Covid-19 discussion thread

[Lencoboy]

2 cases are now confirmed in the UK. It was a matter of time only.

At least they were speedily identified, which is probably a good thing, plus the affected individuals are reportedly self-isolating.

Funny how all this has suddenly blown up in a matter of just 2 days, unlike Delta and Alpha that had already been rumbling around for a while in this country alone before eventually spreading en masse.

Meanwhile, although it's Saturday where Wales' stats are skipped, confirmed cases have dropped from 50k yesterday to just 39k today, but today's dashboard cases are also down in all 3 other nations (England, Scotland and NI), plus deaths are also down today as well, so a kind of silver lining.

[Lencoboy]

At least they were speedily identified, which is probably a good thing, plus the affected individuals are reportedly self-isolating.

Funny how all this has suddenly blown up in a matter of just 2 days, unlike Delta and Alpha that had already been rumbling around for a while in this country alone before eventually spreading en masse.

Meanwhile, although it's Saturday where Wales' stats are skipped, confirmed cases have dropped from 50k yesterday to just 39k today, but today's dashboard cases are also down in all 3 other nations (England, Scotland and NI), plus deaths are also down today as well, so a kind of silver lining.

Also it will be mandatory for all persons returning to the UK from all other countries to take a PCR test on return, and continue to self-isolate at least until the result is negative, plus rules on face coverings in shops and public transport are about to be tightened once again, the latter in which I predicted all along (and quite rightfully so IMO).

[Phill2]

Same down here.

[Lencoboy]

A couple of media publications in the USA are already making a big deal over the first 2 cases of Omicron detected in the UK, despite cases having been already detected elsewhere in Europe beforehand.

It feels as if the UK is being 'singled out' once again, despite us allegedly being one of the first to take early action.

Yes, we were too slow to act with previous variants (especially Delta), but there's nothing stopping us all learning lessons from past mistakes.

[Carys]

No country should be smug about not yet having new variants, and where they appear - all will become global in due course.

[MyNameIsTerry]

All depends on their affiliation with political parties, Lenco. They are probably just playing to the home crowd just as ours do when slagging them off.

[Lencoboy]

No country should be smug about not yet having new variants, and where they appear - all will become global in due course.

It's as if some just love having digs at the UK period, no matter how good or bad we do things.

On other forums I frequently browse (but am not a member of) there's already a lot of venom between the know-it-all 'armchair experts' and 'keyboard warriors', ranging from 'another epic cover-up/screw-up from Boris and Co' to remarks about the current practices of quarantining those returning from SA, compulsory PCR tests of those returning from all other countries (and self-isolating until proven negative) and surge-testing in known affected areas being a total waste of time, as they believe Omicron has already been running riot in this country unknowingly for the past week or two.

Of course the latter may well be so (as already seen with previous variants), but it's unwise for members of the general public to jump to such conclusions at this stage, and spread rumours that might not actually be true.

Let's face it, as much as I generally despise Boris and Co, in all fairness, neither they nor any other govt in the world outside of SA were alerted to this current situation until Thursday, so they didn't in any way 'cover up' in this particular instance. Also the WHO were only officially alerted the day before (on Wednesday).

I seriously wish the average Joe Public would just get a grip and hold back from gunning for their fifteen minutes of fame at the first opportunity, which almost always happens with practically every other issue too.

[Pamplemousse]

Face coverings compulsory in shops and on public transport in England from Tuesday.

Expect a rush on sunflower lanyards on Amazon today then.

[Lencoboy]

Face coverings compulsory in shops and on public transport in England from Tuesday.

Expect a rush on sunflower lanyards on Amazon today then.

Why not tomorrow (Monday) instead?

[Pamplemousse]

Why not tomorrow (Monday) instead?

If it is to become enforceable in law, it will have to be approved and ratified by Parliament first; the first opportunity for that to happen is tomorrow.

In other news: https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/av/uk-59450988

Dr Angelique Coetzee, the South African doctor who first spotted the new Covid variant Omicron, says the patients seen so far have had "extremely mild symptoms" - but more time is needed before we know the seriousness of the disease for vulnerable people.