The government has changed the way it is counting the number of Covid-19 tests carried out, in a bid to hit its self-imposed 100,000 tests per day target, the Health Service Journal reports. The HSJ understands that up to 50,000 of the tests that will be reported as having taken place on 30 April will actually represent the mailing or the agreeing to mail a home testing kit. Previously, a test would be counted once the sample had been processed in a lab, but this definition has been changed in the last few days, a senior source has told the HSJ.
Scully was concerned diseased kids might infect him with their bubble-blowing - we were discussing possibility that the air within had been ‘washed’ by the detergent that surrounded the bubbles. Our various theories hinged on Scully’s survival or not.
Strange that Sky and Channel 4 had both picked up on the way that counting the number of tests had changed while the BBC hadn't. The actual figures given said that over 40,000 tests were not tests, but kits sent out. Also strange that that Hancock didn't recognize the figures, the standard answer when you have been caught out, but also that Sky and Channel 4 were cut off as quickly as possible. I think we can assume that the government have been caught out.
A couple of things spring to mind here. Who were these testing kits actually being sent to - I don't recall anything about anyone being able to ask for one? And, given that the government's own figures show that a large majority of people are actually tested twice, how many test kits were issued to each home? It surely stands to reason that issuing one test would be pointless - and that issuing two tests to each would be simply fudging the figures even further if only one were needed?
It's difficult from a distance to know what's going on in the UK, so maybe someone on here can answer this. Why, when looking at the recorded statistics, is there no entry from the UK. under the heading 'total recovered' ? All I can see is N/A for this. Is this because recoveries are not being reported ? If they are being recorded then what is the criteria for saying someone is 'cured' - is it simply that they no longer have symptoms, or after a certain quarantine time period, or are they only declared free of the disease after subsequent testing - is testing being done at this end of the process, as in other countries ?
You make some good points there BB. I think that if the government had said we actually completed 80,000 tests then I might have said that they had done well to get it up to that number from a standing start. To try and gild the lily though is nothing short of stupid, unless you believe everything that the party chooses to tell you is honest. We have seen how they have tried to massage the figures on the number of people who have died, yet tonight France has recorded 214 against the 739 that is a direct comparison now. While we had a strict lockdown, Johnson was telling everyone that there was no big problem. Just how many people have lost their lives because of him?
Although I can watch both English and French TV cologne, I really cannot answer your question. There has been a reported problem that says that some elderly people who have the virus have been shipped out of hospital and sent back to care homes before they are clear. Are they recovered at this stage, I don't know. One would think that if a person had been in hospital and thought well enough to go home, then they would be recovered, but if you are a statistician then you would see that there is a higher proportion of people in the UK admitted to hospital who don't come out compared to other countries. I am very doubtful about the figures that the UK use as you might have gathered, and I suspect that the figure you refer to would only create another line of why is this happening, so it is not published.
Quite a lot of noise being raised about this now. Seems that there have been many cases of tests being sent out without return address, but also ones without the reference number that is needed to find out if you are positive. Some also saying that the instructions are not clear and it is very uncomfortable to do. It all suggests that some people will bin them as they are only viable for 48 hours, and others will have the all clear wrongly. Meanwhile in France the number of deaths and people in hospital continues to fall. Total number here to have sadly died in the last 24 hours is down to 218. Compared to the UK with 621; the strict lockdown and early start it is working. The government has now set a rule that anyone entering the country will have to isolate for 14 days, and anyone using Eurostar will have to wear a mask. Not sure how the isolation rule will apply the lorry drivers who might enter the country several times a week normally. There is a bit of controversy here though as from Monday supermarkets will be able to sell single use masks, although they will not be able to charge more than €0.99 for them. Just where have these masks come from is the question being asked?
Grant Shapps the Transport minister tells us that the UK is suffering more than other countries because of “density of population”. This is clearly untrue when you look at the numbers in Europe that live in apartment blocks. 65% of the population in Spain and 45% of the population of France live in such buildings, while in the UK the figure is 14%. Italy 52%, Switzerland 58%, you can go on, but 60% of the UK population live in semi-detached houses. Grant Shapps said he was “actively looking at” quarantining people travelling to the UK from abroad to keep coronavirus infection rates under control. How many people have entered the country every day while thinking about actively looking at it?
On the other hand, when you look at the number of voters who continue to vote Tory, it's quite safe to assume that it is indeed true...
There is good news in France this evening as the figures for people dying in care homes and hospitals falls to a six week low of 135. Christophe Castaner from the interior ministry admitted today that they had not been as well prepared as they should have been. "We had masks in stock which in normal times would have lasted for 20 weeks. " "We had 1.4 million FFP2 masks, I chose to give them to healthcare professionals because it was the priority," he said. He was pleased to report that today that there are no shortages, which probably explains the large aircraft going overhead in the past week or two. A spot of honesty goes a long way to reassure people, rather than trying poorly to massage the figures. Does this mean that we will soon be back to normal? Far from it. I may go out from the middle of May without a piece of paper, and travel 100 kms, but the rules on people entering the country are to be tightened. Having got this far the government will not be bending to big business or unions to see the hard work undone. For that reason I feel safer than I suspect I would in Northants.
Good to see that six states in the USA have formed a union to buy and share out PPE. Also good to see that the UK wants to rejoin the EU pandemic organization that shares information and buys equipment. With the UK also wanting to rejoin the research projects of the EU rather than lose the funding, it looks as though common sense is starting to prevail.
Ah yes, that tweet: The spread of Covid-19 depends on two factors: 1. The density of the population; and 2. The density of the population. I think everyone here has the smarts to figure out what happened next
