I predict another rise of covid

There maybe a spike in cases, but it is the idiots flouting the stay at home and social distancing guidelines that are at fault Whitewavemark2

What would you suggest? maybe a Police Officer or member of the armed forces positioned outside all our homes?

There is no solution for those who think that the rules do not apply to them (you only have to look at the numerous threads on GN regarding neighbours not adhering to isolation/social distancing)

But what are the idiots to think, when the government gives "permission" for people to stop staying at home and start being lerts?

Do you mean like South Korea and Germany?

There's bound to be a rise if lockdowns ease.
The virus could, of course, mutate yet again.

Some countries are behind Europe and their cases will rise inevitably too.

It will be a long time before the world sees an end to this.

In times of crisis, people need leadership, which just isn't there.

I agree GrannyGravy , how can the government be blamed
for idiots who ignore the rules.

It is the mixed messages look at Jenrick just this morning saying different things on different television programmes.

The government is all over the place

I'm hoping the government will take back control, but then people will be complaining about that, too.

Remember Spieglehalter - the the Cambridge professor quoted by Johnson in defence of Johnson’s tactics?

He’s just pulled the rug out from under Johnson’s feet. He said that the press briefings are a total embarrassment and wrong.

Johnson needs to learn to treat the audience with respect.

As a country we are in trouble. There's a lack of leadership at a time of crisis. The processes to manage the successful easing of lockdown just don't seem to be there.

The press briefings! 'next slide please'. Toe curling.

Apparently even the cabinet is furious. It was intended that they met today to finalise the details of what Johnson. Would say today.

Fait accompli I’m afraid. Speech done and recorded. We may assume that the speech was written by Cummings.

Greece has had around 2700 cases of covid with 151 deaths. They reacted very quickly to the virus, with an early and stricter lockdown, despite being worried about their disastrous economy. They are now out of lockdown and preparing for the summer tourist season.

Believe it or not, the Greeks are astounded at how our govt bumbled about dealing with the lockdown.

Also in the news today - Germany is seeing a new rise in the number of covid cases, following the easing of their lockdown.

It will be interesting to see if there is a spike in the number of cases of the virus in a couple of weeks in the areas where there were ‘socially distanced’ VE Day celebrations.

You are being more than a trifle disingenuous, GG13. When it was all over the right wing press on Thursday that lockdown restrictions were going to be significantly eased. Not to mention people being encouraged to make VE celebrations into a great social event. All this briefed by government sources.

The attempt at putting a lid on it with subsequent apparent denials by the government that lockdown was going to be significantly eased seems to have been a cynical ploy to give people like you (and the government) an excuse to blame the public for being stupid and absolve themselves of any blame for this utter shambles.

We may assume much,

Throughout the world good management of the virus has meant good governance.

Bad management therefore equates to bad governance.

The population isn’t to blame the government is.

People need good consistent leadership.

Of course Johnson will do everything he can to off load the blame. Look at the way Trump is doing the same.

I see Johnson has started offloading blame onto Hancock. What happened to collective responsibility.

Callistemon The latest research shows that the virus hasn't mutated as much as was thought.

The stark truth is, as you say, that it's not going to go away until a vaccine is developed, which is nowhere near happening yet (if ever).

So what happens next? We know that a percentage of people will die. It might only be 1% (or even a fraction of a percent), but we're still talking about hundreds of thousands of people. It's also clear that even those who don't die can sometimes suffer long-term, life-changing effects. We can also see a pattern in who is most likely to be severely affected.

So what do we do? The only defence any of us has at the moment is to keep away from other people. Any government which gives an impression that can change is IMO being knowingly negligent. If the pictures I saw of Friday's festivities were accurate and widespread, I despair.

Hancock was always going to be the fall-guy. I feel a smidgeon of sympathy for him.

I can't see Johnson lasting until the next election.

I completely agree growstuff and we don't even have an efficient testing or tracing system in place yet.

The pictures of those disregarding distancing over the weekend must have been in part down to the messages in the media about lockdown imminently ending, so people behaved accordingly.

I just hope there is not a surge in a couple of weeks time. Very badly handled IMO.

Some Tory MPs want Labour to have an increased role in the consultations. The reason being that if Labour join with the govt then the blame can be offloaded.

Can anybody explain why four areas in the North East (Gateshead, Sunderland, Middlesbrough, South Tyneside) have death rates per head of population which are much higher than anywhere else in the country? Cumbria is high on the list too.

I agree Dinahmo. At one time, I thought some kind of cross-party group would be good, but increasingly it's becoming obvious that the Tories just want to play a blame game to cover their own backs.

In the paper today there is a photo of Brighton taken yesterday after the red top headlines and the messages given out last week of relaxing the rules on going out and allowing things like picnics. Brighton looks like an ordinary bank holiday.

What an absolute disaster of mismanagement.

Last week the R was about 0.5%. All that effort gone to waste.