International COVID-19 Megathread

[Velasco]

The Catalan and Basque regional governments won't be happy and will protest, because they don't want to be under the central goverment's command

PP leader Pablo Casado speaking now. Miserable. This is not the moment to attack the government

[Okay, maybe Mike Johnson is a competent parliamentarian.]

To the people here who doubt China's reports of reducing its new infections to just a few dozen a day -- how would you explain the nearly-equal success of countries like Singapore, Korea (despite Christian apocalyptic cult), and Japan to reduce their new infection rates as well, and with less draconian measures than China at that? With the exception of Korea, none of these countries have faced the exponential growth and spiking death rates seen in the southern European outbreak.

Japan is having "success" for the same reasons the US is reporting dramatically lower numbers than other countries...

I don't know. You can't hide hospitalizations and deaths, at least not in a democracy with a free press. Japan is probably understating cases due to a lack of testing, but not by the huge margins that this seems to imply.

The Japanese press is, in practice, not as free as one would expect.

[Mike88]

On social media, there was a movement to at 22:00pm applaud the health professionals for their work fighting the virus. Many across the country, particularly in the 2 main cities did that. In Matosinhos there was even fireworks!

[Okay, maybe Mike Johnson is a competent parliamentarian.]

So it looks like Netanyahu might be using the situation as a launch pad for a "soft" autogolpe.

[Storebought]

I concede that the Japanese government is well within suspicion for suppressing the number of new infections since I underestimated their hard-on to host the Summer Olympics, come what may.

Even then, it's one thing to suppress reports of infections, it's another to hide the deaths. There should be evidence of government conspiracy, like leaks of hospital staff lying the cause of death; outraged family members of the dead on social media; increased emissions from crematoria; etc.

Away from Japan, SG, HK and Taiwan are all reporting a low infection and morbidity rate. The US should be as far as willing to follow their practice and not end up like Iran.

[Velasco]

So it looks like Netanyahu might be using the situation as a launch pad for a "soft" autogolpe.

It wouldn't surprise me, honestly

 I'm just starting to be under the impression to be living some kind of dystopian sci-fi movie. Thankfully, I live thousands of miles away from the Middle East and here the far right has not yet touched power. But everything seems possible in these strange times.

Right now I'm mocking the insane Javier Ortega Smith (Vox), who tweets he's fighting the mean Chinese viruses with Spanish antibodies (Chinese embassy complained for racism). Tomorrow people like him could reach power

[Meclazine for Israel]

Australia, Argentina and New Zealand have locked down completely.

Given the escalation in Europe, Australian Prime Minister Scott Morrison is making an address now regarding new rules for social interaction:

1. All foreign visitors are required to go into isolation for 14 days. 100%, no exceptions.

2. All cruise-ships are now banned from entering Australia for the next 30 days with rolling decisions ongoing.

3. Non-essential gatherings of more than 500 people in Australia are now banned.

4. Schools should be left open. Children operate better in school in a pandemic because:

(a) They actually need to generate herd immunity;
(b) They will spread the virus more if not at school;
(c) The disruption to parents if children stayed home would be severe for working parents.

Cruise-lines, concerts essentially shut down.

https://www.dailytelegraph.com.au/lifestyle/health/australia-is-running-out-of-supplies-to-test-for-the-coronavirus/news-story/148d5b7d304291b2ea8d67eb80617b03

Scott Morrison did indicate the majority of new cases in Australia in the last week are being diagnosed predominantly in people travelling to Australia from overseas.

More to come....once the Australian PM updates his website.

[pikachu]

I concede that the Japanese government is well within suspicion for suppressing the number of new infections since I underestimated their hard-on to host the Summer Olympics, come what may.

Even then, it's one thing to suppress reports of infections, it's another to hide the deaths. There should be evidence of government conspiracy, like leaks of hospital staff lying the cause of death; outraged family members of the dead on social media; increased emissions from crematoria; etc.

Away from Japan, SG, HK and Taiwan are all reporting a low infection and morbidity rate. The US should be as far as willing to follow their practice and not end up like Iran.

I believe Japan also implemented a few social distancing measures (canceling school, postponing sports) around the same time Korea did. Wouldn’t be surprised if things are much worse than they officially say, though I feel like there’d be more rumblings on social media and whatnot.

[CumbrianLefty]

Not at all convinced by this keeping schools open thing (which our government also seems keen on)

[President Johnson]

Austria will close all restuarants starting Tuesday. Furthermore, all gatherings over five people are banned. Parliament is set to pass some sort of emergency bill.

Officials of the German football league are now talking about postphoning the UEFA Euro Cup this year. Potentially to be delayed to 2021. Something like this has never happened since World War II.

[CumbrianLefty]

It seems to be taken for granted by many football observers that the Euros are off this summer.

[Tender Branson]

Austria will close all restuarants starting Tuesday. Furthermore, all gatherings over five people are banned. Parliament is set to pass some sort of emergency bill.

Officials of the German football league are now talking about postphoning the UEFA Euro Cup this year. Potentially to be delayed to 2021. Something like this has never happened since World War II.

Police will start patrolling tomorrow.

If they find groups of people, the persons will be fined 2.200€ each.

Kids cannot meet at playgrounds. Sports clubs training is not allowed anymore. If they do, the clubs will lose state funds for the next years to come.

Also: Tyrol will have a total lockdown, starting at midnight.

[Velasco]

Spanish PM Pedro Sánchez held a videoconference this morning with all the regional premiers. Despite initial complaints related to the alleged seizure of health, transport and security competences devolved to their regions, Basque and Catalan premiers said they will join the common fight against coronavirus. It's the first time since 2012 that Basque and Catalan premiers attend a coordination meeting with the central government and the other regions. Regional administrations governed by PP will join as well. On the other hand, the heavy attack of opposition leader Pablo Casado after the PM address to the nation has created some perplexity

[Mike88]

Update on Portugal:

245 cases are now reported, 76 more than yesterday. The Lisbon region has surpassed the North region in number of cases for the 1st time, 116 to 103 and there is the 1st case in Azores islands. Alentejo and Madeira have still no cases.

The number of recovered cases is also growing with at least 3 fully recovered, and one patient has left the intensive care unit, making a total of 9 in the intensive care unit.

[Meclazine for Israel]

Update from the UK:

https://uk.news.yahoo.com/queen-leaves-buckingham-palace-over-coronavirus-fears-105902469.html

The Queen has been moved to Windsor Castle for her safety.

With the Coronavirus increase in the UK, Buckingham Palace was deemed as too populous with visitors and staff.

Hidden in Windsor Castle, Queen Elizabeth II has her private confidents updating her about the situation.

When informed that the public were plundering Supermarkets due to a shortage of Meat, Pasta and Bread, she replied:

"Let Them Eat Cake"

Virus or not, copyright rules are still observed - K.

[Tender Branson]

What Italians are doing at home during the lockdown:

https://twitter.com/maxkava/status/1238895581193547778

Thinking about it, it’s not good that Austrians are put into lockdown as well.

They will spend most of their time A) in the basement, or B) enlarging it.

[Tender Branson]

Spanish lockdown violations by people result in fines of up to 30.000€ or 4 years imprisonment.

[parochial boy]

re-Euro 2020, I spoke to a friend who works for UEFA yesterday and his comment was that there is a meeting of all the federations on Tuesday, final decision is up to the federations themselves rather than UEFA and he didn't know how the meeting would go but figures most likely is they push to hold the thing in December. Then he complained about his commute and the fact he still wasn't allowed to work from home. Considering UEFA is full of old buffers on sinecures, that probably means we'll be seeing a dramatic drop in corruption and money laundering in the near future.

Anyway, we had 850 new cases here yesterday, which I think sends us up to second place in the number of cases per capita. In fact, per capita it's possibly the single worst day any country has had. Knowing how fast the political system moves here, we'll probably be going into lockdown at some point in 2026 after a referendum.

[urutzizu]

Germany shuts Borders with France, Switzerland and Austria (with exceptions to local commuters). Effective tomorrow at 8:00. Borders to Denmark, PL, CZ already closed by those Governments.

5,426 (+827 Today) infected, 11 Dead.
Here in Stuttgart 60 Infected. Lockdown except for Restaurants. Place where I am Interning has asked us to suspend work from Monday.

[Former Dean Phillips Supporters for Haley (I guess???!?) 👁️]

Hidden in Windsor Castle, Queen Elizabeth II has her private confidents updating her about the situation.

When informed that the public were plundering Supermarkets due to a shortage of Meat, Pasta and Bread, she replied:

"Let Them Eat Cake"

When I went to the supermarket on Friday, one of the only things that was left/not 99% ransacked was cake mixes.

There was also no regular flour whatsoever. But there was still cake flour.

[President Johnson]

Germany partially closes borders now. This doesn't apply for commuting and delivery of goods.

The RKI (German CDC) has now declared California, Washington state and New York as risk zones, along with Italy, parts of Spain, Austria and Switzerland.

Furthermore, the number of deaths in Spain is up to 288, with over 7,700 cases.

[President Johnson]

Germany shuts Borders with France, Switzerland and Austria (with exceptions to local commuters). Effective tomorrow at 8:00. Borders to Denmark, PL, CZ already closed by those Governments.

5,426 (+827 Today) infected, 11 Dead.
Here in Stuttgart 60 Infected. Lockdown except for Restaurants. Place where I am Interning has asked us to suspend work from Monday.

According to StZ, the number in Stuttgart is now at 150

Starting tomorrow, I won't get to work via S-Bahn any longer and take the car. Probably work from home 1-2 days a week, unless we're sent home by managament. Which could happen any time at this point.

[Tender Branson]

Austria has ~850 cases now as of 3pm.

That's up by more than 200 since yesterday 3pm, or by about 30%.

[LAKISYLVANIA]

190 new cases, 886 in total. I live in the most northwestern province in the southeast.

Yesterday, all bars and restaurants closed, but they held lockdown or corona parties, and ministers condemned the population of it being very inappropriate.

[CumbrianLefty]

re-Euro 2020, I spoke to a friend who works for UEFA yesterday and his comment was that there is a meeting of all the federations on Tuesday, final decision is up to the federations themselves rather than UEFA and he didn't know how the meeting would go but figures most likely is they push to hold the thing in December.

Extremely sensible plan, can't see any obstacles to that at all