Coronavirus outbreak

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Cycleops

Legendary Member
Location
Accra, Ghana
Very, especially as the cause has yet to be identified. Must be terrible to be living in Wuhan. This is what the BBC reported:
Residents have been told not to leave. Worried about a food shortage, one said it felt like "the end of the world".
 

nickyboy

Norven Mankey
My friends in China are worried. Everyone who wanted to leave Wuhan for New Year (it's tomorrow) will already have left. Estimate is more than 1million have left Wuhan for other Chinese cities.
CNY is the most popular holiday season in China with thousands of Wuhan residents going to places like Thailand. Although flights are cancelled out of Wuhan it's easy to travel to a nearby airport and take a flight from there
I think the next couple of weeks are key. Really the run up to CNY is the worst possible time for spreading the virus
 
One of the things scientists are worried about is the way in which viruses can be spread so rapidly these days with air travel .

The Spanish Flu of 1918 which killed millions died out at one point before mutating and spreading again . They think that because travelling was a lot slower in those days that the infection was confined and died out before reaching other people .
 

nickyboy

Norven Mankey
Friends in China telling me this morning that since 10am local time nobody is allowed to leave Wuhan, even by private vehicle
This isn't being reported in UK yet

So this stops Wuhan residents leaving. But the problem is the million or so who left in the past week to head home for CNY
 

cookiemonster

Legendary Member
Location
Hong Kong
The authorities here in Hong Kong are on full alert for the virus. The newly opened high speed rail network, which links Shanghai, Beijing, Wuhan, Guangzhou and Shenzhen to Hong Kong is the focus of the attention this weekend, Chinese New Year. There's already been a scare this afternoon - https://www.scmp.com/news/hong-kong...na-coronavirus-panic-sweeps-through-hong-kong

Cathay has cancelled all flights to Wuhan and Wuhan has essentially been shut down. The city is twice the size of London.

There has been 3 confirmed cases in Shenzhen, which is just over the border from us here in Hong Kong and thousands cross the border daily by various means of transport.

The issue that the doctors are worried about is what they call 'Super Spreaders.' People who are carrying the virus but are not suffering any effects but can pass it on to others. And, of course, the fact that people have been travelling for CNY since Tuesday when the schools started to break up.

Everyone here is wearing a face mask. Too many bad memories of the 2003 SARS epidemic.

https://www.scmp.com/news/hong-kong...0/china-coronavirus-hong-kong-widens-criteria

*edit* Just been announced that the neighbouring city to Wuhan, Huanggang, will also be shut down from midnight local time tonight, about 6 hours from now.

https://news.rthk.hk/rthk/en/component/k2/1504458-20200123.htm
 
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cookiemonster

Legendary Member
Location
Hong Kong
If or should I say when it gets over here will the NHS be able to cope

To their credit, the Chinese authorities are handling this very well but it's come at a bad time, Chinese New Year when a country of a billion and a half people are on the move.

How the NHS will cope IF it comes to the UK is anyone's guess.
 
To their credit, the Chinese authorities are handling this very well but it's come at a bad time, Chinese New Year when a country of a billion and a half people are on the move.
During the SARS crisis, also a coronavirus strains from civet cats, the outbreak was denied for weeks. This time around the Chinese authorities came out fighting and fast. I remember this warning that central govt issued a few days ago to all local medical and hospital authorities - anyone who conceals cases will be "nailed to the pillar of shame". Wow!
 

rualexander

Legendary Member
Is it any worse than the annual 'flu season though?
Thousands of people die from getting 'flu every year.
So far only a small number of people have died from this new coronavirus, and most were in the usual vulnerable categories.
 

Beebo

Firm and Fruity
Location
Hexleybeef
If or should I say when it gets over here will the NHS be able to cope
I’m sure they are as prepared as well as any other western health service. See how they managed the Ebola patient last time. But I doubt any health service could cope with a pandemic that affects 20% of the population.

The worry as always are the less developed countries that simply can’t cope.

Will it be like SARS and fade away. I hope so.
 

vickster

Legendary Member
Is it any worse than the annual 'flu season though?
Thousands of people die from getting 'flu every year.
So far only a small number of people have died from this new coronavirus, and most were in the usual vulnerable categories.
And globally around 135k die from measles a year, a preventable disease :sad:
 

RoadRider400

Some bloke that likes cycling alone
Is it any worse than the annual 'flu season though?
Thousands of people die from getting 'flu every year.
So far only a small number of people have died from this new coronavirus, and most were in the usual vulnerable categories.

Thats just the thing, we dont know. Unlike the Ebola outbreak where those infected died very quickly, and had fewer transport links this virus could be the perfect storm. We may have a situation where lots of infected people could potentially have left the epicentre to travel around the globe without even knowing they had the illness. As has already been said; the next few weeks are going to be key.
 
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