If you are outside the UK, what's your opinion on our governments handling of corona virus?

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How do you think we've done so far?
Do you look at the UK and think we've done well, or badly?
We don't hear much about how we look to other countries, hence me asking here.
Can you also state where you live?

I am in Australia. Our State Governments have done a bang up job (regardless of their political persuasion). The Federal Government apparently couldn't organise a piss up in a brewery.

Morrison is as thick as Trump. It was only our State system that protected us from a similar situation to the UK and the US. The lack of clarity from the Federal Government is ridiculous.

On the UK the thing that stands out for me is the way the children are just being ignored/thrown under th bus. No playgrounds? No school? No social interaction? Madness.

I know someone who lives in Singapore (her adult DC are still over here). She is absolutely horrified at the way the UK government have handled this.

kenandbarbie

I'm in Ireland but I'm English. I think the Uk reaction seems a bit of a shambles. There seems no clear plan, not due to developing science, but due to different opinions about what should be done. Irish reaction much more organised and proactive. Less political sniping too.

Me too & agree 100%

Very poor. Economic meltdown AND very high deaths/hospitalizations.

It's been a shitshow of bad decisions---the "herd immunity" followed by a U-turn, the failure to close off travel, lack of any kind of proper quarantine (even for travelers, let alone for regular citizens), and moving like a snail's pace on masks.

The countries which suppressed the virus and are now looking to form travel bubbles with each other are looking like they had the right idea. As more and more countries join this group (Thailand has just announced that it has essentially eradicated the virus), these countries can together form a bloc which comprises a substantial proportion of total world trade.

Meanwhile, the UK is going to be stuck out there by itself like Infectious Disease Island. Cases and deaths are falling a LOT but it is still going to take quite a while before the UK can eradicate this thing---perhaps not before a vaccine.

On the other hand, talking of vaccines, the UK has made excellent progress on the vaccine in Oxford and this will be a huge boon to the UK and the world. Once again, I am struck by the contradictions of the modern UK---the private sector is vibrant, it has many of the world's finest universities, and there are so many amazing people living and working there. Yet the government and politicians are an embarassment.

Totally agree the Government have been pretty rubbish but I do get slightly irritated when friends and family abroad go on about how everyone in the UK is breaking lockdown etc etc. The vast vast majority of people round where I live have been sticking to the rules and it’s the same where my parents live and other friends and relatives. The pictures of the packed beaches etc did not reflect most of what was going on.
I suppose what I’m trying to say is please don’t think that just because our government has been rubbish, we all have been!

This.

Google date (which shows mobility) shows clearly that the people in the UK have restricted mobility as much or more than people in most countries---and that most of the restriction in mobility occured BEFORE lockdown orders were given.

People have not been "flouting" lockdown more than any other country. And I wish people would stop claiming that the UK could ahve avoided its high death toll with a "proper" or "strict" lockdownby which they usually mean one that would physically confine people, lock kids up in the house for weeks on end. There is no evidence that this is necessary or makes any difference whatsoever. Countries like Singapore, Taiwan, HK and South Korea never had any kind of lockdownthey just closed down the superspreaders like big events and schools, and told people to work from home where possible and wear masks. The virus is very unlikely to spread in beaches and parks, as long as big crowded events have been banned. And those "packed" beaches were photographed with Zoom lenses, by the way.

The UK's high death toll is NOT because UK people did things like walk or jog outside, or let children ride their scooters in the park. It is due to failure to test and trace, failure to get people to mask up, failure to have proper quarantine (internal and for travelers),plus endogenous factors like high rates of obesity, hypertension, metabolic syndrome and vitamin D deficiency.

Oh, Germany is another country that had far fewer restrictions on being outside during lockdown, by the way. Socially distanced meetings with friends in outdoor areas were fine, right the way through!

That's probably because Germany is run by a person who actually had a grasp of science. The focus was put where it should be---on testing and tracing contacts so that transmission chains in households, workplaces, hospitals and care homes could be stamped out quickly. Rather than on believing that the virus is somehow being spread by kids playing with bubble wands in a park or whatever.

Yeah, just really badly managed. Plenty of exceptionalism going on too.

I'm in Australia and I am not critical of the UKs approach. Was everything handled perfectly? No. But until more time has passed, we really can't say who did it the best.

I've seen NZ lauded on here a lot but you can't compare Auckland to London - London is one of biggest international travel hubs in the world.

Yes there have been many excess deaths. But you just don't know. There could very well be fewer than usual deaths in the next six months, as those scheduled to die in that period have already done so. So the yearly death total could be near average. Meanwhile Australia is sitting here with its borders shut (forever?) and planning a fossil fuel led economic recovery .

@1300cakes of course you can't compare London to Auckland I lived in the former for 26 years and I now live in the latter.

The handling, leadership, communication and messaging you can compare. One is world leading the other would be outclassed by a toddler.

The handling, leadership, communication and messaging you can compare. One is world leading the other would be outclassed by a toddler.

This. The difference between the two responses to the pandemic is astonishing.

Johnson was not a good fit for this crisis. Bumbling through Brexit with Cumming’s slogans is one thing. Germany is a good place to compare. Same travel issues, timing and population.

They do have a better funded health system and obviously better testing but we upped the capacity for first and haven’t breached capacity. Mostly their early intervention was crucial, our triage too severe but I would hope that has changed (I think so).

Merkel clear in delivery and making better decisions on education. Education here is a big issue now with the about turn.

I do agree with pp that vaccine work here does always make me feel better, is there any update on this other than taking it to Brazil? (I think). A signal yet?

I also think it harder for any international travel hub, that would get it early, who relies on airline industry to recover. Could we quarantine for that long? I am dubious now about the quasi quarantine. Rory Stewart said same thing on R4.

I also know the images that reach Aus, eg the packed trains and full beaches are not the full picture, as what gets here from there isn’t. (Family there).

Long post. I felt depressed when reading this at first as it’s a bit like asking someone to tell you your worst bits and taking it and we’re still crunching through it but we do have Chris Whitty (good), vaccine and other trials, and behavioural scientists who are good. There is a lot that has been a shambles I agree, and it’s made me feel low at times.

Economic support high (other countries too) but economic recovery concerning and unemployment.

If it happened again perhaps you’d hear every border clang shut on same day. I said at beginning this and a couple of posters said no WHO says no, but would it have worked better?

Good and bad imo

Good stuff
Financial support, self employed grants, furloughed, business loans and loads more
NHS has coped brilliantly, staff have really pooled together
British public generally fab, obeying lockdown, 750000 volunteer army, captain tom, clapping, community support
VACCINE work. Never really gets a mention but this is vital and uk leading the way on this. I am on Oxford trial and v impressed with it all. We will hopefulkt not have to rely on others to get a vaccine. Many many other countries will gave to
Chris whitty and jonathan van tam
Nightingale hospitals
BBC and culture generally has been good i think

Bad
Ppe nor good at start. Now ok but we need to make our own
Care homes. Nhs protected at expense of care homes but we were watching italy and to some extent over reacted clearing hospitals imo
Bame risk e.g bus drivers, nhs staff. Should have realised this earlier.
Testing, shambles at start definitely. Goid now
Test and trace non existent now could work well going forward
Media generally has not been good. Too partisan and not enough positive news scaring everyone too much

I think lock down was about right. Maybe a week too late for London but about right for rest of uk. Some voices say we should not have lock down at all but i do not agree with that. Lock down was essential to prevent overwhelming nhs

I also know the images that reach Aus, eg the packed trains and full beaches are not the full picture, as what gets here from there isn’t.

Where do you think we get our news? Pigeon Post? I still have the BBC news app, I read the Times and the Guardian everyday. My mother sends me pictures of the beach I grew up near. My friends send me pictures of the Tube and parks.

There seems to be such a lack of leadership in the U.K. and an inability to make a decision and then implement it. It does seem to be incompetence rather than a political decision

Malin good for you

We were comparing what we each got as news so bugger off with your sarcasm. I cba hearing from idiots today.

Because of the different approaches and results of different countries the world now has access to an enormous amount of data which can potentially give us a clear map for dealing with the next pandemic

Because of the different approaches and results of different countries the world now has access to an enormous amount of data which can potentially give us a clear map for dealing with the next pandemic

How many pandemics will it take for the UK to learn how to deal with them? Other countries have already learned lessons from previous pandemics, right back to the 1918 'flu

Lack of PPE
Not protecting care homes
This stupid late quarantine

Ps the above is also true for Italy, Spain and Belgium

I think we had a disadvantage
?6 years of austerity - not sure how long it went on, could have been 10, to reduce our debt which in the long run would have helped the UK economy - in normal circunstances.
Brexit - 3 years of the remainers fighting to stay instead of just allowing a move to exit. That totally distracted everyone right up to CV19. No other country had that bollox to deal with. Probably resulted in the ignoring of things like preparing PPE Stores.
PM's wife has baby pretty unusual occurrence.
PM gets Covid - another disaster waiting to happen that will have affected the meetings.
All those things will have affected our ability to cope. I suspect, though haven't read this, that when Germany agreed to 1 million Syrian refugees they upped their medical facilities and possibly testing - and lo and behold it meant they were in a good position for Covid.
I doubt Spain and Italy coped much better than the UK - Spanish police are armed which might have improved obedience.
Other countries don't have a constant, never ending flow of media whingeing and criticism which makes everything seem worse than it is. Nor do they get as embroiled in the US problems as the UK does, for some reason.
Stop all the whingeing. Scientists made the deicisons, some may not have been the best . The End.

Total disaster. I can't understand anyone who defends it.

Listen to more or less on Radio 4 - it has a good explanation on why things happened.

I think the reason that people abroad think the Brits are flouting lockdown is that compared to some countries, it's always been such a lockdown lite. People have respected the lockdown rules, and those rules were not as restrictive.

I'm not sure the armed police is why the lockdown in Spain (and everywhere else) was more strictly adhered to. I think it's simply that the rules and regulations, while much stricter, were also much clearer. In the UK there has been so much interpretation going on. The go to work, don't go to work, don't go on buses, stay at home, go to work thing exemplifies it. As I said upthread, no country handled it perfectly, probably except those which were proactive rather than reactive. But the UK which saw what was coming, had no excuse. It was money over lives, and history will judge.

Pp asked about financial assistance in countries with stricter lockdown. Pretty much the same as the UK. Furlough-, WFH, all self-employed paid a monthly minimum grant irrespective of income, etc etc. Mortgage and payment moratoria. Etc.

Selma- you only have to read pp- poor Boris having (yet another) baby, poor Boris getting Covid (after proudly boasting he was shaking hands with Covid sufferers) as a defence to the govt's handling to know who the people are defending them.

I think you'll also find scientists advised a govt so convinced of its own invincibility it put its fingers in its ears and ignored the advice.
Science's voice has been virtually shutdown unless like Jennie wotsit they were clearly in the govt's pocket. Look back at some of the earlier pressers and her face. She knows he's talking shit but she's been told to toe the line.
Not to mention the "special" (quote from Boris) science in the UK.

@Bluemoooon

The End Jeez...... talk about shutting down democracy! you've had your say defending Johnson, so we all have to STFH now?

Brexit was a Tory idea, as was the disastrous 2017 GE (which led to the infighting between tory remainers and ERG) Brexit negotiations still on going, BJ could just extend and focus on CV but won''t, so more damage!
Austerity hasn't helped the UK at all and never would have, no other country continued it past a few years, we have had 10!!! and in terms of public services spending, its still going on.

We have been on the back foot with CV because we had a PM who thought herd immunity was the way to beat CV and then found out it isn't and has been playing catch up ever since.

At least 64k people have died because this Govt's decisions, per capita, the worst death anywhere in the world, this issue is far from The End