And about 66 million haven't been tested, and even if you're at home with a mild or moderate illness you are not GOING to be tested. The likelihood is that the number of infections is far higher than the positive tests suggest, and that we'll never know the true extent of that number. The only useful figure is the total number of deaths caused by the virus and the rate of change of that number. That is at least a partly useful number for comparing us with what's happening in other countries, though numerous other factors also need to be considered to do with demographics, age profiles, living conditions, quality of reporting and the condition of the medical services. Extrapolating data to come up with "death rate" numbers under these circumstances is pointless and downright unscientific. Comment is free but facts are sacred.

I worry that thousands of people who have mild or moderate symptoms, which we're told will be the case for most victims, will either not associate their symptoms with this disease or will keep it to themselves in order to avoid long lockdowns in their lives. The government in this country, helped in no small part by sensational tabloid headlines, has engendered a climate of fear among elderly people by apparently proposing that over-70s should be put under what amounts to house arrest for months on end. I hope that won't happen, and there's little doubt that the interests of the elderly are coming a poor second to the political need to sweep the devastation meted out by ten years of Toryism to our NHS under the carpet, which would become all too clear if many elderly patients were ill. Seems to me that that's going to happen anyway.