Giuseppe Natalini, head of intensive care at the Fondazione Poliambulanza hospital in the northern Italian city of Brescia, one of the places hit hardest by the coronavirus, does not mince his words.

“The situation is catastrophic, unimaginable,” he said. “If someone had told me on February 21 [when the first cluster of cases was diagnosed in Italy] that today we would be in this situation, I would not have believed it.

“Two or three weeks ago I would have considered the strict measures that have been in place in Italy disproportionate and alarmist. Now, absolutely not.”

Italy had 17,660 coronavirus cases and 1,266 deaths by Friday. Natalini urged Britain and other European countries, feared to be two weeks or so behind Italy, to step up…

cdccf2fcf4932e92.jpg

**Ian Kenway** @iankenway@qoto.org · Mar 14, 2020, 23:15

**Ian Kenway** @iankenway@qoto.org · Mar 14, 2020, 23:15

Mar 14, 2020, 23:15

Ian Kenway @iankenway@qoto.org

#covid19 #coronavirus #pandemic #science #medicine #dying #death #funerals #wakes

6617ebf816d1dc6f.jpg

**Ian Kenway** @iankenway@qoto.org · Mar 14, 2020, 20:33

**Ian Kenway** @iankenway@qoto.org · Mar 14, 2020, 20:33

Mar 14, 2020, 20:33

Ian Kenway @iankenway@qoto.org

#covid19 #coronavirus #pandemic #science #medicine

Why does the coronavirus spread so easily between people?

https://www.nature.com/articles/d41586-020-00660-x

f86be145c281546e.jpg

**Ian Kenway** @iankenway@qoto.org · Mar 13, 2020, 16:00

**Ian Kenway** @iankenway@qoto.org · Mar 13, 2020, 16:00

Mar 13, 2020, 16:00

Ian Kenway @iankenway@qoto.org

#cornavirus #covid19
#coviduk #UK #NHS #herd_immunity #herd #immunity

Posted in The Guardian (live) byJosh Halliday at 15.41 local time

A councillor in an English village where one of the first UK cases of coronavirus was confirmed has described the government’s strategy of tackling the disease as “a crime against humanity.”

Samantha Flower, who is a member of Boris Johnson’s ruling Conservative Party and also a social care manager for Sheffield City Council, said: “I’m very concerned. They [the UK government] are saying they want as many people to get this disease to create a herd immunisation. But it won’t. My suspicion is that they don’t have the money for social care or NHS so that the weak and the old die.

“I’m saying that as a Conservative councillor and I don’t care if I get sacked. You judge a society by how they treat their vulnerable people. You judge leadership by how it treats its most vulnerable people.

“How do we care for them – by saying it would be better for pretty much everyone to get this disease when we know that our loved ones are going to die? It’s not okay.”

Flowers is a Conservative councillor on High Peak Borough Council and represents the Derbyshire village of Burbage, where one of the first known UK cases of Coronavirus was confirmed. Burbage primary school and a nearby medical centre were temporarily closed after a parent tested positive for the virus on 27 February, when just 15 cases had been confirmed in the UK.

She added: “We could follow the World Health Organisation’s advice and stop this now but the government’s chosen not to. Our prime minister has just said to us ‘your loved ones are going to die’ and that’s not okay. It’s abhorrent. It’s a crime against our country. We have the measures and capabilities to prevent this.

“I’m not trying to be an alarmist but the World Health Organisation has set very comprehensive guidance and we’re not following it.”