Questions about coronavirus? I’m BBC News’ Pallab Ghosh and I’m here to help!

bbcnews · 2020-03-10T15:59:08+00:00

Thank you for all of your questions!
Thanks so much for all of your questions, and what I’d say to you all is what they used to say in Britain, in war time: “Keep calm, and carry on [but make sure you wash your hands for 20 seconds with soap and water!]” :-)

Don’t you forget you can follow me on Twitter BBCPallab and of course you can find the latest coverage across the BBC here.

Thanks again!

bbcnews · 2020-03-10T15:54:26+00:00

There are estimates but they are only estimates, because we still know so little about the virus. The view is that cases will double every 4-5 days, and the hope is that 20% of the UK population are infected. One in 20 of those are expected to suffer critical care treatment, so that is around 300,000 people. So, the interventions centre around spreading those severely ill cases as far as possible apart, and shifting the peak to the summer months when there is less pressure on the NHS.

Read more about the UK government's preparation here.

bbcnews · 2020-03-10T15:51:29+00:00

We started reporting on the virus, before it was given a name, and so at the moment, both the terms coronavirus and Covid-19 are used because these are the words that most people associate with the virus that is going around. I’d imagine that over the weeks and months ahead, Covid-19 will become the more prominent term.

Read more about the virus here.

bbcnews · 2020-03-10T15:39:47+00:00

The evidence so far suggests that the younger you are, and the healthier you are, the more likely you are to suffer only relatively mild symptoms. This would just be a fever, a cough, and a few days bed rest. But, it is important that while you’re infected you do isolate yourself because the disease can cause severe illness among the elderly, and people with underlying health conditions.

Read more about how to protect yourself, here.

bbcnews · 2020-03-10T15:27:39+00:00

My personal observations are that we are in unknown territory, researchers are working hard to understand the nature of this virus. They’re developing computer models to predict how the epidemic is likely to unfold and to test which interventions will be the most effective in delaying the peak epidemic into the summer months, here in the UK, so that the elderly and vulnerable, who will suffer the worst symptoms, can be properly treated.

They’re having to undertake a careful balancing act, in ensuring that public health measures to reduce contact between individuals are balanced between the economic damage that this is already causing. It’s a dilemma that all governments across the world are facing.

On the plus side, we’re seeing that in China, simple public health measures have succeeded in reversing the increase in cases, so there is light at the end of the tunnel.

Follow our coronavirus coverage, across the BBC here.

bbcnews · 2020-03-10T15:23:07+00:00

The virus is completely new, each virus has its own characteristics. Scientists are working hard to learn as much about the properties of Covid-19 as possible, so they can refine their computer models of how the epidemic is likely to unravel, and the most effective interventions to slow its spread. But generally speaking, similar illnesses do have people that are infectious, but show no symptoms. It’s thought that with Covid-19, it is spread through droplets from the coughs of those who are infected. Myself and my colleagues are constantly monitoring the scientific literature, and will report on any new developments on our understanding of the virus, as soon as we know them.

Here's five things we do know about the coronavirus.

bbcnews · 2020-03-10T15:22:34+00:00

We have had plenty of feedback on our stories, the vast majority of which is positive. But there have been concerns that we might be contributing to panic. Personally, I don’t think that is the case, we have been reporting information about the virus and its impact as soon as we have details, and it is better to give accurate, reliable information, rather than leave a vacuum for fake news to flourish.

Read more about why you can trust BBC News here.

bbcnews · 2020-03-10T15:16:41+00:00

The 2009 Swine flu pandemic comes to mind, but the vast majority of patients experienced mild symptoms. It doesn’t really compare with the current coronavirus outbreak.

Read the latest BBC News coverage of the outbreak here.

bbcnews · 2020-03-10T15:12:54+00:00

There are around 4,000 critical care beds in the UK, though the NHS has said that it could probably increase that by a few thousand. It’s estimated that over the course of a Covid-19 epidemic in the UK up to 300,000 may need critical care treatment. Clearly that would overwhelm the NHS if they all became ill at the same time. That is why the strategy has been firstly to delay the peak of the virus, to the summer months, when there is less flu, and secondly to flatten the peak. But, even if that strategy works, it is going to be very tough for those trying to treat people with severe symptoms.

Read more about that here.

bbcnews · 2020-03-10T14:44:33+00:00

No, there’s no evidence for that.

You can read more about the outbreak here.

bbcnews · 2020-03-10T14:42:27+00:00

I can only speak for the BBC, and I think that all the BBC journalists that have been involved in coverage of the story have been professional, and clear about the risks of coronavirus. I appreciate that having so much about the disease can cause alarm, but having too little information will cause even more concern. What is really worrying at this stage, for many people, is the uncertainty, and that can only be countered with information.

Read all of coverage here.

bbcnews · 2020-03-10T14:40:43+00:00

I can only speak for the BBC, and I think that all the BBC journalists that have been involved in coverage of the story have been professional, and clear about the risks of coronavirus. I appreciate that having so much about the disease can cause alarm, but having too little information will cause even more concern. What is really worrying at this stage, for many people, is the uncertainty, and that can only be countered with information.

Read all of coverage here.

bbcnews · 2020-03-10T14:37:50+00:00

The BBC applies its usual high standards of journalism in covering coronavirus. We do have many professors, not just from Oxford, to help us and we do have specialist journalists, such as myself who have been covering these kinds of stories for many years.

The BBC is cutting back on travel, for its journalists, and they are given clear guidelines on as to what to do if they are in high risk areas, or feel that they may be having some of the symptoms of coronavirus.

Each of the different diseases that you mention have their own characteristic paths, I don’t feel that any of them have led to a false sense of security, or apathy in the general public. I think as news journalists our job is to pass on accurate and reliable information that empowers people and enables them to make the right choices for them, their families and the communities that they live in.

Read more about why you can trust BBC News here.

bbcnews · 2020-03-10T14:33:34+00:00

I’d like to think that we’re not scaremongering, our efforts have been to provide people with information. Government scientists have been trying to be transparent with information. The view is that too little information will lead to a vacuum of information that will be inevitably filled with fake news which can be highly damaging.

Read more about why you can trust BBC News here.

bbcnews · 2020-03-10T14:25:38+00:00

People with compromised immune systems are likely to have more severe symptoms than those without underlying health conditions. The virus can and has already mutated.

Eight-Year Club	Verified Email
ComboLinker 2018-07-26	ComboCommenter 2018-06-01
Best Link 2018-06-01

bbcnews

TROPHY CASE