to feel relieved because London could be virus free by the end of the month ??

[Italianmoma1983]

It should make us hopeful !! Lockdown will definitely be eased and life could go back a bit to normal !

You're kidding? I'm expecting we'll be locked down again within a fortnight.

Unreasonable no, delusional yes

Sure ... With the 180 completely Covid free flights landing at Heathrow every day ?!? Dont cha know this government thinks if they say things often enough, tis the truth .

@BelfryBat

It was reported in every news outlet yesterday.

Or do you only get your news from MN?

Only in England. The rest the UK seem to have a better grasp on reality. Waiting in reports of roadblocks to Wales and Scotland because of imbeciles trying to go on holiday.

It's in the papers..so it must be true... NOT
🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣

Obviously flights into LHR (unless quarantine) throws an unknown into the mix, but it could be that most people in London have had it by now - probably it was here a lot earlier than we thought.
Also population of London is younger than national average, and there aren’t very many care homes.

BTW masks and gloves are a total red herring - saw dozens of people today in London wearing masks over nose but not mouth, mouth but not nose, with huge gaps around the side of their face, fidgeting with the fabric with their hands, wearing those plastic shields with nothing underneath and worst of all one man who took his mask off to talk to someone and then coughed. Glove wearers were handling all manner of things in the shops, touching their faces, holding hands with partners, you name it.

Absolute waste of time in hygiene terms and worse than that, encourages people to think they can go out with sniffles or coughs when they should be at home, or pack into crowded tubes or buses, and be safe. It’s a classic example of something devised by politicians who want to look like they are taking action and the only benefit is that some people are making money selling this crap.

I’m a GP. I talk to several people each day who likely have Covid but they aren’t sick enough to go into hospital so they don’t get a test. The figures are BS because we aren’t testing

I really cannot believe there is any truth in that

Why on earth are we still not testing? I hope we get on with the antibody tests. They could be very helpful.

@Windowboxgardener I wonder if the government should add a line to the Stay Alert advert. Something about not touching your face whilst out and about. And a how to guide for wearing masks. Other counties seem to wear them properly. It protects others as much as if not more than the wearer. An important part of infection control and prevention.

London has the largest elderly population in the UK. Lots of young people live there but it's sheer size means so do many elderly.

They think at most 10% in London have had it. It seems the government's keen to infect the remaining 90% of 9 million. What with encouraging them onto crowded tubes and buses, and the lack of border controls or checks.

Don't count your chickens until they've hatched...

A lot of posters seem to have missed the point that this study is based on a sample of tests nationwide. There is a larger one planned soon which will have even more granular detail but it does appear there is a very low current rate of infection in London. It won't go down to 0 ever (unless a vaccine is found) but it could be manageable with other interventions (track and trace). Certainly the infection levels in London don't warrant destroying the economy through total lockdowns.

How is it manageable, even if it really is currently low, when hundreds of thousands are arriving at the airports (London, and across the UK) no checks or quarantine? And, with return to out of home work, people commuting in to London from other parts of the UK?

I read that study is based on two weeks old figures. The R rate has already started rising again.

I agree with you. It could be managed so we could slowly start reopening the economy safely. But that's impossible whilst we have no airport restrictions. We're one of the only countries in the world not to. Then again many other countries also had what you speak of, total lockdown. We didn't. Which is one reason why they're now ready to try safely easing their lockdowns but we're not. It's also why their economic recoveries will be quicker and easier.

Lockdowns are to protect economies as much as, in fact probably more do, than lives.

Where I live it looks like any normal day, traffic jams, cyclists, looks like the annual race, people in groups walking around together. Compared to last week I feel as though I have woken up on a different planet. I thought I had dreamed the whole scenario.

@ToffeeYoghurt. It protects others as much as if not more than the wearer. An important part of infection control and prevention.

No, it really isn’t. It is a way of governments looking like they are doing something, and it (dangerously) makes people feel better about going out. Unless hospital grade, changed very regularly and handled perfectly, they don’t protect the wearer at all. As for protecting others, if the best that can be said is they catch your coughs and sneezes, then they are highly dangerous because they are sending the message to people with coughs and sneezes that it’s OK to go out - which it absolutely isn’t.

Not going to happen

It's what medical and scientific experts (regardless of governments) worldwide have recommended. As just one of many infection control measures. I trust their expertise and knowledge.

I agree to an extent. People should stay in if they're contagious. But sometimes people can have Covid asymptomatically. They might separately have an asthma cough or hayfever sneeze. They're out because they don't have any Covid symptoms so are unaware they have it. They cough from their asthma or sneeze from their hayfever. Droplets of Covid get caught by the mask. It helps. It's not a panacea and you're right about people sometimes wearing them wrong. We need to show people how to wear them properly. Add it in to the Stay Alert ad.

Masks would definitely help on public transport. Confined often crowded spaces. Perhaps less essential when going for a walk.

It’s interesting to think what might stop this flu first, man or nature. It seems to be extremely contagious and many people seem a symptomatic. It could be perfectly possible that a large proportion of Londoners (and people elsewhere) have already been exposed and carry some immunity.

If you look at previous outbreaks of highly infectious diseases before the advent of widespread vaccination, from sweating sickness to the Spanish Flu history has taught us they can naturally die out (or at least become minimally invasive in society). I think it will be very interesting once the antibody test is available to everyone to find out how many people are carrying antibodies.

It’s becoming increasingly clear that this virus was circulating in Europe a lot earlier than thought. How many people were potentially exposed months ago? It’s the virus mutating to become deadlier? Will immunity last long enough to potentially outlive the virus.

Only history will tell how (and if) this ends. Everything else is just speculation. The Winner in any war is only usually revealed at the last minute and wars often end in very unexpected ways.

It’s interesting to think what might stop this flu first, man or nature.

Janet from The Good Place voice: Not a flu.

Don’t be ridiculous, the numbers quoted in the report you’re taking from are inaccurate at best, but as soon as the lockdown is relaxed, London will inevitably go into a second spike.

Maybe true maybe not. No more far-fetched than people predicting the virus here will keep rising. Neither side knows more than any other, only thing they have in common is they can't wait and see, they are deluded into believing themselves to be Prophets.

It's not inevitable. We'd need to urgently implement checks and quarantine at the airport's to avoid a second wave but if the government wanted to they could.

If the government took the same relatively simple measures other countries have we'd have a reasonable chance of keeping the infection rate lower across the UK. Will they finally do something?

The rate has gone down because of lockdown. Now more people are returning to work and the children will start going back to school (maybe) the rate will shoot back up.
Why don't people get it? This virus isn't going anywhere.

@JassyRadlett
Sorry Janet of Thr Good Place meant this virus, also totally sorry you obviously tie yourself in knots picking up small typing errors in order to put people down (obviously occurred cos I was thinking of the Spanish flu.

Maybe next time try engaging in the actual debate rather than trying to score pointless one up man ship over nothing. You’re the type to say “didn’t you mean too rather than to” whilst totally missing the point as well aren’t you?