President Donald Trump on Tuesday predicted the coronavirus is “going to go away” despite warnings from Democrats that his White House is asleep amid cresting fears in Washington that the outbreak could spark a pandemic.
The President maintained his sunny optimism about the virus that is showing signs of spreading around the world from its Chinese epicenter and is already having a huge impact on global commerce.
Trump’s notorious ignorance continues to astound me … 
oh no, I’m so sorry Mags. Hope your nephew is safe.
Thanks Annie 
My nephew seems to be well at the moment, I hope he continues to be.
That’s bad news Mags but I guess he is young so should be fine …
Yes, he’s 17 Meg so hopefully he will be ok.
I feel so terribly sorry for all those people trapped in hotels etc. Tenerife is a place I know really well and we have stayed in hotels close to the one affected a number of times. While it’s nice for a few days of wintersun to be imprisoned there would be awful. Worrying about your flight home, what’s happening to your car at the airport, your job, your pets, your medication, all that other stuff and being stuck in a resort that was heavenly but is now a living hell. You can imagine that there would be no cleaning and what would happen to food and other needs? Such places soon become disgusting when not looked after if staff are in lockdown etc. So many people who go there this time of year are pensioners, but with half term there must be a fair few with young children. I hope that they can get home safe and sound soon.
With coronavirus now spreading through populations far from its origins in China, experts say it’s become a matter of when — not if — the outbreak becomes a pandemic.
That means it’s now time for us all to start preparing, according to University of Queensland virologist Ian Mackay.
“We need to be aware that we are probably heading for that pandemic even if the World Health Organisation doesn’t want to call it that yet,” Professor Mackay says.
“It’s just a matter of time.”
Travel bans and quarantine measures have had success in some parts of the world, but the virus has now started killing people in parts of Iran, Italy and South Korea.
Its highly contagious nature is making it difficult to contain.
The World Health Organisation defines a pandemic as “the worldwide spread of a new disease”.
It declared a global health emergency last month, but says it’s still too early to declare the outbreak a pandemic.
WHO’s director-general, Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, says the virus has pandemic potential but, right now, using the word “does not fit the facts but may certainly cause fear”.
But that’s likely to change if the number of cases keeps growing in Europe, the Middle East and east Asia.
Australia’s chief medical officer, Brendan Murphy, says even though the virus doesn’t appear to be spreading in Australia for now, “if there is a global pandemic, we will be prepared”.
Oh goodness Mags, I am so sorry to hear that.
Hope everything’s alright.
I tried to buy a some masks today ( I am in Australia ) I have already got two but thought I better stock up for my return journey
I was told they are sold out .
Did you try Bunnings?
Is that a pharmacist?
I was in one yesterday and they had masks near the checkouts Plus they sell industrial ones if you want real protection.
Thanks Bruce I will try and find one.
Announced today.
Officials in Japan have said that unless the virus is under control and cases have dropped dramatically, it may be necessary to postpone the Summer Olympics which are scheduled for May.
In the U.S., the C.D.C. has stated that the U.S. needs to be ready for a wide spread outbreak. C.D.C. said schools should be ready for mass closings, and that business should consider allowing employees to do business from home via the internet.
They said, "It is not a question of ‘if’, it is a question of ‘when’.
Furthermore, the C.D.C. said that this virus is many times more deadly than the common flu. 2.2% of deaths for the virus, compared to .1% for the flu.
The novel coronavirus COVID-19 is affecting 42 countries and territories around the world.
https://www.worldometers.info/coronavirus/
Individual cases in:
Afghanistan 1
Algeria 1
Belgium 1
Cambodia 1
Croatia 1
Egypt 1
Finland 1
Lebanon 1
Nepal 1
Sri Lanka 1
Sweden 1
Switzerland 1
Brazil 1
Austria, Croatia and Switzerland said the cases involved people who had been to Italy, as did Algeria in Africa.
The first positive virus test has been recorded in Latin America - a Brazilian resident just returned from Italy.
Italy has in recent days become Europe’s worst-affected country, with more than 300 cases and 11 deaths.
Health ministers from France, Germany, Italy and the EU Commission committed to keeping frontiers open at a meeting on Tuesday as new cases of the virus emerged throughout Europe and in central and southern Italy.
I don’t have a “team”, you obviously don’t understand that the word “Global” includes China who appear to be on top of their outbreak and the number of cases is declining faster than the cases elsewhere are increasing.
All the increase is outside China which is why the graph was clearly labelled “Total cases outside of China”. Get it now?
I don’t think I can make it any simpler but just for you I will repeat the two graphs with their clear labels:
I hope that helped you.
Latest state of play:
Diamond Princess
Cases 691
Recovered 10
Deaths 4
Critical 36
Australia
Cases 22
Recovered 15
U.K.
Cases 13
Recovered 8
USA
Cases 57
Recovered 6
Just to make it clear this graph represents GLOBAL cases including China:
This pie chart represents the cases OUTSIDE China.
You shouldn’t have much trouble, they are everywhere, I have two within 20km of me (in opposite directions).
The hardest part is finding what you want, they are massive.
“Britain has no reason to lock down”
Sorry, but IMO it has if it does not want this epidemic to spread across the whole country. Some schools in this area have already closed just as a precaution. Are these schools panicking?
Just as a matter of interest; what are the current quarantine rules for entry into Britain from China?
Australia has stopped the entry of all non citizens who have been in China within the previous fortnight and all flights from China have been stopped.
However they are talking about letting some Chinese students in on a case by case basis (The Unis are going broke!)
