Johnson is dithering and a danger to us all.

[xsnaggle]

Well if you're trying to argue that going with the herd mentality approach for a while and then doing a complete about face was all part of some masterplan, then good luck on that. Also, it's clearly counter productive to have people who may already have had and recovered from the virus sat at home because someone where they live may have it. The means to test more people and in greater numbers quicker and more efficiently was paramount surely, but,instead we took the decision only to test those with the worst symptoms - as I say, poor decision making as opposed to flawed political allegiance.

The test for people who have already had it to determine if they have an imunity and can go back to work, and the test of those who show severe signs of having it are completely different. The emphasis is on tresting those with severe symptoms. The other test is being tested now to see it if works and if it does that will be rolled out next.

[the other bob wilson]

The test for people who have already had it to determine if they have an imunity and can go back to work, and the test of those who show severe signs of having it are completely different. The emphasis is on tresting those with severe symptoms. The other test is being tested now to see it if works and if it does that will be rolled out next.

I know all of that. It just seems so wrong that a month and more since the virus took a hold in Italy, we're still not in a position where we can test at any more than a level which is so restricted - I'm sorry, but it just should not be like that.

[Lord Dargavel]

I know all of that. It just seems so wrong that a month and more since the virus took a hold in Italy, we're still not in a position where we can test at any more than a level which is so restricted - I'm sorry, but it just should not be like that.

It really isn’t that simple. My company is one of several large medical companies who have launched a COVID-19 test in record time ... months !!! And that is thanks to the FDA massively relaxing the usual protocols. We hope to be producing tests in the millions by the end of March. Staff in the US and elsewhere worldwide have been literally working around the clock and it is incredible achievement, especially given the laws surrounding drug/medical testing and production. It’s just not as simple as do lots more tests. Mass testing has to be scalable, affordable and available, and that takes time!

You will have heard Chris Witty talking about the antibody test which tests for the presence of antibodies. This will tell whether you’ve had COVID-19, not whether you have it. The test we are releasing uses PCR to replicate RNA and will take around 4 hours. The testing equipment can only do a certain number of tests per hour and you need enough laboratory staff to run and validate the tests. That is a challenge in itself. My partner is a biomedical scientist and is presently on 14 day isolation. So the labs have challenges. Get more blood testing machines you might say. Again it’s not that simple as they must be delivered, installed and validated (that is my job). Again this takes many weeks per machine.

When you have a validated machine you then require the consumables to run the tests in bulk. Another huge manufacturing task and challenge. So it’s just not as simple to say we’ve had an extra month and should be able to do so much more testing. It just doesn’t work like that for a new virus!

[surge]

I do not have subscription and therefore cannot judge nature of whole article but wonder if rest follows on from what you can see for free: https://www.telegraph.co.uk/politics...s-eu-pandemic/

Matt Hancock's department wanted to retain membership of the Early Warning and Response System (EWRS) as part of the EU-UK future relationship deal – but Number  10 said no, The Daily Telegraph has learnt.
Senior health advisers warned that exiting the EWRS – which has helped coordinate the response to the virus and played a vital role during the bird flu outbreak – would put public health at risk.
However, the British negotiating team, which reports to Boris Johnson, did not want to blur the UK's request for a basic, Canada-style trade deal, it is claimed. Every add-on requested by the UK would risk giving the EU leverage to demand post-Brexit alignment....

Note that it was The Times that was most critical of Cummings and UK government's role in "herd immunity" plan and now Telegraph is writing this.

[the other bob wilson]

It really isn’t that simple. My company is one of several large medical companies who have launched a COVID-19 test in record time ... months !!! And that is thanks to the FDA massively relaxing the usual protocols. We hope to be producing tests in the millions by the end of March. Staff in the US and elsewhere worldwide have been literally working around the clock and it is incredible achievement, especially given the laws surrounding drug/medical testing and production. It’s just not as simple as do lots more tests. Mass testing has to be scalable, affordable and available, and that takes time!

You will have heard Chris Witty talking about the antibody test which tests for the presence of antibodies. This will tell whether you’ve had COVID-19, not whether you have it. The test we are releasing uses PCR to replicate RNA and will take around 4 hours. The testing equipment can only do a certain number of tests per hour and you need enough laboratory staff to run and validate the tests. That is a challenge in itself. My partner is a biomedical scientist and is presently on 14 day isolation. So the labs have challenges. Get more blood testing machines you might say. Again it’s not that simple as they must be delivered, installed and validated (that is my job). Again this takes many weeks per machine.

When you have a validated machine you then require the consumables to run the tests in bulk. Another huge manufacturing task and challenge. So it’s just not as simple to say we’ve had an extra month and should be able to do so much more testing. It just doesn’t work like that for a new virus!

I can't dispute what you are saying, so I won't, but I do look at countries like China, South Korea and Germany off the top of my head who appear to have been far more effective at overcoming all of these problems.

[tell it like it is]

I can't dispute what you are saying, so I won't, but I do look at countries like China, South Korea and Germany off the top of my head who appear to have been far more effective at overcoming all of these problems.

If you believe China have been effective, I've a bridge to sell you.

Anybody believing China's figures given their suppression of info about the virus initially, persecution of whistleblowers and indeed telling WHO in Jan there had been no person to person infections is a tad naive.

China have almost certainly disappeared many.

[the other bob wilson]

If you believe China have been effective, I've a bridge to sell you.

Anybody believing China's figures given their suppression of info about the virus initially, persecution of whistleblowers and indeed telling WHO in Jan there had been no person to person infections is a tad naive.

China have almost certainly disappeared many.

I agree that there will be doubts about the sort of statistical studies seen in another thread today while they are almost entirely reliant on Chinese figures, but what about the other countries I mentioned?

[tell it like it is]

I agree that there will be doubts about the sort of statistical studies seen in another thread today while they are almost entirely reliant on Chinese figures, but what about the other countries I mentioned?

Italy, Spain et al.

It may well be South Korea, Germany are outliers for some reason.

Are all nations using exactly the same methodology for recording the stats?