Second wave sweeping Europe?

I think this was inevitable with the cooler, wetter weather forcing us indoors, the return to schools and universities and so many young people rebelling and ignoring guidelines. Not forgetting those who should know better simply thinking the guidelines apply to others and not to them.
More testing is another factor that springs to mind.

What I find depressing is that there’s not much difference between countries where they had strict rules with fines, masks indoors and outdoors etc and the UK.

Your right Bluesky the virus always seems to be one step ahead, whatever precautions are introduced.

No surprise really.

Until this fiasco of a test and trace system gets sorted the virus will stay one jump ahead of us.

I heard that France has/is in the process of abandoning their T & T system as it hasn’t been as useful as they thought.

T & T can never be 100% effective, it is only as good as people are honest when checking into venues.

China has controlled it. There are very few cases there. A personal friend (as in someone I know, in the flesh) of mine wrote this on Facebook.

How could a country of 1.6bn have so few deaths from the virus outbreak? Surely it's a government cover-up, how could they possibly do better than our advanced Western democracies?

These are photos I took on Jan 26th, BEFORE people were ordered into lockdown. The shopping malls were eerily quiet on what would've normally been one of the busiest days of the year after Chinese New year and the metro was at about 5% or less of its normal amount. To still read of police breaking up house parties in England and people flocking to public places as soon as the temperature gets into double figures is, quite frankly, embarrassing.

The virus really did not take hold anywhere outside of Hubei province (comparable in population to England) as social distancing was almost a natural reaction and taken incredibly seriously. Not to mention the technological infrastructure that was used to trace and test anyone who may have come into contact with someone who was infected. Simply put, you can't compare the numbers of the country and declare foul play to suit an egotistical narrative.

Was China perfect in its response? Absolutely not and there were certainly blunders in the beginning. Would the Western powers have reacted better? Well it's obvious that they can't even do that given 6 weeks to plan for the inevitable. Yes, the numbers in Wuhan are going to be higher but the inaccurate death tolls are a reflection of the inability to have tested and treated many that didn't make it to hospital, which is also what is happening right now in every other country.

Personally, I feel the scenes at the Cheltenham festival are quite possibly some of the most disgraceful in living memory as a Brit. The decision to prioritise the economy over public health will be viewed with disdain for many a generation to come. I can't understand how there are people who believe Boris Johnson and the team handled it well. There was so much warning, yet the slowest response imaginable.

Stick in there, life will get back to normal. We got stuck in traffic driving about 22km to downtown Shanghai yesterday and it was so good to experience again as there is light at the end of the tunnel, but only if everyone plays their part.

Is China telling the truth?

If I've understood it correctly, people are infectious before they suffer from any signs of C19. How can we expect test and trace to cope in that case?
Taiwan and Japan have test and trace which seemed to work slightly better than in europe but they were stopping flights from China as far back as Dec (Tiawan). They didn't trust the Chinese info so made their own decisions based on past experiences.
Europe and WHO were to slow now it seems there is no way to catch up.

too slow. Now it seems..

Good question kirrcubbin2000

Interesting graph.

Yes very Ashcombe

Let’s hope those who are constantly blaming the government for our rising cases learns that we are by no means alone in this, especially as the report was from their bible, the Guardian!

Meanwhile, it’s not all doom and gloom.Vaccine trials are going well and every country, like us is better prepared in dealing with it compared with how we all were back in the Spring.

you jest surely kircubbin2000

Me repeating myself but hopefully on the right post now, if the virus is sweeping across Europe why are people allowed to travel? It makes no sense whatsoever and we are (most of us) abiding by the rules it is totally ridiculous.

Good article Maw. Thanks.
In one way it’s reassuring that we’re all in the same boat and our country isn’t doing better or worse than elsewhere BUT very depressing that nobody seems able to get it under control no matter which way we go.
Not sure I’m confident of Chinese data though.
I’m in full agreement with what JenniferEccles said.

The comment on Chinese data was to Gagajo

Namsnanny

If I've understood it correctly, people are infectious before they suffer from any signs of C19. How can we expect test and trace to cope in that case?
Taiwan and Japan have test and trace which seemed to work slightly better than in europe but they were stopping flights from China as far back as Dec (Tiawan). They didn't trust the Chinese info so made their own decisions based on past experiences.
Europe and WHO were to slow now it seems there is no way to catch up.

If everyone wears a mask (which is what happens in many eastern countries) it reduces the spread of the virus even before people show symptoms or are asymptomatic. Also Eastern countries understood the need for ventilation: something that has only just been mentioned here. Also their diet is healthier than ours and fewer people are overweight.

Why was there an increase of 67 % in traffic outside Wuhan hospitals in October 2019 from the exact time period the year before. And a massive surge in internet searches ( in china) looking at covid symptoms?
The traffic info is from satellite images. The internet data was gathered by Harvard university.

It was the first wave that never went away----not a second wave.
Pandemics hang around for a good two years as long as there's continual movement of individuals. It stands to reason. Nobody has stayed in one designated " space " for any length of time so it's what we expect, isn't it ?

I dont disagree with your post MayBee70 I just dont think it's that simple.
For example (and shoot me down if I'm out of touch with new information) but early on it was mooted that smoking actually rendered protection against Covid. Is this still the case? If so China has the highest % of smokers, could that help their figures?
It needs a multiethnic disciplined approach. There is no magic bullet.

multi

Just think how many carriers there are. No symptoms themselves, just a carrier of the virus. It does happen and the only thing that will block it out is a vaccine.

I think it can be misleading to compare rates in different countries.
eg Finland has a small population and they're widely scattered.
China, India etc vast areas where it will be imposible to detect all cases, causes of death.
Some countries more medically sophisticated than others.
Within Europe comparisons maybe more meaningful.