Jareth

The government have said testing is the exit plan, so too the WHO. Cases brought down, tracking app to see folks movement - then testing - all of those need to be in place - without testing, the app won't work, the cases will rise again needing another lock-down.

Got to drink whatever you can get your hands on, it's a pandemic after all.

Ok one more. 20th March - British firm behind £6 DIY finger prick coronavirus test which detects antibodies in the blood and 'is 98% accurate' claims its offer to make 500,000 of them a week for the NHS has fallen on deaf ears https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-8134983/Accurate-6-Covid-19-test-attracted-tentative-Government-interest.html Over 3 weeks later having botched procurement from China (lack of scrutiny by politicians appears to becoming a regular thing - questions like "does it work?" before announcing it) 8th April - The health secretary, Matt Hancock, will ask industry leaders to help the UK find an antibody test that works. Hancock will issue the plea on a conference call on Wednesday, echoing his call for help on ventilators [BUT WHAT ABOUT DYSON????], after the government conceded that none of the antibody tests it has are good enough for mass usage. Biotech companies will be asked to help identify and mass-produce a fingerprick test that is accurate enough to offer to the general population to see if they have had coronavirus. https://www.theguardian.com/society/2020/apr/08/health-minister-defends-uk-coronavirus-testing-approach-chris-whitty-germany-covid-19#maincontent

I'm asking the government to tell it straight, these are serious times. Spin and deflection worked great for them during Brexit, not now. As said, I'll wait and see how many folks are cheering their stewardship when we're still all stuck at home in June, and needn't be.

100% - and to anyone happy with government performance at the moment, sobering reminder - we only exit lock-down with mass testing in place. That 100k tests by the end of this month is vital if we are to resume daily life. Folks can forgive and excuse those politicians who sought power their entire life, but they are in the driving seat now - how long are we going to say it's ok? Another month? Another two months of lockdown?. I'll be very happy to change my tune when they get this testing in place, when they said they would.

A week earlier on the 18th March - "Game-changer" "in-house". No 'subject to it working' or 'it's coming from china'. Not least the 25,000 test promise - nearly a month ago, and we are not even there yet. Mr Johnson said: “The great thing about having a test to see whether you’ve had it enough, is suddenly a green light goes on above your head and you can go back to work safe and confident in the knowledge that you are most unlikely to get it again. “So for an economic point of view, from a social point of view, it really could be a game-changer. “You can really see the potential of that advance, which, as I say, is coming down the track.” Sir Patrick added: “That’s progressing very fast, Public Health England are looking at this today. “They’ve got a test in house they’ve got going and we’re looking at ways at getting the much more widespread version out. “It is a game-changer. And the reason it’s a game-changer is that it allows you to understand the proportion of the asymptomatic population – who’s had this disease, but hasn’t had symptoms. “Going forward it’s going to be critically important to be able to monitor this disease well because only by being able to monitor it can we start relaxing measures again.” Earlier on Wednesday, the Government announced that it would be ramping up its testing efforts, carrying out 25,000 coronavirus tests per day. https://www.oxfordmail.co.uk/news/national/18315890.game-changer-coronavirus-test-reveal-disease-no-symptoms/

Nope, day one we were told clever bods at Oxford had created a test. Next day we were 'buying' millions and its a game-changer - it was not cleared up at that point who from or what had happened to the previous day's news about Oxford. All I'm doing here is calling out spin and PR tactics from a government at a time of crisis - they have numerous opportunities to be straight with people - they choose not to be.

Sold to us as the 'game changer' - 3.5 mill on the way. Nothing about 'subject to accuracy' - they could have said that up front if not so quick to spin it. This was immediately shot down by suppliers of the ingredients in the UK They built cubicles and beds inside an existing building but sold it as on par with the Chinese building from scratch. Also credit the army - not the government on that one. It absolutely should - they set it - they have sold it to us - they need to stick to it. Where does the buck stop if not them?

Or (directed at government and not a snarky reply to you) - they could be transparent about the statistics, the science and the plans they have put in place. They are concocting numbers, as has always been Johnson's team's forte - to cover incompetence.

We yesterday asked the US of A for 200 ventilators - and in Feb/March missed 8 meetings with the EU ventilator scheme to get in on a few thousand, as it would upset Brexiteers. Dogma over lives.

Oh for sure - that's what makes me think they are flailing, someone is not across the detail of what ministers are saying - Hancock is absolutely desperate to have something to promote to show how in control they are - same happened with the selling of the 3.5 million tests ready to be handed out by Amazon - sell sell sell, then oh balls we f*cked the dog again. They are quite a divided leadership team - whether it's scientists disagreeing with each other, ministers listening to the loudest scientist but not asking the right questions themselves, prepping for a flu pandemic and realising too late it's not flu, ministers feuding over who's going to take the blame - and of course an incapacitated PM as out of control as he ever was.

Government have been promising 100,000 tests per day by end of the month. Remember this figure in 3 weeks time, it won't even be a quarter of that.

With Chris Samba up top, rubbing himself with donner meat