The UK response explained

And the reason that other countries are on lockdown now and we aren't is that our initial attempt at containing it was much much more successful than theirs was, it's as simple as that.

Both the UK and Italy had their first confirmed case on the 31st January. The UK has a higher population than Italy and a smaller land area to fit us into. Logically the spread should be quicker in the UK with more people in a smaller area but as we all know that isn't the case. We have done an excellent job in containing and so far minimising the amount of people contracting and dying from coronavirus, italy simply hasn't which is why they are much further along in the process than we are.

 

They should show that on the telly, so people understand.

 

I'm not sure that is necessarily true. I think when you have 1 or 2 cases there is much more variance in how quickly that initial spread happens. If the first case doesn't pass it to many people then it's going to stall the spread by a fair bit. Since we've had 50-100 cases we've been on the same trajectory as Italy. I don't see how anyone can argue that we've done an excellent job, as we've not done much at all. No routine screening of people arriving from at-risk countries etc.

 

At the very beginning we did a much better job than most countries in tracking the movements of those with the virus and isolating those who the infected had been in contact with. Italy for example didn't do as good a job of this. That's the reason that while we are now both on the same path they are weeks ahead of us. We managed to stall it by a week or two by isolating people at the beginning

 

Presumably you have to act before the health care system is actually at breaking point as my understanding here is the quarantine has a delayed effect.

Also won't the rate at which the water flows in increase as the virus spreads and not be at the same rate like shown in the video?

 

I read somewhere that one of the first confirmed cases, the hospital failed to follow procedure and as a result failed to slo it down.

 

Deaths have almost doubled overnight. Not sure we can celebrate containment yet.

 

and being an Island must have helped too... I also think that the channel tunnel should be closed down until further notice too, maybe only allowing essential freight through.

 

Italians kiss everything that moves, twice.

 

It isn't celebrating containment, it's the initial delay that gave us as a country a week or two's extra planning and preparing. That's the part that was a success.

 

For weeks after the first case was found, we didn’t do any sort of screening on people coming into the country from known infected areas, so I struggle to accept that we were ‘excellent’ in dealing with it.

Due to the incubation period of this virus, the initial cases were likely to be anomalies in the data. Aka when both countries had 1 confirmed case, it’s looking increasingly likely that Italy had many, many more cases that were not yet showing symptoms.

 

Yes it would, it would actually start off as a dripping tap speeding up to eventually a torrent

 

It's a decent attempt at explaining it.If its the best thing to do I have no idea I'm not in any way qualified to know.
After speaking to my Mum and Dad and worrying about them I've moved onto worrying about the recession that will likely follow. Think I'll go back to worrying about my Parents and leave the rest for later.

 

Absolutely busting for a wee after watching that

 

9nly if the planning and preparing results in less deaths surely? I hope this is the case.

 

Yes only if the planning is effective but we have given ourselves the best chance rather than being forced into rushing decisons and potentially make mistakes like other countries

 

One expert said with a virus like this you have to act fast, be prepared to make mistakes rather than wait. It seems as though China have come out the other side, so presumably should be learning lessons from them?

 

China do seem to have come through the other side and they've 'only' had 3,000 deaths so far. I think people should take that into account when reacting to all the hysteria whipped up by our authorities and media. How on earth can predictions of half a million people dying in the UK stack up with that. The country needs some reassurance not terrifying. There's some irresponsible scaremongering going on to get people to comply.

 

To get people to comply with what? It's in the authorities' interest to minimise the disruption to daily life for the sake of the economy. "Whipping up hysteria" is not in their interests.

I think the attitude of "f*ck it, it's probably fine" is worse. If you're young and healthy then a lax attitude probably won't cause your death, but it might cause the death of others.

 

China went on lockdown for weeks and weeks.

The exact opposite of what we’re doing by having a ‘keep calm and carry on’ attitude