Originally Posted by OLD BOY

Very good, Hugh, but I don't buy it. When you think that one person coming into this country was responsible for causing this explosion of cases in the UK, there is no reason to suppose that the plateau will actually result in less cases than the peak. It will just mean that instead of a bigger rise in cases followed by a sharp fall, we will get a longer period of plateau, followed by a gradual fall. Some scientists think that there could even be several plateaux or mini-peaks as restrictions are eased.

So many people are underestimating the infectiousness of this disease and don't really grasp the principle of herd immunity. We are just buying time here so the NHS can cope. The virus will carry on infecting people until it has infected about 80% of us, many not knowing they have been infected.

The 'cure' will come when this has all fizzled out to a few isolated cases here and there.