The Pope?

If that's true, then the fatality rate is going to be negligible.

We discussed this yesterday, but I suppose its about losing money for most people. If I had booked an expensive cruise I would probably not be willing to spaf a grand up the wall for something that might not happen

That is the positive side of the equation. The negative side is more troubling - if you visit a country with an epidemic (like Italy) you are more likely to catch it than otherwise. The case in the office I work for in Denmark is a case in point - I have the full details now - our colleague did not visit Italy himself, his wife went to Milan last weekend (just for the weekend, I don't know why and she was insane to go) - she fell ill on Wednesday and tested positive for corona virus - our colleague had been to work on Monday and Tuesday, so is likely to be infected himself and will no doubt have passed it on at work.

But this is the point - Milan is currently in the middle of a chronic epidemic and visiting for just a weekend is likely to give you the virus.

Worth a read:

There's a reason why you're so freaked out by the coronavirus

Financial Times  - not known for being sensationalist or panicky:

Coronavirus latest: Italy spreads virus faster than any other country

Here:

https://www.ft.com/content/a62d3886-7ed5-3429-9133-2cac28c6f0f0

And how the Japanese deal with the schools being closed: they open restaurants as classrooms .....

https://japantoday.com/category/picture-of-the-day/new-classroom

We had panic in 'Sintellins' yesterday as news swept through of a Coronavirus case here.

Some idiot - ignoring the advice repeated everywhere that if you suspect you might have the virus you don't visit your GP - rocked up at his GP saying he'd been to an infected country and had CV symptoms.

FFS!

The panic was compounded when the GP surgery, which shut for a deep-clean, put up a notice on its door explaining the surgery was closed due to a confirmed case of Coronavirus.

FFS! x2

Numerous reports that hoards of zombies were seen shambling around the town centre were later explained as the usual methodone addicts making their way to their usual begging positions.

Yes, I think the Italian outbreak has been mishandled both by Italy and European countries (including us).

This is the   problem,  Saint,   it only takes one "slopey fore-headed moron"  to wreak havoc in medical facilities.  Your really can't account  for the idiots

With respect to potential rioters (same category)   It's cold and rainy - they probably won't want to come out.  Also, I reckon the risk of contracting the virus  whilst rioting will  trump the prospect of a FOC shiny new telly.

May have to cancel going to community concert bands and orchestral rehearsals or concerts. So affecting me in a different way. 

No they're not. All the 10 quarantined towns in Lombardy are south east of Milan; the whole area is relatively low-lying in the Po valley. Vo Euganeo in Veneto is also in a valley, but near some hills.

The North of Italy (a region I'm very familiar with) has cool, damp and misty/foggy winters. They usually get some snow, but haven't had any this winter (much like us). These cooler, damp conditions are probably good for the virus to spread.

I'm convinced, as others have mentioned, that the warmer weather in Africa, SE Asia, India (away from the north) and Central America is helping keep the virus at bay, with any cases being imported, or transmitted in areas with extensive air conditioning. The latter might explain why Singapore had an inital glut of cases but Malaysia, Indonesia, Vietnam, etc. have hardly any.

I've got 3 women/girls living with me. We need a plentiful supply of paracetamol in my house.

I don't understand why the Government aren't insisting that anyone arriving from North Italy self-quarantines whether they have symptoms or not. At the moment they are only saying this for the 11 quarantined towns, which you can't get out of anyway as Police have blocked all the roads out, as you can see on Google Maps.

https://www.google.co.uk/maps/@45.1686975,9.6639246,13.02z/data=!5m1!1e1

The problem we have here is that there is a high proportion of 'slopey-foreheaded morons'

We can do better than this. I was reading about the cluster in Greece, a retired teacher who was part of the group who had travelled to Israel developed symptoms on Wed and he went to his local hospital by taxi, where he waited in the A&E for 2 hours before giving up and going to see a private GP. This despite the fact that the waiting room of the hospital had posters saying do no come/stay here if you have covid-19 like symptoms. His excuse was that Israel was not in the list of 'dangerous' countries.

The only place I would want to be if I fell sick with a virus is at home. I've had flu once in my life and lots of water and bed rest were the only things which helped.

Why anybody would go to hospital if they felt 'fluey' is beyond me.

Agreed, when you have proper flu - I doubt you'd even make it to the door without feeling dizzy. Obviously breathing difficulties are different and should be treated as such. Buy your right an A&E department has to be the last place you would want to be.

Big jump in new cases in Iran - 1,234 additional cases.

Wouldn't be anything to do with the WHO being there this week, with  100,000 testing kits would it?

I'm assuming the paracetamol mainly for you then!

Would explain why Wuhan authorities ended up putting security guards at hospital entrances back in January.