Things are bad enough without that horror scenario. Sometimes you have the give the public some credit for common sense.
Some good news on the hunt for a cure. https://www.freepressjournal.in/mum...us-patient-duo-tests-negative-after-treatment A 70 year old man in Mumbai who tested positive up until Sunday, tested negative on Monday after being given Tamiflu. (If anyone knows of any panic buyers, tell them not to bother buying online - I've just ordered the only 3000 bottles I could find. ) https://7news.com.au/lifestyle/heal...ach-of-coronavirus-cure-c-746655?utm_campaign Researchers in Brisbane have found two drugs which, in lab testing, have "stopped Coronavirus in its tracks", and are now looking to conduct a clinical trial on humans. They are hoping to have a cure within three months. What I can't understand about the former is that they have to call for donations to speed up the trials. Looking for only $750k, I would have thought that Australian government would fund it - similar to the UK government, they are extremely fond of wasting large amounts of tax payer monies on pointless projects, so why not something with the potential to help 'save the world'? I can just imagine what Trump's response will be when he hears about this...
Talking to my daughter last night who had been at the Radcliffe all day, not doing her normal stint in the theatre but moving equipment around as one of the two theatres is on standby for coronavirus only operations. Today the 22 patients that were due to attend her clinic have had their appointments cancelled and she is in limbo about what she will be doing. I have noticed that the ferry between Caen and Portsmouth will stop sailing this week, and my usual route between Dieppe and Newhaven has reduced the number of people on board by 50%. Similar measures are also taking place between Calais and Dover. The effects of closing borders has shown up how checking lorries can create a 40 km tailback in 24 hours, and companies are worried about the fresh food being carried going off before it reaches the shops. We don't stop and think too often why we have open borders to help feed us until the system gets tampered with.
You could actually say the lack of interest from the general public for travelling clears the way for commercial vehicles to keep rolling. I doubt if any are being held up at the moment. Friends of our went shopping at 8.00am to London Colney. Sainbury's mostly had empty shelves, M&S next door was almost fully stocked. Weird. I also notice it is impossible to now find a supermarket with any vacant slot for home deliveries.
It is interesting to read the feed from the British Embassy in Paris. You don't realise how worried people are about how they can get home from the UK as they see the transport links gradually being reduced or cut. Get back as quickly as possible seems to be the advice as they only see things getting worse. Our self certification papers are also proving a problem for those who have spent the winter in a mobile home in Spain or Portugal, as they do not have a printer, but you must have one for each day of travel. The Embassy is helpful for those who do not realise that if you use the correct form of words you can write your own.
I just checked Ocado to see if a home delivery was possible. The website is unavailable and I was 19,743 in the queue to access it.
Reassuring news coming from the Kremlin - apparently everyone who comes within 100 metres of Vladimir Putin is being checked for the virus in advance. The protection for the president is 24 hours per day
The Eurovision Song Contest has been cancelled due to the coronavirus outbreak, it has been announced. Congratulations! And jubilations...
this is quite a good link that analyses global coronavirus stats - i think it is updated every 2-4 hours https://covid19.opentext.com/
Mail are reporting (yes I know!) games could be played at neutral venues behind closed doors so they can at least have medical personal etc at matches.
The Scottish government have just announced that all schools and nurseries in Scotland will close on Friday - and may not re-open before summer - a long break for my wife and daughter who work in the same school. The Welsh government are bringing forward the Easter break and will close on Friday too, but also say they are not expecting schools to re-open after Easter. BoJo, on the other hand, still hasn't decided what to do.
Yesterday, Education Sec’ Gavin Williamson:“We are committed to supporting schools to stay open at this difficult time. As part of our measures to help them, we are temporarily suspending routine Ofsted inspections.” Today, Education Sec’ Gavin Williamson: “we’re closing schools indefinitely”
That is not the point of what I was saying. This morning two countries in the whole of Europe that hadn't shut their schools were the UK and Belarus. Yesterday it wasn't thought necessary, so what has changed overnight? Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland all closed their schools because they couldn't staff them, and only after that had happened did England follow suit. It just looks as though the government is following rather than leading the country at a time of crisis.
