the swine flu pandemic. The Government followed the same regime as our present government did in March. The Government in 2009 ordered thousands of vaccines costing millions. (The press attacked the government when it was seen as not needed) The young were dying over the elderly. There wasn’t a lockdown and thankfully the virus wasn’t as virulent as Covid. However in one week 55k cases were reported and without testing it was probably more. Over half a million deaths world wide.

If we had been locked down for no reason can you imagine the headlines.......”Brown (PM at the time) destroys U.K. economy.”

Just remember hindsight is a fine thing and I can assure you not one of you would have made it through the last year without making an error of judgement.

Also remember that the government had the foresight to back several vaccines which a lot of people are now benefiting from.

Several new vaccines are on the way and also drugs that will hopefully stop the devastating affects of this deadly virus.

BTW Oakeshott lied on Good Morning Britain. The people who died weren't all at death's door. Many people live for years with underlying health issues.

According to her, 88% of people who have died have been over 70 - to her those people obviously don't matter. Why anybody gives her air time is beyond me.

The Government isn't directly spreading this virus - it is the idiots who continue to hold rave parties, socialise in their homes, and decide to flout the rules because it doesn't suit them. This is a terrible situation, and so easy to criticise from your armchair - and use that very powerful tool, hindsight. This country has vaccinated more people than the whole of Europe has managed; why not pull together and stop carping? Who would have wanted to be in charge of the ever changing nightmare that this has become for the whole world?

Horrendous figure and it will continue to rise. Far too slow to close borders, strict curfew and isolation. UK is constantly being referred to as an internstional travel hub, wasn't this clue borders should have been closed. Goodness, folk were still going abroad on holiday in the early stages. A lot continued for sake of economy. Economies can be rebuilt but lives are lost permanently. Stricter controls earlier would have enabled the economy to recover quicker. Let's hope the next time we will be more responsive. Viruses like Covid-19 are with us all the time just need the right conditions to flourish. I am so angry need to go have a cuppa!

The number of deaths is awful, there's no getting away from that. The reasons it's so bad in this country are complex, though (there's a good article on the BBC news website).

The virus was here almost before we could do anything, brought in by travellers from Spain and Italy. We have a density of population, unlike places like Australia and New Zealand, which allowed the virus to spread more easily. We have places where there are a lot of multigenerational households. And so on...

Yes, things could and, with hindsight, should have been done differently. I wish we'd locked down sooner, stopped foreign travel, made incoming people quarantine etc. It wouldn't have stopped idiots mixing when they shouldn't, though. And yes, again, a different government would have done at least some things differently but that doesn't necessarily mean they'd have got it right all the time.

At least we've done some things better than other countries, including the roll-out of the vaccine. Yes, it's patchy, but at least it's happening.

Most of the "idiots mixing are within families not raves and on beaches - and the family home is still the most frequent place for transmission.

It's the government and the some of the public who are not listening at all, both are to blame. The government did not taking it seriously at the start and then continued making stupid decisions after decisions. Eatout scheme, no masks, not closing borders and the silliest thing to me was Xmas! Look at what's happening now because if it. Also, its the idiots too that do not listen or are to ignorant to see what is happening with Covid. I watched GMB this morning in tears as they showed the faces of some of the people who have died in this horrible pandemic, it broke my heart. All of us want to have our lifes back, but as long as there are ignorant people just suiting there own needs to party, etc it isn't going to happen for a long time.

Rosina Good post. My thoughts exactly.

Why do people keep on about hindsight? Australia and NZ managed without hindsight (yes I know different etc etc))

Plenty of warning with situation in Italy for action to have been taken sooner, events that shouldn’t have gone ahead.

You've forgotten all the people who couldn't afford to self-isolate and the grannies providing childcare.

Froglady I think we are number one in the world for the amount of deaths per capita but I notice that they don't mention that in the news very much and neither do the politicians.

That is incorrect, we are not number one in the world for per capita deaths. NotSpaghetti is correct.

I know people think its immaterial, but what kind of country do you want to live in? One where people just repeat the wrong information for effect? Here are some really scary stats if you want to think about them.

A quarter of the people who have died in the UK of this pandemic have died in the last month. The government have had all those months to put in place measures to prevent that happening and they've failed.

About 30% of people who have died were in care homes. Last week 26% of deaths were in care homes, even though around 10% of the population is over 75 (I know younger people can be in care homes, this is an estimate). So care home residents continue to be over-represented in the morbidity stats.

Despite having months to put in place a strategy to be ready for this second wave the government have squandered the chance. Now they are going to "pause" the construction of a new mega testing lab while they consider long term demand. Instead of blaming the ones you think are breaking the rules, blame the government for messing up from start to finish and not having a clue how to do anything about it.