Coronavirus

“I haven't heard the PM mentioning it at all.”

No and you won’t unless someone gives him a prod. Couldn’t be a worse time to have such an idiot in No.10 discussing at his first cabinet meeting ... the number of buses he’s going to introduce. You couldn’t make it up!

Yes, take the passengers off the Diamond Princess and into quarantine in the UK.

Not sure what the worries about the NHS is......they are going to get £350,000 each week. I know it's true - I read it on the side of a bus!!!!

Exactly Franbern and if it wasn't so serious it would be laughable, but clearly that is what the cabinet & Mr Johnson is doing just now - laughing like kids ? whilst the rest of the country remains concerned.

Not £350,000 each week Franbern £350 million. Boris has been PM for 10 weeks I believe, which means the NHS has already received an extra £3.5 billion - hasn't it?

Monica - yep !! and the Unicorns are thriving in our off-shore island.

The figure they were parroting was 50000 new nurses. That figure was found to be fiction as soon as it was uttered. The virus may eventually affect GDP as it has in China. Then Johnson will have his get out of jail card.

Unfortunately £350,000 million pales into insignificance when, after a decade of austerity, ageing NHS hospitals, equipment and general infrastructure needs 6.5bn just to manage the backlog of maintenance. This is according to NHS Providers.

We also have a disintegrating social care system, and no plan in place to manage this.

We could do without Brexit and a global pandemic in the mix.

Probably more like £10bn to rescue NHS and prepare for a pandemic.

We have paid out £500bn to the banks, and £200bn is committed to Trident and £100bn to HS2. This shows what the governments of the last decade have deemed important.

BUT how safe and secure do we really feel!???

update: WHO press conference streamed 2 hours ago confirms that plasma from recovered patients is being tested as a useful treatment for this virus by providing antibodies to those afflicted. No data yet on efficacy but this is the first sign I have heard of any treatment apart from supportive and palliative care.

That is positive grannyp. Unfortunately your figure of £10bn would be nowhere near enough to cope with a pandemic.

Sadly, I expect you're right, but several billion clearly exist .... somewhere!

And there should be plans, and costing, for a pandemic in case it happens, not just ever sophisticated tests!

grannypauline I have seen several articles about specific anti-virals that are efficacious with this virus. Less common ones and productin is being increased.

That's interesting MOnica I have also seen that they're experimenting with repurposed antivirals which have been used for Ebola, HIV and even malaria, so hopefully there will be a breakthrough in treatment. It seems a few months away before a vaccine can be trialled.

According to the Journal Nature there are at least 80 clinical trials underway in China to compare and to try to find efficacious treatments. And it is true that several antivirals are being repurposed, but I haven't heard that any are useful yet.

Just watched yesterday's C4 documentary where they interviewed 500 NHS workers.
81% said there was not enough preparation.
85% said there facilities were not adequate
The Head of NHS England responded: "there are extensive plans...getting people tested is the most important thing we can do today."

I wish I could trust the news coming out of China.
When I got on the plane 3 weeks ago to Sydney 3 weeks ago, we transited in HK, I took disinfecting cloths. I used them on the seat belt and armrests and was very careful what I touched in the toilets.
I’m usually gung ho about my health but this time thought I should take sensible precautions for once.
I will do the same on the return trip.
A lot of flights have been cancelled, we’ll wait and see.
What with the fires , floods and the corona virus it’s been interesting.

That Chinese curse Pamela

‘may you live in interesting times’ ?

I see the British couple, the Abels, have now tested positive. Even if BJ can be bothered to organise a flight ( and let’s face it he can’t be bothered to comb his own hair or check on the appointments to No 10) they may not now be able to travel home but have to stay in a Japanese hospital. At least they’ll be off the ship. I’ve seen them regularly on C4 news and to start with they were very upbeat. I hope they get well soon - they are in their 70s and he has diabetes.

Yes, it does seem that quarantine on the ship had been ineffective to say the least. This virus is highly contagious. BJ is conspicuous by his absence. I think that he only does good news.

I wonder how it was thought that quarantine on the ship would be effective when, even though passengers were separated, there had to be air con especially in all the inner cabins with no outside ventilation. Surely the virus would circulate through the air con and all the passengers were sitting ducks?

Sparkle on C4 last night or was said it should have worked and that it’s failure would be investigated.

I don't think it can be contracted through the air con, needs to be face to face for a protracted time, The people on the ship must have already been in contact with the virus and it just took 14 days to be positive

nanna123
This today:

"A doctor has warned coronavirus could potentially spread through air conditioning on a cruise ship struck down by the deadly disease. Another 44 people aboard the Diamond Princess tested positive for coronavirus today, bringing the total number of cases to 218, making it the largest outbreak outside mainland China. The cruise liner has been docked in Japan’s Yokohama since February 4, but questions are being asked about the lock-down. Tropical disease specialist Dr Richard Dawood said coronavirus could spread if air is moving along ducts between cabins. He told Metro.co.uk: ‘It depends on the particular system that’s used. ‘Some air conditioners are simply cooling units in their rooms,’ he added. ‘And I wouldn’t expect that to do it. ‘But if air is being ducted between one part of the ship to another then that could possible be a factor.’ Princess Cruises has said there is no current evidence to suggest the virus spreads through air-handling systems."

I don't know how Princess Cruises can say "there is no current evidence ..... etc" above, when people who are individually quarantined are succumbing in numbers daily.

Some of you may be interested to see this video about another aspect of what is happening in Wuhan. It also illustrates the emptiness of what are usually very busy streets.

www.theguardian.com/world/video/2020/feb/14/catman-of-wuhan-the-man-rescuing-pets-abandoned-amid-coronavirus-outbreak-video?fbclid=IwAR3roXmHcAnbcJgQiOHOIQC-2fpShobXIifwSwxBXRcr_dHdo7-tj2ioAUw

wildswan16 Thank you for sharing that video. What a lovely caring guy he is.