News from Bronglais Hospital, the small but effective hospital in Aberystwyth in West Wales. Apparently there are now cases and community transmission there, the rumour mill goes. They are not testing by swab as the samples have to go to labs in Cardiff and the delay in results is simply too long. Instead they are confirming pulmonary obstruction by MRI scan. This is sad and absurd position to be in the UK. Community groups are springing up there, and people are putting gardens to seed. Photograph of daughter turning over garden with a shovel. This is a major first for the teen queen,

Another friend has volunteered for the new emergency field hospital Nightingale in London. He is routinely scared but not exposed to patients, and does have gloves and masks. He is very brave indeed. Apparently the central aisle is 750 meters long. It is a remarkable achievement. A young nurse dies in Watford at the age of 23. A very ill Boris Johnson is admitted to hospital as a precaution. He looks as if he has it bad and I would guess at at least mild pneumonia. 

News from India was that from 500 cases on 24th March, we see doubling over next in 5 days to 1000, then doubling in next in 4 days to 2000, and then doubled in 4 days to 4000 The trajectory we will be around 16,000 the day the lockdown ends.

A US doctor post the follwing on Twitter: The CDC admits there is a problem: “CDC report shows the % of deaths due to pneumonia not associated with flu has increased sharply since the end of February... This could be caused by COVID-19” This is the now almost shockingly absent CDC. Again, from Ransom on Twitter: 'A #RikersIsland inmate died today following complications from #coronavirus, according to sources. So far, 4 NYC correction staff have also died. 273 inmates, 321 correction staff + 53 health workers have tested positive for #Covid_19. Half of the jail population is quarantined.' Prisons are in crisis across the world, but in America the fate of over 1,000,000 seems in peril. This is just awful for them. In that country there are today 337,274 confirmed infections and 9,619 deaths from Covid-19, and yet with a levelling off in NYC Trump sees 'light at the end of the tunnel'. It is getting very bleak in other states and cities, with places like Houston and Miami tracking very badly. From the BBC tonight:

New Jersey, a state that borders New York, reported more than 3,000 new infections on Sunday, bringing the state-wide total to 37,505. There have been 917 coronavirus-related deaths in New Jersey.

The southern state of Louisiana - one of the hardest hit in the US - reported a 20% increase on Sunday with 3,010 new cases. It also reported 477 deaths.

Michigan - with the third worst outbreak in the US - has suffered nearly 16,000 cases and 617 deaths, officials said on Sunday. Detroit continues to be the state's major hotspot with nearly 5,000 cases and 158 deaths.

If this plays out the USA is in serious trouble and this has far reaching implications for that country's future and that of the present international order.