The Lancet ( nothing more to say really)

Information from the course I am doing run by London School of Medicine and Tropical Hygene

“Since the sequence of the novel coronavirus (SARS CoV-2) causing COVID-19 was published on January 12 2020, more than 20 different molecular tests have become available to detect genetic material of the virus (ribo-nucleic acid / RNA). As the symptoms of COVID-19 are relatively common in many infections (e.g. fever, cough), tests to detect the virus are useful in confirming patients who fulfil the clinical and epidemiologic case definition for COVID-19. This enables public health measures such as isolation or quarantine to be introduced”

More. There are plenty of tests available to the U.K. government

“In any outbreak situation, a triad of diagnostic tests are needed:

A highly sensitive (chance of test detecting those with the disease) and specific (chance of test detecting those without the disease) molecular test to detect the virus to confirm clinically suspected cases, and guide public health measures, such as isolation or quarantine. Such tests have to be performed in a laboratory by trained laboratory staff using specialised equipment. It typically takes more than an hour before the results are available.

A rapid simple-to-use test to triage suspected cases at the point-of-care, or in community settings. These tests for detecting viral proteins can be performed by anyone who can follow simple instructions, and the results can be ready in 10-15 minutes.

A (serological) test that can be used to detect current and past exposure, to assess the true extent of an outbreak, and inform prevention and control strategies. These can be done in batches in a laboratory or individually in community settings.”

The U.K. government has been extremely bad at rolling out testing.

It wasted the whole of February. It was aware of the danger and totally abrogated its responsibility to keep the population safe.

These sort of scenarios are always exercised by governments and in 2016 this very thing was looked at by this government and they were made absolutely aware then that things like ventilators, testing was totally insufficient.

It is the scandal of the decade

Quite clearly I'm no scientist and at the risk of sounding like something from the Sun, if certain prominent figures can be tested, who decides and why can't it be rolled out for others?

I read an article yesterday about how the Irish government are dealing with the urgent need for PPE for frontline staff. The health minister announce they normally spend 15 million euros a year on PPE. They now will spend 225 million by importing huge consignments on a daily basis from China. Aer Lingus are providing daily flights to transport it. The first flight arrives back in Dublin today with €20 million of PPE. There are another 10 flights scheduled before April 1st. That’s a nation doing their utmost to protect frontline staff!

Many medical and scientific experts were saying similar to this Lancet article some weeks ago and were puzzled by the way the government was handling this. They were not taking WHO advice. This is compounded by the run down state of our NHS. I expect there to be a major enquiry when this is over, and I hope we will have a very different, more equal, kinder and less money orientated society.

Same is happening in US. Shameful. The testing should have been organized and begun in earnest over a month ago. Every country that did so saw the steep slope of the infection rate begin to flatten. Johnson and Trump, however, chose to downplay the urgency and compare COVID-19 to the "flu" and say it's no big deal, etc. During the intervening weeks, asymptomatic individuals began passing the virus on at an exponential rate. Makes me so angry.

The mixed messages coming out of the government were appalling. Do as I say, not as I do, from Johnson.

Well as Baggs said ‘if’.
Some say we do have capacity some say not. Who knows??‍♀️
I don’t.
I think every Government is going to get a lots of criticism when it’s all over.
I will try my best not to bring the virus back and will obey all the restrictions. I hope everyone will.
Must go, got a plane to catch. Keep healthy everyone.

One bit of good news is that the virus so far seems pretty stable and only two strains have so far been identified so a vaccine will be easier to produce.

One hopes this remains the same if the world doesn’t help to control it properly in the continent if Africa.

Gove insisted that he took no part in the exercise in 2016. As chancellor he would have been very much involved.

I think they must have all been on a course entitled

“ How to bare face lie”

Baggs its a swab test and results are available withing 12 hours

They were not taking WHO advice

No. Because they were taking advice from British Chief Medical Officer and the Chief Scientific Advisor.

CMO and CSA were not going to put their scientific reputations on the line by not giving the best available advice.

The CMO and CSO will be feeding this WHO advise to the government.

They haven’t taken WHO advice on testing because they were unable to do so because of complete lack of foresight.

swab test and results are available withing 12 hours

Do you mean are available or can be available provided there are enough open labs to send them to and enough lab technicians working round the clock? And enough medical test drivers dashing around the country picking them up and so on and so forth.

Blimmin' 'eck, even GP surgeries want forty-eight hours to get repeat prescription requests out. Now imagine that on a national scale.

I know I’m being a bit naive here but we were always told as youngsters off our mum ‘ prevention is better than cure’ wish the government had listened to this and did early testing.

Responses, I should say. It's the patients who do the requesting.

The government was listening to the advice available, harris.

Why are the blamers not blaming other countries who are in the same kind of position as UK?

Testing still remains extremely scarce. My daughter is a nurse and was sent home from work 3 days ago with symptoms. SIL is a firefighter and he is now on enforced 14 days leave from work. This is a scene in too many households across the country. Key workers who want to be at work but can’t because they haven’t been tested.

‘Baggs’
It doesn't suit their agenda.
If the global statistics on the exponential growth graphs for this virus are examined, the UK is generally mid range and not doing too bad. Also other countries are at different timescales on these graphs based on first reported infection.
Whilst some more dictatorial countries imposed more draconian lock down measures this has not always achieved the desired outcomes. Other countries are trying more liberal approaches. What can be said is that this, or any government (Whatever political persuasion this might be) will not making any of these decisions in exclusivity, their decisions are in conjunction with and based upon the best scientific advice we have in the UK. Whether this advice can be conclusively be proved to be wrong may will need to be challenged against all other worldwide actions at the end of this crisis.

Who are " the blamers" Are they like " the leavers", the " lefties" or even the dreaded PC Brigade.

What nonsense. What agenda does a blamer have?

Baggs the government was clearly listening to the wrong advice initially. By the time they realised their mistake the virus was out of control.