The point below about policing is a good one. The countries with the tightest restrictions have the lowest level of compliance while UK has one of the highest. The Government has admitted that it is amazed at the way the British public have reacted with 90% compliance-quite different from many similar countries that are around 80.

I agree entirely that plane and ship travel was not stopped when it should have been but trains including the tube in London and buses were worse. Several things could have been done differently but the issue was not just about minimising the virus, it was also about being seen to be fair. The vast majority of car journeys between homes were and are quite safe but were they fair to those without the opportunity?

irish - when u all come out of dens I don't think your immune systems will be in good shape when socialising again.  Constant lock down is not helping the future health of those stuck inside. I feel there will be many issues due to this approach.

I went for a long walk on the common yesterday and was surprised at how hard it was to maintain 2m distance even if you stepped off the path and let people pass (although often with an appreciative "thank you", which is always appreciated). It's annoying when you see groups of young people hanging about together as if everything is normal, but the thing that worried me most was people jogging, no doubt leaving a long trail of forcefully exhaled droplets behind them, running straight past me before I even had time to move out of the way or choose a different path.

I reckon people have got it wrong though - flattening the curve is the SOLE aim - the spread of this virus is pretty much inevitable until they come up with either a vaccine or a way to suppress the cytokine storm that leaves "developed" immune systems open to secondary bacterial pneumonia  infections (which I assume is what is meant by "CoViD-"related" deaths), so really all anyone can do is delay how long before they themselves catch it in the hope that herd immunity is reached first. Your own behaviour might affect the outcome in your individual case but the overall numbers will be the same everywhere at "n" deaths per million of population. And once the kids go back to school it's probably game over for everyone except hermits. People with any kind of susceptible pre-existing medical condition are going to have to completely isolate for maybe a year plus to have any chance of avoiding the ultimate gamble.

Not really sure what to make of the mask discussion. Maybe a mask will reduce infected droplets being exhaled, yet that could be off-set by the false confidence of others feeling they are safer. On the other hand if droplets and aerosols come onto your face your mouth and nose might be covered and, so long as you take the mask off carefully when you get home and use a fresh one each outing, it might be marginally safer, but no-one has been widely advocating wearing eye-protection in the street even though this is also a highly viable route of infection. The security guard at my local supermarket wears the full kit, comprising a full-face visor and nose-mouth cover with breather-filter, cos (almost unbelievably) I've seen him having to face people giving him verbal abuse at very close range, but the rest of the staff are using nothing much better then elasticated kitchen roll, if anything at all. Social distancing in the aisles is made almost impossible by the way most customers behave towards each other let alone the poor "invisible" employees who have to stack the shelves.

I guess the only people having the last laugh are those obsessive US "preppers" living in their back-garden bunkers stocked with a year's supply of baked beans, beef jerky and bog roll, lending credence to the phrase "When the sh!t goes downnnnn......you better be ready when the sh!t goes down".

fcuk off you bog eyed mick

The question needs answered - if NO vaccine then this Virus will still be about.  You cannot keep locking people up for months upon months.  This is going to cause more issues when they do eventually come out of their hibernation.

I always thought the paddies were the fick ones

A nd you moaned about chinas figures
Cant believe u k figures now