Once again Stephen Lewis has written an excellent article about the virus in Wuhan, this time about the use of phones to monitor people’s health (Lucky to be ‘green to go’ in city of 11 million, April 3).

The article led me to reflect on the differences between controlling the virus in China and here. It seems that the Chinese have four advantages over us.

First, their cities are divided into well-defined neighbourhoods under the control of government officials. Second, most urban Chinese live in blocks of flats, which are more easily controlled than rows of houses. Third, the ownership of mobile phones appears to be universal in urban China, which is not quite the case here. I, for one, am a Luddite who has no mobile phone. As Mr Lewis describes it, these phones are used to monitor everyone’s health.

And fourth, the Chinese endured the SARS virus in 2003, which has endowed them with an institutional memory of how to cope with a pandemic. We have no such memory in Britain, and are scrambling to find what to do.

I do not like China’s autocratic, authoritarian regime. But it seems that in the present pandemic, that regime has its advantages. Even better models for us are the regimes of South Korea and Taiwan. These regimes are democratic, but they have done even better than China in containing the virus. I wonder if Mr Lewis could write an article about their achievement?

David Martin, Rosedale Avenue, Acomb, York

Let’s hear it for bin men

Our refuse collectors are still doing collections.They don’t appear to have masks, only gloves. Let’s shout out our thanks to these great guys.

Barry Hamer, Thief Lane, York

Brexit is the last thing on our minds, Christian

The world is currently going through its biggest crisis in living memory but Christian Vassie still manages to bring Brexit into it (Letters, March 28).

Brexit might still be his number one priority but for the rest of the UK and Europe that’s the last thing on people’s minds at the moment.

Mel Burley,

Albion Avenue, York