For a country that likes to depict itself as small and crowded (especially when talking about immigration), Britain is still markedly less affected by Covid-19 than many nations with more, ahem, breathing space.
Total cases in Italy have reached one per 2,400 citizens (as of 15 March). In Norway it’s a case for every 4,300 people and in France it’s one per 12,000.
Here in the UK, it’s still only one per 48,000 as the virus continues to take its time getting going despite the widely-criticised lack of action by the authorities.
I have family members in the NHS and armed forces. It’s clear that a lot of planning and preparation IS taking place for when numbers of seriously-ill Covid-19 suffers start rising.
Ferrari vs. Austin Princess
If the outbreaks in Italy and the UK were cars, it’s the former that’s the fast red one. New daily cases in Italy hit double figures (17 people) on 21 February and by 6 March, two weeks later, the number of new daily cases there was 45 times higher, at 769.
UK daily cases didn’t hit double figures (12) until 1 March. The number of daily new cases on March 14, two weeks later, was 28.5 times higher at 342.
If “doing something” actually significantly slowed the spread of virus, then we who did relatively little should, by rights, have had the worse time of it. That hasn’t happened.
QuadRanting 