Surely people don’t think it should

People keep talking about lockdown as if it's the only measure.

Actually social distancing is just as important if not more important. The problem is that social distancing couldn't be introduced overnight because businesses and organisations needed to put careful planning in place which is why the lockdown was put in place to make an immediate impact and buy some time.

The biggest problem will be public transport, hence the talk that face masks will be compulsory on trains, buses, tube, etc.

I can actually see the lockdown being eased fairly shortly but I think social distancing will be in place into 2021.

Please stay home. Stay safe. Protect our brilliant NHS. Look after the vulnerable and elderly. This is a life threatening disease that can seriously affect anybody. A friend mine, recently married, otherwise healthy in his twenties is currently in hospital fighting this disease.

But our NHS is not brilliant. By the standards of Western Europe it is actually rather poor. Measurements of survival rates from cancer and other illnesses are very poor in comparison to other European countries. I am sure the people on the front line do a good job but really this worship of a rather mediocre institution is ridiculous.

I have to say in the last 3 days the traffic has certainly increased,I was delivering to the self isolated people yesterday,and covering a large patch,in these areas,shops that I have seen closed,now seem open for business? And my biggest gripe,are the mask wearing people,in the cases I've come across, 90% of people wearing one,seem to think they no longer have to social distance!! Like the mask provides immunity or something? Yes,to me thank you. ) I deliver prescriptions, but have to say,the chemist (one of 2 I deliver for, when it came to me,and my own prescription, even though they know me,I had to wait outside the store,and they brought it out to me.my point being is the public in the main (mask wearers of course!) Seem to go into total relax mode when wearing one.

I have to say in the last 3 days the traffic has certainly increased,I was delivering to the self isolated people yesterday,and covering a large patch,in these areas,shops that I have seen closed,now seem open for business? And my biggest gripe,are the mask wearing people,in the cases I've come across, 90% of people wearing one,seem to think they no longer have to social distance!! Like the mask provides immunity or something? Yes,to me thank you. ) I deliver prescriptions, but have to say,the chemist (one of 2 I deliver for, when it came to me,and my own prescription, even though they know me,I had to wait outside the store,and they brought it out to me.my point being is the public in the main (mask wearers of course!) Seem to go into total relax mode when wearing one.

I got served in a corner shop by a bloke wearing the dirtiest { obviously previously used for their original purpose } yellow gardening gloves you've ever seen .. makes you wonder whats going through some peoples minds..

Please stay home. Stay safe. Protect our brilliant NHS. Look after the vulnerable and elderly. This is a life threatening disease that can seriously affect anybody. A friend mine, recently married, otherwise healthy in his twenties is currently in hospital fighting this disease.

But our NHS is not brilliant. By the standards of Western Europe it is actually rather poor. Measurements of survival rates from cancer and other illnesses are very poor in comparison to other European countries. I am sure the people on the front line do a good job but really this worship of a rather mediocre institution is ridiculous.

What a knob you f—king bellend

How do other countries count their covid figures ?

Do they include only deaths where a test has taken place and proved positive ?
Do they only include deaths in hospital ?
Do they include deaths in care homes ?

We are nothing special good or bad. We are no different from anyone else really. So for the person quoting Poland or anywhere else - I would question your figures and see what they actually include.

Heard Italy doesn't count care home and in community deaths only hospitals, germany don't record a covid death unless its of the disease and not of a underlying problem ,in Britain we've been counting it if its a positive test in hospital or if a doctor suspects it in the community and puts it on the death certificate

In Italy, only a tiny percentage have covid as direct cause of death,on the death certificates( it was 12% only!! )The rest had it,but it wasn't actual cause of death, majority had 2 sometimes 3 serious underlying conditions, even in spain it's dodgy,as numbers there inclues people who haven't been tested, but showing signs of covid,so registered as covid death? ? We will never know the "true" figures I guesswork is not acceptable in the 21st century,and that's what's happening, figures being manipulated, for whatever agenda there is.

I agree you can't trust the figures from any country, there was an expert on Andrew Marr yesterday and he said we shouldn't judge the figures because they are inaccurate and that the countries are so different anyway, on health density ethnicity etc. He said to look back in a years time and then we will be able to see the true figures from total deaths recorded and do the calculations.

The British media have an agenda and for some reason are trying to make the situation look as bad and negative as possible?

How do other countries count their covid figures ?

Do they include only deaths where a test has taken place and proved positive ?
Do they only include deaths in hospital ?
Do they include deaths in care homes ?

We are nothing special good or bad. We are no different from anyone else really. So for the person quoting Poland or anywhere else - I would question your figures and see what they actually include.

Heard Italy doesn't count care home and in community deaths only hospitals, germany don't record a covid death unless its of the disease and not of a underlying problem ,in Britain we've been counting it if its a positive test in hospital or if a doctor suspects it in the community and puts it on the death certificate

In Italy, only a tiny percentage have covid as direct cause of death,on the death certificates( it was 12% only!! )The rest had it,but it wasn't actual cause of death, majority had 2 sometimes 3 serious underlying conditions, even in spain it's dodgy,as numbers there inclues people who haven't been tested, but showing signs of covid,so registered as covid death? ? We will never know the "true" figures I guesswork is not acceptable in the 21st century,and that's what's happening, figures being manipulated, for whatever agenda there is.

I agree you can't trust the figures from any country, there was an expert on Andrew Marr yesterday and he said we shouldn't judge the figures because they are inaccurate and that the countries are so different anyway, on health density ethnicity etc. He said to look back in a years time and then we will be able to see the true figures from total deaths recorded and do the calculations.

The British media have an agenda and for some reason are trying to make the situation look as bad and negative as possible?

I agree about the media, way way OTT. I can deal with it fine, but my mum, aunties uncles were all freaking out and getting depressed watching it. No good for their mental well-being at all. We all know it’s a new thing and not a good thing but let’s get some perspective, 185 deaths in Cardiff county for ie, 40% of which came in care homes. So about 100 people in a population of over half a million?
Was reading this article

https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2020/0 ... cond-wave/

About the 1968 Asian flu epidemic, no lockdown, 80,000 deaths. Folks were a bit more whatever back then and had all sorts of other big ones to worry about like measles and mumps and only just had a vaccine for polio.

England has the worst excess death rate - the number of additional deaths above the annual average - in Europe during the coronavirus outbreak



By TIM STICKINGS FOR MAILONLINE and REUTERS


4 May 2020 |

England has had the worst excess death rate in Europe during the coronavirus pandemic, according to an EU monitoring project.

Excess death rates show how many more people have died than would usually be expected for the time of year.

The figures are seen as a clue to the number of 'hidden' coronavirus deaths, with official figures almost certain to be incomplete.

Many countries have seen a spike in excess deaths during the pandemic, but figures collected by EU-backed database EuroMOMO show England performing worse than Scotland, Wales, Northern Ireland or any other European country.

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Government pays nearly quarter of worker wages

The government is now paying the wages for nearly a quarter of UK jobs under a programme aimed at helping people put on leave due to the virus pandemic.

About 2.5 million people registered last week for the scheme, bringing the total claims to 6.3 million - 23% of the employed workforce.

The job retention scheme funds 80% of workers' wages, up to £2,500 a month.

Separately, the Department of Work and Pensions reported another 1.8 million new Universal Credit claims.

The spike in the numbers of people seeking assistance comes as the world braces for the most severe economic crisis since the 1930s. Forecasts suggest the UK economy will contract 6.5% or more this year.

"The 6.3 million jobs being furloughed shows in stark terms the scale of the economic shutdown that Britain is living through," said Torsten Bell, chief executive of the Resolution Foundation.

£8bn paid

"If this kind of volume of workers stay on the scheme for several months the cost will run into the tens of billions of pounds And that is a cost very much worth paying."

The Government said about 800,000 employers have reported furloughing workers since 20 April, when the programme started.

It said it had distributed £8bn so far, with an average payout of £1,269 - about half of the £2,500 maximum. The scheme is due to run through June, suggesting the total cost could exceed £30bn.

Some business groups have urged the government to extend the scheme, in which the state covers up to 80% of pay for workers put on leave due to the virus.

However, in a television interview, Chancellor Rishi Sunak sounded a cautionary note, saying that level of expenditure was "not sustainable".

"I am working as we speak to figure out the most effective way to wind down the scheme and ease people back into work in a measured way," he said.

"But as some scenarios have suggested we are potentially spending as much on the furlough scheme as we do on the [National Health Service] for example. Now clearly that is not a sustainable solution."