Closed pubs is not, and should not be an issue. Close them down for good I say, as they are nothing but a scourge on decent society. 

Not to dismiss the fact that the global contagion is rising ever faster, but the global mortality rate, in terms of percentage, is actual very slightly down from yesterday, from 4.15% to 4.08%, which is the first daily 'drop' I have seen so far. Hardly indicative of anything except, hopefully, a start in the slowing of the upward trend. 

Hopefully they are very good but by delaying them Boris has the chance to close down London pubs.

Deaths in Spain reach 1,000

Cheers to getting Coronavirus! pic.twitter.com/wMFULgnZfW

— *****Morgan (@piersmorgan) March 20, 2020

Exactly Quantum - some don't seem to appreciate. A little bit of the Blitz spirit goes a long way - indeed it is the best way to get those inconsiderates out of Wetherspoons.

Which left 30,000 dead. In Poland WW2 deaths were about 6 million. Then we wonder why some foreigners get nauseous hearing about the unique and terrible suffering the brave Brits endured in their "blitz". 

Victor will be disappointed. 

Fortnums will have to do then.

Eh? To applaud this country standing alone against the Nazi regime, does not diminish in any way the massive endurance and suffering of others.

Your comment simply does not compute.

Anyhow, interesting article here:

https://www.realclearpolitics.com/articles/2020/03/18/beijing_fears_covid-19_is_turning_point_for_china_globalization__142686.html

"...

The communist government instead is claiming that it has largely controlled the epidemic, even as it suspiciously now blames “foreign arrivals” for new cases of virus. Leaked video from China shows huge lines at a hospital in Chongqing, for example, raising questions about just what is happening around the country.  

What Beijing cares about is clear from its sustained war on global public opinion. Chinese propaganda mouthpieces have launched a broad array of attacks against the facts, attempting to create a new narrative about China’s historic victory over the Wuhan virus. Chinese state media is praising the government’s “effective, responsible governance," but the truth is that Beijing is culpable for the spread of the pathogen around China and the world. Chinese officials knew about the new virus back in December, and did nothing to warn their citizens or impose measures to curb it early on.  

..."

I agree the situation in China is very interesting. The only thing I would say is they found it impossible to keep the original outbreak under wraps. If a second and bigger wave is now happening how on earth will they be able to prevent news about it leaking out?

Everyone seems to be missing the point here. It doesn't matter if patriotism is rational, logical or even xenophobic. What matters is that it seems to have been, in the past, a decent enough way to get the entire nation working on the same team. That is the only thing that matters now because clearly we are not on the same team. Wartime spirit is absolutely necessary because it works.

39 more deaths reported in England. I think that's a 34.5% increase on yesterday.

Surge in coronavirus patients in Harrow causes a major incident to be declared.

https://www.hsj.co.uk/news/hospitals-critical-care-unit-overwhelmed-by-coronavirus-patients/7027189.article

Don't get me wrong - China has made huge strides in containing the virus. We just have to have a very healthy scepticism about Chinese statistics and Chinese propaganda.

Their headline figures are ludicrously low and while they have contained the virus, their epidemic is by no means defeated.

No thanks. You extinguished any vestige of patriotism in me with your sh1tty f4cking Brexit. This is no longer ‘my country’.

The virus doesn't care what you think about brexit.

Some EUphiles simply cannot let go.

Anyhow - more from the China article:

https://www.realclearpolitics.com/articles/2020/03/18/beijing_fears_covid-19_is_turning_point_for_china_globalization__142686.html

"...

On the trade side, many foreign corporations already have been reconsidering their operations in China, due to rampant intellectual property theft and rising production costs; now, they may seriously question how safe it is to continue to do business in China. Not only is the health of their employees at risk, but they no longer can be assured that China will be a stable supplier. If coronavirus becomes a seasonal phenomenon, as some experts predict, then even with a vaccine, new strains of the pathogen will always raise the specter of another out-of-control epidemic overwhelming the party-state’s capabilities and infecting the rest of the world. 

More broadly, the pandemic of 2020 has brought doubts about globalization into the mainstream. Decades of open borders, unceasing intercontinental travel, study abroad, just-in-time inventory systems, and the like have created unexpected vulnerabilities in populations and economies thanks to unfettered openness. To worry about such weaknesses is not to adopt a Luddite reactionary stance, but to try and salvage the bases of the post-World War II global economic architecture.  

Those who assumed that global markets were the optimal economic model and would always work, now have to consider whether globalization is the best system for dealing with pandemics like coronavirus, let alone old-fashioned state power plays like China imposed on Japan back in 2010, when it blocked the export of rare-earth minerals over territorial disputes in the East China Sea. Perhaps the biggest long-term economic effect of coronavirus will be on long-standing assumptions about global supply chains. 

..."

​Spain hopes to 'flatten curve in two weeks'

Quote

We reported earlier that Spain had become the fourth country to register more than 1,000 deaths from the virus. But the country's Foreign Affairs Minister Arancha González has said the government hopes to flatten the curve of infection "within two weeks". "That’s the prognosis we're working with at the moment," she told the BBC. "It will rely on a co-ordinated approach and responsible behaviour from our citizens."

"That's our hope and that’s where we're putting all our energy. Our entire country is embarked in a fight." Ms González also reassured Spaniards that there was a sufficient supply of equipment. "We have a good stock of products and are purchasing more medical and sanitary equipment," she said.

15:46 - https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/live/world-51969508

​

New York ahead of London now. Remember that Tim Martin wants to keep his pubs open.  

#BREAKING: I will sign an Executive Order mandating that 100% of workforce must stay home, excluding essential services.

This order excludes pharmacies, grocery stores, and others.

— Andrew Cuomo (@NYGovCuomo) March 20, 2020

I've let go - Brexit happened. It is done. I accept it. I just checked out of your little nationalist jizzfest as a result. Perhaps the right wing should have considered the consequences of their actions upon national pride before foisting their rupture with all things European upon us.

Chickens and roosts spring to mind.