UK overtakes Italy with most official virus deaths in Europe

The UK's way of handling the virus will be discovered to be the worst because the British Government knowingly kept the borders open for the entire pandemic. This allowed thousands of infected individuals from Italy, China and other countries to enter the UK during Feb, March and April.

Closing the border would not have prevented everything, but it would have helped save more lives than any other course of action.

Professor David Spiegelhalter, a leading statistician at the University of Cambridge, said one certain thing is that all the official death numbers are “substantial underestimates” of those dying directly from the virus and those who died as a result of the epidemic and the measures taken in response.

“I think we can safely say that none of these countries are doing well, but this is not (the) Eurovision (Song Contest) and it is pointless to try and rank them,” he said.

“I believe the only sensible comparison is by looking at excess all-cause mortality, adjusted for the age distribution of the country,” he said. "And even then, it will be very difficult to ascribe the reasons for any differences.”

As stated above all the daily reported stats are an indicatory guide only to the spread of the pandemic.

Also, it is worth taking into consideration the coronavirus is mutating into numerous region-specific virulent strains…

The coronavirus has mutated and appears to be more contagious now, new study finds…

https://www.cnbc.com/2020/05/05/the-coronavirus-mutated-and-appears-to-be-more-contagious-now-new-study-finds.html

UK, Italy, Brazil, America... Interesting how those particular governements have all dropped the ball on this one. It's like there's a link between right wing populism and incompetence.

Great Britain has now doubled down and told family members to snitch on other family members who talk conspiracy

https://reclaimthenet.org/uk-police-conspiracy-theories/

Impossible to know how many if any were infected with Covid-19. America closed its borders but have the highest numbers of cases and deaths. Also major lockdowns.

Doesn't matter if it was 10 people. If they had closed the border, it would have helped and saved lives.

If they had closed the border, it would have helped and saved lives.

They would have needed to close the borders at least two weeks before the first infection, and unfortunately nobody has the power of precognition in another governement anywhere. Like said elsewhere, France realized it actually had its first Covid case in December.

The virus is vicious and the Tories are toxic. And their Brexit is only serving to curdle this combo from hell.

And their Brexit is only serving to curdle this combo from hell.

Can you please explain how?

They would have needed to close the borders at least two weeks before the first infection, and unfortunately nobody has the power of precognition in another governement anywhere. Like said elsewhere, France realized it actually had its first Covid case in December.

Yes, ideally.

But closing the at the beginning of February when the virus started to spread quickly would have still been better than leaving them open. More lives would have been saved.

With the benefit of hindsight, a lot could and perhaps should/could have been done/archived differently and smarter. One aspect is the mudded, conflicting, and contradictory scientific advice from the government Scientific Advisory Group for Emergencies (SAGE).

No sooner had an decision making announcement been broadcast the so called expert membership of SAGE proceeded to contradict each other on social media with conflicting advice.

Followed up with the appallingly flawed polices advocated by senior management of Public Health England (PHE), who inexplicably proceeded to embark on a costly, and inefficient, management of the supply to doctors and other clinical staff of PPE.

Amyas Morse, head of the National Audit Office….

“Given the size of the NHS, workforce planning will never be an exact science, but we think it clearly could be better than it is. Since clinical staff are the NHS’s main resource and cost, these shortcomings are serious, and the current arrangements do not achieve value for money.”

Right wing regimes around the world ignored the warnings and the science. Their citizens are paying the price.

The Avenger:

Right wing regimes around the world ignored the warnings and the science. Their citizens are paying the price.

Would be curious to see your list of left-wing regimes that heeded the "warnings" and the "science" are not "paying the price".

Come on, don´t be coy! (Starting with China, perhaps?)

Would be curious to see your list of left-wing regimes that heeded the "warnings" and the "science" are not "paying the price"

South Korea, Denmark, Norway, Canada, and Finland.

Wow, that was arduous. I think I need a nap now.

PM Johnson, at this moment is holding his first Prime Minister's Question Time, which happens every Wednesday.

I love that. It’s always fun to watch the leader get grilled by the opposition. I wish POTUS had to do this.

Live on the BBC World News but also on the internet.

Thanks!

I doubt very much if Trump could even deal with being questioned by both his own people and the opposition.

Trump can barely handle being questioned by friendly press; his head would explode if he were subject to what the British PM is during these sessions.

Chip Star:

South Korea, Denmark, Norway, Canada, and Finland.

These are "left wing regimes"??

Chip Star:

Trump can barely handle being questioned by friendly press

Where can we see him being questioned by "friendly press"? All that I see day after day is a fanatically hostile press with endless attempts at gotcha questions.

These are "left wing regimes"??

They're all liberal, which is what most rightists like yourself consider left wing. Instead of moving the goalposts after you’ve been demonstrated incorrect, how about you define “left wing” so I can demonstrate you incorrect again?

Where can we see him being questioned by "friendly press"?

When he appears on Faux “News” and when right wing reporters ask him softball questions.

All that I see day after day is a fanatically hostile press with endless attempts at gotcha questions.

We all know rightist think questions that the president should be able to answer but can’t because of his utter ignorance and incompetence are “gotcha” questions.

Shouldn't stable geniuses have most answers to questions that stupid lib reporters ask?

I love that. It’s always fun to watch the leader get grilled by the opposition. I wish POTUS had to do this.

To a point, but a lot of it is personal insults, the government arguing they are less incompetent than the opposition when they were in power and backbenchers making farmyard noises.

You can find some substance now and again.

To a point, but a lot of it is personal insults, the government arguing they are less incompetent than the opposition when they were in power and backbenchers making farmyard noises. 

You can find some substance now and again.

Fair enough. I had noticed, the few times I watched, there were a lot of ad hominems. It would still be fun to watch Trump have to sit through it.

By the way, I hope your wife’s transfer abroad isn’t delayed too long.

"Taking into account countries’ populations, the UK’s per capita death rate is below those in Italy, Spain and Belgium."

Contradicts the headline, doesn´t it. That it is absurd to compare total numbers without considering population size should be obvious, even to mainstream media journalists.

Contradicts the headline, doesn´t it. That it is absurd to compare total numbers without considering population size should be obvious, even to mainstream media journalists

Why? The article is about the total numbers of deaths, not the per capita numbers. Are you trying to make the argument that if the deaths per capita is lower, it’s okay that the most deaths occurred on those countries? That’s sounds pretty absurd.

You do realize that your source of information, Fox “News,” is the most mainstream media in the US, correct?