After a week of deaths at a fairly constant level, the report today shows a 25% reduction although new cases remain at a level of almost 6000. You can check out the figure for yourself here
https://www.worldometers.info/coronavirus/#countries
However, the figures still show the UK as having the largest death total for the past 24 hours of anywhere in the world and this compares favourably with the USA total of just 1; having said that the UK figure keeps changing as presumably the figures come in piecemeal. Clearly the figures are very difficult to compare and when you look at how slowly the number of cases grows in the rest of the world, you could be forgiven for thinking that our figures are higher than those of everyone else simply because they are more comprehensively recorded. As we know, the UK figures still do not reflect deaths outside hospital.
How do the deaths drop while the new cases remain the same? Still it is a step in the right direction so we should be pleased about that but with the total deaths now shown at 16060 is there really any chance that the hoped for 20000 ceiling is going to be met? Given that deaths out of hospital are not included, it looks unlikely.
What these figures will do is to get everyone pressing the government to reveal its exit strategy; I just hope that they do not get panicked into lifting restrictions prematurely. No doubt the government will be making full use of the remarkable tracking potential afforded by mobile phone networks showing how people move around. The wonders of modern science!
Just moving on, it is sad to report that the UK’s artisan cheese industry is under threat. Rather than repeat it all, you can read about this here
https://www.bighospitality.co.uk/Article/2020/04/17/Future-of-artisan-cheesemakers-hangs-in-the-balance?utm_source=newsletter_daily&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=17-Apr-2020
People may not realise that the UK is now a big cheese producer and in fact has more varieties of artisan cheese than much of Europe. Visitors to different parts of the country can now frequently expect restaurants to offer a cheese board of “local cheeses” and contrary to popular belief, they are not all hard cheeses, but soft cream cheeses as well like “Somerset Brie” and so it goes on. Actually we do not need to buy cheese from overseas at all!
It would be sad indeed if our cheese industry were adversely affected on a long term basis. No longer do we have to rely on countries like France to be the major cheese suppliers and long may that continue.
Adrian Leopard 19-04-20
Photo Juliana Barquero