Scotland considering banning gatherings of 500+ people

FM not recommending closure of schools and universities at this stage, keeping under constant review

— Glenn Campbell (@GlennBBC) March 12, 2020

What and collapse the health service in the process and see the bodies stacking up. It wont look good.

The general public right now are starting to demand action...this will only increase.

No, isn't that the point of trying to spread the outbreak rather than having a severe peak?

If there isn't a vaccine for some time is it better to go through the whole thing again next year or get it sorted now?

I'm not saying the thinking is right but I can see the logic.

Romania's not part of Schengen, so I believe there is no restriction on flights from Romania or Romanians, unless they have been in Schengen over the previous 2 weeks. In other words, Romania is much the same as the UK and Ireland. Same also goes for Bulgaria, Croatia and Cyprus.

2 weeks or so of remote teaching then into the holidays which takes us through to April 20th

I know of one university that looks like following suit.

I can't see the pandemic being over by 20th April. What then for GCSEs, A Levels, University Final Exams? Postpone, run exams under quarantine conditions, or something else? The schools may not be properly open again until September.

HMG has found 500k to tell Africans not to drink bleach:

The UK government has announced an initiative to combat the spread of fake news about coronavirus in Africa and South East Asia.

The myths that it is aimed at debunking include that drinking bleach or rubbing mustard into your skin are cures.

The Department for International Development is granting £0.5m to the Humanitarian-to-Humanitarian Network for the initiative.

The international development secretary, Anne-Marie Trevelyan, said: “Misinformation harms us all. By tackling it at source we will help stop the spread of fake news – and coronavirus – worldwide, including within the UK.”

Some realism finally creeping in, but people should be mad as hell with the authorities across Europe - they did absolutely nothing to contain this outbreak - zip, zero zilch!

But finally some realism is kicking in:

"Austria has reported its first death of coronavirus - a 69-year-old man who died in hospital in Vienna.

According to local media, he had recently returned from Italy.

The country has also seen a rise in cases from 245 to more than 300 in the last 24 hours.

Chancellor Sebastian Kurz warned on Thursday that this number would rise to 1,000 within days, and then 10,000 a week after that."

HMG need to get this right this afternoon. Anymore pussy footing around is not going to look good. 

Those working in the media must see this virus as a real profit maker with their 'BREAKING' and 'URGENT' headlines. 

Don't forget the old favourite LOCKDOWN.

No sh1t Sherlock!

This from the BBC Website amused me:

 "E. Penny is due to go on a cruise to Spain and contacted the BBC to ask if cruising was safe. "

Ah bless!

Spain’s health ministry said the number of confirmed cases of the virus in the country had risen to 2,968, and that 84 people had died.

The new figures came as the two houses of the country’s parliament suspended all activities for a fortnight and Spain’s equality minister, Irene Montero, became the latest MP to be diagnosed with the virus.

All cabinet members are being checked for the virus after Montero, whose partner is the Podemos leader and deputy prime minister, Pablo Iglesias, tested positive. King Felipe and Queen Letizia are also being tested after the queen participated in a joint event with Montero last Friday.

All schools, nurseries and universities in the Madrid region have been shut until 23 March, and all gatherings of more than 1,000 people banned. Catalonia, Galicia, Murcia and the Basque country are also planning to shut down their educational institutions to try to halt the spread of the virus.

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What was the Spain count yesterday?

Our Mallorca trip at the end of April appears to be hanging by a thread.

The US might have done a big favour to Europe, as the US could easily be a major exporter of corona in a few weeks time.

691 new cases for Spain

clearly that has to happen, no way can they complete them