We may begin to learn the truth about Iran in the coming days and weeks:

"In Iran, the disease spread across the country from Qom while the authorities continued to insist the severity of the illness had been exaggerated by the West. A BBC Persian report at the weekend that more than 200 were dead was dismissed as propaganda by “the Queen’s broadcaster”. An exiled opposition group said 600 were dead.

In an indication of where it felt the truth lay, the WHO said it had arrived in Tehran via the United Arab Emirates yesterday morning with protective gear for 15,000 medical workers and laboratory testing kits sufficient for 100,000 people. The four-person team has been granted access for a week and will meet health officials."

- except that 100,000 testing kits won't be nearly enough.

Another 851 cases announced today by South Korea 5186 total.  As has been said they are testing far more than any other country. So their numbers will be the most accurate. 

It's actually 851

https://www.worldometers.info/coronavirus/#countries

FTSE and pound surging!

What's all the fuss about?!

Which is exactly why the Italian figures are clearly an underestimate - you only have to look at the ratio of deaths to confirmed to see that is the case.

One place to watch closely will be Africa. There is a theory that cases may level off during the Northern hemisphere summer on the basis that the virus does not spread so easily at higher temperatures. Africa obviously has higher temperatures all year round so the spread of cases there will be a good test for this theory. If the theory is correct, we might just contain the virus in  Britain and Ireland until the summer.

1) Central banks and the G7 are coordinating efforts

2) There's a feeling the market is oversold

3) There's possibly a whisper and hope that South Korea and Italy could be following a similar path to China

The key thing is the direction of travel. Italy appears to have been testing more in recent days and detecting fewer cases. However, I am not drawing any conclusions and from the outside the situation in the US does look to be a mess currently.

Look at these utterly useless [censored]praying for the #coronavirus to go. Fucking children voted in by simpletons. This medieval bulltulipsitting alongside space force Star Trek fantasy while everything goes tits up. Strange times indeed. https://t.co/exZDXi8H4o

— Irvine Welsh (@IrvineWelsh) March 2, 2020

America is just so weird. A corporatocracy crossed with a theocracy.

Robocop meets A Handmaid's Tale.

The reality is unless you have significant quarantining it will be impossible to stop or slow down. So economies will take a hammering this year. A world-wide recession is inevitable. 

One glimmer of hope is that viruses often lose their potency over time which should obviously help. Still unknown if this will happen with Covid19. 

Investors disagree. Markets surging. Let the good times roll!

One question is whether the figures coming out of China are accurate or not. If they are, we can have some optimism given that the rate of new infections seems to have fallen markedly.

Appears to be ramping up in Switzerland now:

"There are now over 30 cases in the military, with one confirmed in the army this morning.

This could be very problematic - since both new recruits and returnees are doing their obligatory stints in the military, meaning thousands of young men are living in communal barracks across the country.

There is no hand sanitiser anywhere in the country. Pharmacies have been licensed to make their own, but the ingredients have apparently run out too.

And all Swiss football league matches have been cancelled until the end of March"

We will find out soon enough if other countries that have major outbreaks and then virtually eradicate it with in a month then the Chinese numbers might be real. Seems unlikely but we live in hope and the virus is an unknown quantity and might behave completely differently to other viruses.

Would he be brave enough to make the same comments about another religion?

That's definitely not true. Measures taken have almost certainly already slowed down the spread of the virus. 

That’s interesting. Outside of China, what measures have slowed down the spread of the virus?

Someone sneezed on the packed tube carriage this morning. They were reading their paper, but they aerosoled everywhere.

It was filthy, people have no respect. I suspect in time London will become a hotbed for this virus sadly if people keep doing that in enclosed public spaces.

The quarantine in parts of Italy?

Italy's real numbers could well be 10x that we know of officially.  it's death rate is too high still and its exported it to over 30 countries. So numbers must be massive.  South Korea has the only believable numbers and I wouldn't say they have it under control. Daegu is pretty much under complete lockdown now and all Korean schools shut until March 23rd at least. That sounds quite significant too me. I'm not trying to be negative but we have to be realistic. 

Then he probably has a normal cold. Its someone coughing and looking hot and sweaty you need to keep away from

The U.S. is the biggest concern for me. get the impression that they are sweeping it under the carpet.