International COVID-19 Megathread

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LOL @ the mayor of Wuhan.

He doesn't even know how many people are in his city.

Wuhan has 11 million people, not 14 million.

Wikipedia is blocked in China. He simply lacked info.

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I'm temporarily sticking it.

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47 suspected cases in Poland, but none confirmed. The government is claiming "full preparedness", but articles such as masks are pretty much unavailable at this time after the first panic rush.

The Left's presidential candidate, Robert Biedroń, announced he decided to visit China with his partner soon, despite warnings issues by the Foreign Ministry and the chief sanitary service. He said "it's cheap now, because no one is flying there" and "we're not scared, but one must be careful".

A highly visible public figure flagrantly ignoring the official travel warning to a country where the epidemic originated is... pretty irresponsible to say the least. But hey, it's cheap
 

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Coronavirus claims the first Iranian MP. Can't really find which side this guy sided.

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Well, seems like Corona beer is getting a lot of free promotion.

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Kind of disappointed I'm the one to offer you an update on the single most important country on earth, which is Poland.

We've went rather quickly from first confirmed case on March 4 to 31 at this very moment, with no deaths so far.

At first the geographic locations provided for some amusing memery, as cases were only recorded on the so-called Recovered Territories, but it's spreaded beyond now. Measures, such as cancellation of large public events and shutdown of major universities were taken, but the panic is increading with obligatory mass buyout of a toilet paper, because idiocy transcends nations and borders.

Of course the Episcopate once againg reveals itself to be full of irresponsible idiots, deciding to go up with the number of masses.

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It's now 51 confirmed cases, 317 suspected cases and the first death.

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Day 10 since the the first case was established in Poland:

103 confirmed cases
521 suspected cases
3 deaths
13 recoveries

As far as I know, the dead ones were, predictably, older people with additional illnesses.

Oh, and we are on the right track for toilet paper to become more valuable than gold

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Seen at a Vienna supermarket:

Next winner of the Darwin Award?

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It currently stands at 177 infections and 4 deaths. Not a big increase since my last post.

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221 confirmed cases
833 suspected cases
5 deaths

We also have the first recovery, that of the first patient.

We're expecting the pandemic to reach its' height in about 2-3 weeks.

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EU is shutting down borders now. Germany wants to implement to measure immediately. Federal government is currently looking for ways to get travelers home, who are German citizens.

221 confirmed cases
833 suspected cases
5 deaths

We also have the first recovery, that of the first patient.

We're expecting the pandemic to reach its' height in about 2-3 weeks.

Wow, that's a fast rise in Poland. Today, I read the Polish minister for environment is also infected.

Rest of the government has been tested, and all came back negative.

Duda, with his "inspecting" hospitals is literally asking for coronavirus right now. Not to mention disorganizing life for the medical personnel and patients. The man never had an ounce of responsibility and propriety.

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I have to say I'm somewhat pleasantly surprised. Aside of panic-buying toilet paper when the news about coronavirus hit, the people, from what I've seen or been told, are largely behaving pretty responsibly in observing the restrictions.

On other news, there's been lot of discussion about whether a presidential election, originally expected to take place in May, should proceed or not.

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Here's a link to a county map of confirmed infections in Poland.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2020_coronavirus_pandemic_in_Poland#/media/File:COVID-19_Pandemic_Cases_in_Poland_Powiats.svg

Pretty amazing how the virus is (so far, I'd hate to jinx it) hardly affecting Podlasie, and many counties surrounding Warsaw.

It does look pretty bad in Upper Silesia, which, coincidentally, is the most polluted region in Poland and one of the most polluted in Europe.

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I have to say I'm somewhat pleasantly surprised. Aside of panic-buying toilet paper when the news about coronavirus hit, the people, from what I've seen or been told, are largely behaving pretty responsibly in observing the restrictions.

On other news, there's been lot of discussion about whether a presidential election, originally expected to take place in May, should proceed or not.

Wow, is this a mentality thing in Poland? Even though Germany is not locked down ("only" nonessential stores are closed, restaurants must close at 6 pm), I see a lot of people outside. Others, including the press, confirm my impressions. People are waiting in lines in cafes and ice cream bars or do parties in the garden. Kids are playing outside, youngsters are hanging around in groups. And it's not just young folks: seniors are walking in the streets and don't seem concerned while shopping in the supermarket. Meanwhile, politicians and scientists are all over the place and issue warnings people should pratice social distancing. Experts are now openly warning a lockdown could be imposed if this behavior doesn't change.

I don't know, maybe we as a society are just egoistic enough to accept that the virus will spread and about 1% of infected people will die as the "price" for normalcy.

Speaking of the "Polish mentality", we kind of have an opinion of people who certainly doesn't fit the stereotypical "German mentality", that is of organized people brought up to follow the rules. Underneath that, however, there's a tendency to quickly self-organize in times of crisis, which became especially famous during the occupation between 1939 and 1945.

Take it with a grain of salt, of course, since we're dealing with stereotypes, though "there's no smoke without a fire".

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Confirmed cases: 325
Suspected cases: 923

Recovered: 14 (+13)
Deaths: 5 (no change)

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I keep wondering how many people will die in result of inadequate medical help due to resources and people focusing on the virus. Regrettably, I think it'll be more than actual coronavirus deaths.

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Poland still at only 5 dead.

'Clique' has negative connotations, 'coterie' would be neutral.

I've always preferred "camarilla" over each term, though I think it'd belong to a more negative category (like the infamous Hindenburg's camarilla).

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A general store where I'm doing most of my groceries installed a provisional screen to protect cashiers, though it's still a half-measure at best. What's especially appalling is the extreme shortage of protective masks which should be issued to people working on such jobs for hours a day. They have to content with gloves and screens. We've been hearing the supply of masks "is coming", and that's all.

What's worse, it appears that many ambulance services personnel doesn't have any such protection. In Ursynów (one of Warsaw's boroughs) a moron called the ambulance after showing flu symptoms (I'm saying a "moron" because the proper procedure is to call the sanitary services, notify them and await proper examination, unless you feel really, really bad) and now the entire crew is infected from him.

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Up to 536 confirmed cases.

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An idiot suspected of being infected fled the hospital in Gdańsk and was found at the very opposite end of Poland, in Podhale region.

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Confirmed: 563
Suspected: 1047
Dead: 7

Young Australians have been criticised for not enacting social distancing recommendations.

https://www.abc.net.au/news/2020-03-22/coronavirus-nsw-victoria-act-shutdown-non-essential-services/12079124

As a result, Prime Minister Scott Morrison has now cracked down by closing all:

• Pubs;
• Clubs;
• Restaurants;
• Gyms;
• Churches;
• Sporting Venues.

to contain the virus. All non-essential services will be closed over the next 48 hours.

Western Australian border will be shut tonight, and people who don't obey the social order may be arrested and charged. The WA Premier suggested putting quarantined patients on Rottnest Island.

5-6 International Cruise Ships will enter Fremantle port over the next week.

Closing down said establishment is a right step and should've been taken already. The problem is people are going to violate social distancing anyway, meeting at homes or outdoors (Warsaw boulevard were pretty much packed recently, for example), unless you have strict curfew instituted.

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Update: Germany will not issue a complete lockdown similar to Italy or Spain, but Chancellor Merkel and heads of state government have agreed to impose a so-called "contact ban". That means no more than two people are allowed to gather in public space, excluding families who live in the same household.

I think that's actually a good solution. Scientists in recent days warned a total lockdown would cause other problems. They argued people should be allowed to get out and breathe fresh air. I'm glad this is still possible. We were compelled to stay home the whole Saturday because of heavy rain. Today I feel much better after a two hour walk in the sunshine.

I personally try to take a walk as frequently as possible. It's safe to do in parks and green areas by the Vistula river, close to where I live. Otherwise I'd go totally insane.

If all people were acting responsibly, no lockdowns would be needed. Unfortunately you'll always have a certain amount of idiots, and because of them it'll spread more and we may end up in lockdowns after all.

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According to this French journalist in Hong Kong, Asia managed to contain the virus NOT THROUGH LOCKDOWN but THROUGH WEARING MASKS.

Yeah, I heard one before (plus, extremely thorough tracking of early infections based on the experiences they had gained from the previous SARS and Swin flu epidemics).

Problem is, there is a huge face-mask gap between Asia and Europe/America.

Yeah we have a severe shortage. The question is how to get more?

The Polish government says "they're on their way". It's like with "the dragons are on their way" in that South Park episode.

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692 confirmed cases, 1047 suspected and 8 dead, the last one being 38-year old man with existing conditions.