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Actually I think almost all those points are based on false premises, @Simon M. I think stopping the epidemic is entirely possible. At least as possible as winning a world war. It just requires courage and level headedness. The economic impact of this is going to be the same whatever strategy is...

I am just thinking that everyone has been comparing this virus to influenza of the endemic seasonal sort. But maybe it should be compared to polio. It became clear that polio had to be eradicated. I think Sars2/Covid19 will look the same. There is a death rate above 1% and the illness is...

Clarification 14 March 2020: An earlier version of this article said no scientists had spoken out against the government. This has been updated to make clear that, at time of publication, no UK epidemiologists had spoken out in the mainstream media. How mealy mouthed can you get? And although...

So lockdown works. Time the UK and US governments started realising that people who don't speak English at breakfast may have a point.

Sorry, we were talking about u-turn on large gatherings, not schools.

I don't think the situation is ever too late. The isolation and distancing rules just need putting in place. I think fairly soon it will be as obvious to everyone in the UK as it has been in Italy that we will need lockdown of some sort. The spread will stop, as in China. It may take a bit...

OK, I had trouble finding information on it. It looks like the sort of serological test that is badly needed to establish who has had the virus. It would also indicate the likely usefulness of a vaccine. But I presume it is no use as a test to see if someone is actively infected - at least in...

I have been talking to my nephew Al about vaccines. It may be that something can be produced quite quickly but a lot of resources should be put into trying various tricks to find one that works. The best vaccines are live but harmless versions of a virus. I see no prospect of such an attenuated...

I don't see how you do a PCR test in 10 minutes. I can see no evidence for this being bona fide. We need journalists to focus on reliable facts not scoops.

I have scanned through the video. As far as I can see there is nothing there that is evidence based beyond the standard recommendations for washing hands etc. I think it is very disappointing when scientists put out stuff based on speculation as if it were official advice.

That is because there is no reason to think they are any use. There is absolutely no evidence for supplements being of value in the current situation or that people with ME need them unless they are eating a very poor diet or getting no sunlight (vitamin D). I also do not think there is any...

That is what a now large number of medical experts are saying. A few people are supporting the government position and of course there is huge pressure on anyone in a job in the filed to do so, but the majority of opinions agree with what you say. By Monday I suspect we may be nearly in line...

As someone has already pointed out, various things this afternoon made it seem to me that people are taking things into their own hands. The government has been left behind. Care homes are stopping all visits. The insurance industry is shutting down all foreign travel. And so on.

We are living out of town for now - near Felixstowe. The port is quiet. The warehouses shown on local TV are bare. The sky was totally quiet when we walked for an hour this afternoon. Not a single plane flew over and we are bang on the route east from Heathrow, Luton and Stansted, with normally...

They normally circulate in tiny water droplets. The droplets may be too small to get caught in filters even if they are used. I think that air recirculation systems may also generate their own droplets for viruses to hop on to.

I wouldn't worry. Vallance is not an immunologist. I don't think he has any basis for claiming that.

Worse than childbirth' Clare Gerada, a London-based family doctor and former chairwoman of the Royal College of General Practitioners, has tweeted that she is now recovering after an "unwelcome visit" from Covid-19. Dr Gerada described the experience as the "worst case of the flu I have ever...

Worse than childbirth' Clare Gerada, a London-based family doctor and former chairwoman of the Royal College of General Practitioners, has tweeted that she is now recovering after an "unwelcome visit" from Covid-19. Dr Gerada described the experience as the "worst case of the flu I have ever...

Could be recirculated air on planes, yes. But in several cases people seem to have brought the virus having been travelling by air but not from a place particularly likely to be a source. The other possibility is recycled air or catering in Business Class Lounges! That would be an interesting irony.

An interesting thing is that a far higher number of high profile politicians, actors and sportspeople seem to have been affected than expected by chance. I have a strong suspicion that airports are a major venue for spread. Maybe the penny will drop.