The COVID-2019 Thread

[David48atTD]

^ Beat me to it

Some may rejoice with this news ...


Australian Home Affairs Minister Peter Dutton diagnosed with coronavirus

Home Affairs Minister Peter Dutton has confirmed he has coronavirus.

Key points:

• Peter Dutton confirms he was diagnosed with coronavirus on Friday afternoon
• He will remain in hospital where he will be treated for the virus
• Mr Dutton was in Sydney for a Cabinet meeting on Tuesday, before returning to Queensland

The Federal Government frontbencher said he felt fine but woke up with a temperature and sore throat.

Home Affairs Minister Peter Dutton diagnosed with coronavirus - Politics - ABC News (Australian Broadcasting Corporation)

[harrybarracuda]

Oh what a bunch of wankers. As if the little locusts need another excuse to eat exotic animals.

This week, coronavirus cases in the UK surpassed 430, leading to widespread panic about the spread of the disease.The disease is known to cause a range of unpleasant symptoms, including shortness of breath, fever and cough.However, a new study has warned that the disease could also cause damage to men’s testicles.While this link is yet to be proven, researchers from Wuhan’s Tongji Hospital are urging male coroavirus patients to have their fertility tested once they’ve recovered.

Coronavirus 'may cause damage to men's testicles', doctors warn : The Standard

[David48atTD]

As DOW futures went positive from -4% there was a spurt at this end, never seen anything like it, stuff that was minus double digits went green within minutes.

I still don't feel we've hit bottom, could be fatigue overwhelming fear to boost sentiment.

Yep, I'm not jumping back in just yet.

[harrybarracuda]

Greece closing.

Greece in virtual shut down as the government announced a two-week closure of all the courthouses, theaters, cinemas, gyms, children playgrounds and nightclubs in the country to help control the spread of coronavirus. These new emergency measures come on top of the already-announced closure of all Greek schools, as 117 cases and one death were recorded in the country.

Coronavirus Latest Updates: Greece is Shutting Down | GreekReporter.com

[harrybarracuda]

March Madness has been cancelled. Well, replaced with a different version of March Madness.

NHL Postponed.

MLB will probably be delayed.

Sport is shutting down.

[David48atTD]

ANZAC Day soon.

Mass gathering of the elderly ... maybe cancelled for the first time.

---

Australia vs New Zealand match playing in empty SCG in bid to limit spread of coronavirus

[David48atTD]

Sydney Royal Easter Show cancelled due to coronavirus

"This is the first time the Sydney Royal Easter show has been cancelled because of a public health emergency since the Spanish flu pandemic in 1919," he said.


The show was due to begin on April 3 and more than 800,000 people were expected to attend the 12-day event.

[Stumpy]

Yep, I'm not jumping back in just yet.

No Way David. No where near bottom. It will be cyclic with false upticks but it will still trend down for some time

But it will be a good time to sink a few bucks into a moderate risk diversified portfolio

[harrybarracuda]

Click on the "Animate Spread" button and you can see how the virus has spread since the chinky bastards let it out of the bag.

Has anyone got a link for package holidays in the Falklands?


Novel Coronavirus (COVID-19)

[Klondyke]

What concern, anyway? The war(s) do not wait...

NATO exercises will go ahead despite coronavirus concerns, Stoltenberg says

Defender-Europe 20 involves more than 37,000 participants, including 20,000 troops based in the US




NATO will press ahead with large-scale military exercises mobilizing thousands of troops despite worries about the coronavirus, Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg told AFP on Wednesday, March 4.

The 29-member alliance has more than 20 exercises planned this year, and will take part in the U.S.-led Defender-Europe 20, which will see 20,000 troops deployed from the United States to Europe.

Stoltenberg said NATO was making contingency plans in case of a significant outbreak, but for now exercises would go ahead as planned.

“We are of course monitoring and following the situation very closely because this potentially has consequences also for NATO,” he said in an interview in Croatia’s capital Zagreb, where he attended a meeting of European Union defense ministers.

“No cancellation of exercises, but this is something we will assess as the situation evolves. We are ready to to step up the efforts and step up the measures we are implementing,” he added.

Italy – the European country worst hit by COVID-19, with more 2,500 laboratory-confirmed cases and 80 deaths according to World Health Organisation data for March 4 – is currently hosting NATO’s Dynamic Manta submarine warfare exercise, involving 10 allied nations.

It is also set to host a five-day electronic warfare exercise starting on Sunday.

Visitor access to NATO headquarters in Brussels has been restricted, Stoltenberg said, and military commanders have been given advice on limiting the spread of the virus.

“And of course we have plans in place for business continuity, if we, for instance, have many cases in the NATO command structure or NATO headquarters,” he added.

Vehicle decontaminated ahead of DEFENDER-Europe 20
A US Army reservist decontaminates vehicle at Sinton, Texas in preparation for DEFENDER-Europe 20, February 9, 2020. Image: US Army Reserve/Maj. Brandon R. Mace
Largest deployment from the US to Europe for more than 25 years
Defender-Europe 20 and six other linked exercises in April and May will see the largest deployment of U.S.-based forces to Europe for an exercise in the more than 25 years. The exercises will involve more than 37,000 participants, including 20,000 troops from the continental U.S. as well as 9,000 U.S. service members based in Europe. Around 8,000 soldiers from other countries will also participate in the exercise, including almost 3,000 from Poland.

With troop and equipment deployments underway since early February, Defender-Europe 20 takes place until June in six European states – Belgium, the Netherlands, Germany, Poland, Lithuania, Latvia and Estonia – all of which have reported COVID-19 cases.

According to World Health Organization data on confirmed coronavirus cases, Lithuania and Latvia have reported a single case each, Estonia has reported two cases and Poland reported its first case on Wednesday. Local transmission of the virus has been reported in the Netherlands (28 total cases) and Germany (196 cases).

Germany’s Health Minister Jens Spahn said on Wednesday that the coronavirus outbreak has “become a global pandemic,” and warned that worse was to come

Read more
NATO exercises will go ahead despite coronavirus concerns, Stoltenberg says

[thaiguzzi]

Dirty Farangs

The guy really is an embarrassment to this govt, and that is really saying something.
A complete loser, racist, xenophobic tosser.
So fits right in with Prayut and all his elitist cronies...

[Luigi]

The real number of people that just don't know they have it must be astronomical.

Don't think that 150,000 people around the world, with most of them in China, could statistically include such a high number of well known/famous people.

Tom Hanks and his wife.
Wife of the Canadian PM.
UK health minister.
Australian polo.
2 owners of European football clubs.
The manager of Arsenal.
One of Chelsea's players.
Aging One.
Italian international footballer.




It's just not possible.

[harrybarracuda]

The real number of people that just don't know they have it must be astronomical.

Don't think that 150,000 people around the world, with most of them in China, could statistically include such a high number of well known/famous people.

Tom Hanks and his wife.
Wife of the Canadian PM.
UK health minister.
Australian polo.
2 owners of European football clubs.
The manager of Arsenal.
One of Chelsea's players.
Aging One.
Italian international footballer.




It's just not possible.

Ultimately that might be a saving grace - herd immunity.

[David48atTD]

A spokesman for China's ministry of foreign affairs has lashed out at the United States' handling of the coronavirus outbreak, saying COVID-19 may have been brought into China by US soldiers

Key points:

• A prominent Chinese official has taken to Twitter to suggest COVID-19 started in the US
• China has taken umbrage with US politicians' references to COVID-19 as the "Wuhan virus" or "Chinese coronavirus"
• Asian-Americans have reported an increase in racist attacks amid the outbreak

Lijian Zhao, a prominent firebrand official with more than 300,000 followers on Twitter, took to the social media platform to suggest the origin of COVID-19 was in fact the United States, not China.

Coronavirus began in US, not China, Chinese official suggests - ABC News (Australian Broadcasting Corporation)

[harrybarracuda]

A spokesman for China's ministry of foreign affairs has lashed out at the United States' handling of the coronavirus outbreak, saying COVID-19 may have been brought into China by US soldiers

Key points:

• A prominent Chinese official has taken to Twitter to suggest COVID-19 started in the US
• China has taken umbrage with US politicians' references to COVID-19 as the "Wuhan virus" or "Chinese coronavirus"
• Asian-Americans have reported an increase in racist attacks amid the outbreak

Lijian Zhao, a prominent firebrand official with more than 300,000 followers on Twitter, took to the social media platform to suggest the origin of COVID-19 was in fact the United States, not China.

Coronavirus began in US, not China, Chinese official suggests - ABC News (Australian Broadcasting Corporation)

Stupid chinky c u n t.

The first case of someone suffering from Covid-19 can be traced back to 17 November, according to media reports on unpublished Chinese government data.


The report, in the South China Morning Post, said Chinese authorities had identified at least 266 people who contracted the virus last year and who came under medical surveillance, and the earliest case was 17 November – weeks before authorities announced the emergence of the new virus.

The Chinese government was widely criticised over attempts to cover up the outbreak in the early weeks, including crackdowns on doctors who tried to warn colleagues about a new Sars-like virus which was emerging in the city of Wuhan in Hubei province.

The data obtained by the Post, which the Guardian has not been able to verify, said a 55-year-old from Hubei province could have been the first person to contract Covid-19. For about one month after that date there were one to five new cases reported each day, the report said, and by 20 December there were 60 confirmed cases.

https://www.theguardian.com/world/2020/mar/13/first-covid-19-case-happened-in-november-china-government-records-show-report

[Chittychangchang]

Over the past 25 years, Thailand has experienced a spectacular economic crash (1997), a tsunami (2004), coups (2006, 2014), the occupation of its main international airport by protesters (2008) and serious political violence (2010).

Yet the statistics speak for themselves. In 1960 around 80,000 foreign tourists came here.

Last year it reached 39 million, earning more than $60bn (£46bn) for Thailand, and indirectly contributing around one fifth of the country's national income.

The country's tourism sector was considered so robust that the country got the nickname "Teflon Thailand". Yet of those 39 million tourists last year, more than 10 million were Chinese.

Image copyrightJONATHAN HEAD
Image caption
The streets of old Phuket Town are now as deserted as the empty beaches
So when the Chinese government quarantined the city of Wuhan on 23 January, and stopped all overseas tours, the impact was felt immediately in Thailand. Shopping malls and temples in Bangkok were suddenly much quieter and less crowded.

As more flights from China were cancelled, the airports emptied. You could whisk yourself through passport control in no time.

For small-scale entrepreneurs, the collapse of Chinese tourism has been disastrous.

Many of them, such as flower sellers, traditional dancers, and the drivers of the famous "red cars" minibuses in Chiang Mai, are reporting their income dropping by half over the past month. The informal association representing tour guides in Thailand thinks 25,000 people are now out of work.

Image caption
Nattakit Lorwitworrawat's business is now struggling due to a lack of customers
One of the first successes of Thailand's 60-year-long tourist boom was the island of Phuket, nicknamed the "Pearl of the Andaman" for its soft white-sand beaches and sparkling warm seas.

The first foreign visitors in the 1980s and 1990s were mainly European and Australian, but the number of Chinese visitors last year shot up to about two million out of the 15 million foreigners.

The mangrove-lined inlets on the east side of the island, a contrast to the beaches facing the west, are where the boats leave from to take tourists out to the islands offshore. Like many of Phuket's residents, Nattakit Lorwitworrawat moved here from his home town elsewhere in Thailand to start a business.

His company now owns 30 speed boats, each able to carry 30 people. He has had to take 20 out of the water, and the remaining 10 are not getting much use. The inlet, normally constantly noisy from the sound of outboard motors, is now silent apart from the birds and the lapping water.

At the peak two years ago we carried 1,000 clients a day. Today if we get 200 clients, that is considered very good - we would be very happy with that," says Nattakit.

He has bank loans to service on many of his boats. If the crisis goes on beyond the end of this year, he says he will have to downsize the company and start laying off his staff.

For those lower down the food chain it is even tougher.

Somkiat Prasarn has a mortgage on his little house, and loans on the van and car he bought to take Chinese tourists out on day trips around the island. He is supporting four children and an elderly mother.

His monthly payments on the loans, he said, are around $1,500 a month. Could he hold out for six months, I asked him? "I cannot, sir," he says. Right now he is getting no custom at all apart from the occasional airport pickup.

Image copyrightGETTY IMAGES
Image caption
Those tourists who are still are arriving in Thailand are being tested at the airports
"The government needs to help us and soon," says Sarayuth Mallam, vice-president of the Phuket Tourism Association. "We don't ask for much. But if they want us not to lay off staff, they have to help us by cutting or delaying tax payments, social security payments, and giving soft loans to businesses here."

Sarayuth also believes the powerful Tourism Authority of Thailand needs to start promoting Phuket aggressively in other markets outside China, like Russia, India and Australia. If they can control the virus in three months, he says, we can survive and come back.

But nobody knows how long this crisis will last, nor how serious it will become. For the moment there are still plenty of Europeans, Australians and Russians on the famous beaches, but for how long?

The authorities here have managed to control and monitor infections well considering how vulnerable it was from the number of Chinese people visiting before the restrictions on travel were implemented.

Yet the country has already been placed on some government lists of places to avoid because of coronavirus risk.

And people are booking holidays for later in the year, including the traditional high seasons of July-August and December-New Year in Thailand.

Families with children from Europe or Australia are likely to think twice before travelling so far. And Thailand is now imposing its own restrictions, requiring 14-day quarantine for visitors from some countries, a list that may well expand.

Image copyrightGETTY IMAGES
Image caption
Streets and shopping centres in Bangkok are much quieter than usual
Who will risk booking a holiday in the sun if they end up spending it confined to their hotel room or a hospital?

With more flights being cancelled every week, the numbers of non-Chinese tourists are bound to fall steeply this year, however quickly the virus is brought under control.

The blow to this essential leg of Thailand's economy has come at a terrible time for the government. Already the other two main legs of the economy - manufacturing exports and agricultural commodities - are wobbling as higher wages and an overvalued local currency have been driving investors to cheaper neighbouring countries like Vietnam.

Growth in what was once one of South East Asia's "tiger economies" has been anaemic for several years, and may stall completely this year. The government, an unwieldy coalition controversially built around the same military leaders who led the last coup, is proving clumsy and unpopular.

Coronavirus: Tourism in Thailand hit by Covid-19 - BBC News

[raycarey]

the board definitely needed another covid-19 thread.

[misskit]

Don't think that 150,000 people around the world, with most of them in China, could statistically include such a high number of well known/famous people.

I reckon it’s because they all fly and have the advantage of being tested quickly.

[misskit]

Thailand reports five new COVID-19 cases today – Thai PBS World

Diplomat from Philippines first known coronavirus case at U.N. in New York – Thai PBS World

[aging one]

Thanks for pointing those points out Chitty. Living here and following the news none of that has been mentioned at all..

By the way it's 9 degrees and cloudy in London..

[harrybarracuda]

Thailand reports five new COVID-19 cases today – Thai PBS World

Diplomat from Philippines first known coronavirus case at U.N. in New York – Thai PBS World

Today (13 March) Ministry of Public Health Statement on the outbreak of the Covid-19 disease Thailand found 5 more confirmed patients, two of which were in a group of friends who had joint activities that were confirmed yesterday, 11 people. The other three came from people who had just returned from plastic surgery in Korea.

ไวรัสโคโรนา : ไทยพบผู้ป่วยติดเชื้อเพิ่ม 5 ราย เพิ่มเติมจากกลุ่มเพื่อนร่วมสังสรรค์ และผู้ที่กลับมาจากศัลยกรรมที่เกาหลี - BBC News บีบีซีไทย


From your link:

The three others include a Thai woman who returned from South Korea, where she had plastic surgery and went out to enjoy an entertainment venue in Bangkok

I am sure the authorities are tracing the other customers and staff as we speak.

[harrybarracuda]

Spain 633 new cases today.

[misskit]

Hospital explains surgery on virus victim

Surgeons at Bangkok Hospital on New Phetchaburi Road in the capital could simply wait no longer to operate on the broken risk of a man who had recently returned from Japan and subsequently tested positive for Covid-19 infection, a hospital official has explained.


Panpit Suwangool, director of its Infectious Diseases Clinic, said on Thursday (March 12) that the man had returned from Japan two days prior to being admitted with a wrist broken while playing sports overseas, and it required surgery.

He was tested for Covid-19 and appeared clear of the disease, but was told to remain at home in self-quarantine for nine days, when he would be tested again. The result was again negative, Panpit said.

The surgical team could wait no longer and performed the wrist operation – clad in full protective suits as a precaution.

The man returned to self-quarantine and after 13 days was tested a third time, but this time showed a positive result, becoming Thailand’s 58th confirmed virus victim. He was transferred to a state hospital for further treatment, while 77 medical personnel at Bangkok Hospital underwent tests for the virus and others went into 14-day self-quarantine, Panpit said.


None of the hospital staff have shown signs of infection thus far. Panpit said no one being treated at the hospital for other ailments is at risk, since anyone admitted who has travelled overseas to an at-risk locale is taken to a separate, more secure building.

Hospital explains surgery on virus victim

[bsnub]

If you are under 60 and not a smoker or someone with respiratory problems then calm down.

Opps. I forgot I was posting on TD.

[HermantheGerman]

.... in Thailand where they are oblivious to their own filth and detritus that is so prevalent within any urban or rural Thai community distinguished by stinking, overflowing, blocked drains, poisonously polluted klongs, vacant lots acting as ad hoc rubbish tips, sois littered with bursting plastic refuse sacks ripped open by scabrous soi dogs, the stench of urine pissed by motorcycle/taxi mafia in trucs off any soi, practically anywhere, and the rats gnawing on the food remnants dispensed by the myriad food carts blocking the footpaths littered with any manner of spilled liquids feeding scurrying cockroaches the size of locusts.....Hepatitis A is endemic in Thailand because it is so utterly filthy and incapable of constructing a functioning drainage infrastructure......open air air markets selling raw meat, replete with rats and flies, and the backstreet kitchens preparing the day's doggy bag lunches are all monuments to public hygiene...

God ! And you live there ?

But the real kicker is of course most health professionals the world over do not regard face masks as a significant prophylactic against infection but the key word here is of course "professional"....

...and every idiot here on this forum (even non-professionals) knew that. Are you sure you know the meaning of significant ?