There is little evidence for this.

I would pay a lot of attention to what the experts are saying and I would pay no attention at all to what journalists and commentators are saying, who (as with Brexit) they are just parroting their ignorance.

Those accounts from Italy are scary stuff. I was slightly reassured by the link Saint posted last night but I'm leaning back towards Corporal Jones mode again now. 

The thing is that for most people it's a non event. They may get Covid-19, they may not. Most people think they'll be fine either way and they see the number of current confirmed cases as a very minute percentage of the total population. Not saying that view is right but that's the way it is.

try re-reading what I wrote..at no point have I dismissed CV as insignificant...and believe you me I am not blasé about it...not least from having been visiting elderly relatives in hospital almost on a daily basis...I have family and friends who are doctors and nurses...so am very aware of the implications that will no doubt result in the coming weeks......it is the hysteria though  that is causing people to act irrationally and fuelling  yet more  hysteria that then comes self perpetuating...I am not dismissing everything on Twitter...but the nonsense on there outways the sane rational posting....and in the meantime people are dying of sepsis, pneumonia, influenza...and old age...

Oh dear - this is from Sky News. Boris really needs to get a grip here.

The prime minister's spokesman has said the country remains in the "contain phase", but added the government has accepted the coronavirus will spread in a significant way.

If that is the case, why not try preventative measures now. Apparently at Heathrow there are still no checks from people arriving from Italy.

This is concerning:

"A pupil at a school in Warwickshire is self-isolating at home after being diagnosed with Covid-19.

The Rugby Free Secondary School said it had been given confirmation of the diagnosis by Public Health England (PHE) on Sunday.

The pupil had visited Italy over half-term and self-isolated for 14 days before returning to school, but then developed symptoms at the weekend."

- so he self isolated for 14 days before symptoms.

Both are true! The vast majority of people will just have mild symptoms; the problem is mainly for the elderly and also for overwhelmed local hospitals. Informed concern and planning is probably the right approach.

Let's hope that (like Wuhan in Asia), Lombardy will be the only area of Europe that goes through such an experience.

That is unfair on some of my colleagues - a lot of them have consistently provided calm and reasoned commentary. 

The person who shared the post on my Facebook wall, is a doctor here in the UK. I think it was me who first posted it to TWO. Not saying I agree or disagree with your comments about it, but just saying that for context. 

The fact of the matter is we are in a lose, lose situation. If we choose to take draconian steps (for example banning all flights, or closing our borders completely), a huge amount of misery and hardship would be caused to millions and millions of people in this country, with the potential of job losses on a huge scale, a deep recession, and severe disruption to the economy and society. 

If we choose not to take these draconian steps, there is also a fair likelihood of our NHS falling apart, and huge numbers of elderly people dying.

Also none of us are virologists. There is a strong chance that things will get as bad as Italy here in the UK, but also there’s a chance they won’t. 

I don’t envy the people who need to try and get the balance right.

No news so far on whether the chap at our work has Covid-19 or not but not sure whether they would actually say one way or the other anyway.

All soccer matches in French League 1 and League 2 will be played with a maximum 1,000 spectators until 15 April due to the coronavirus, the journalist Yohan Roblin from the French news channel LCI has reported.

It's a very difficult balance to get right, but I think that's disappointing. 

There must be Justin, by definition. 

I'm getting concerned that this could be worse than we even know.

There were reports of such long periods of incubation a while ago, which then got no attention.

A case of reinfection, which I never read anything more about.

The bloke on the cruise where doctors require 3 negatives before releasing... he got 2, but then tested positive on the 3rd. Why do they need 3 (though clearly they do!)?

This is not a normal kind of disease.

Some doctors in China were also asking for 3 negatives and a self isolation period longer than 14 days. 

After today's announcement, it is clear that HMG is prioritising the economy over delaying the spread of Covid-19. This is extremely disappointing news and shows very poor judgement at the top of government. It looks like they are content to let it rip.

I think it’s a real possibility that this virus has been around longer than we thought and has spread so widely due to the mild/asymptomatic cases and possibly the incubation period.  We’re finding cases now because we can trace back to the infected areas and we’re testing for it, but it’s likely to have already been passed on.  

In which case, it was always going to be difficult to contain due to international travel and whatever measures we’ve taken, the virus has always been one step ahead.  There’s been nothing to gain by closing the stable door.

In Italy, their first death wasn’t diagnosed until almost three weeks after the death, at post mortem.  By that time the virus had already been transmitted onwards and outwards.  I wonder why they tested that first death for the virus, no doubt because people he’d been in contact with, were showing symptoms.  So it was traced back but it means the virus was already at least three weeks ahead. 

or you could say they have far more information to hand then any of us do in order to decide what needs to be done.

I’m not that surprised, and I’m sad to say I feel like I now live in a country where senior politicians would also try and diddle the infection numbers if they were given the chance. 

Of course

My point is that we cannot really draw many firm conclusions from the currently available evidence. There is a risk of misinformation (accidental and deliberate). 

I am also still if the mindset that because of its nature it will spread almost irrespective of our actions and the best we can do is to mitigate that spread and prepare.