I’ll do daily updates for now. Above are my running total numbers based on WHO figures, via the Worldometer site, with some added calculations of mine on absolute and percentage increases.
The “Wuhan virus” now has a formal name: the “2019 Novel Coronavirus” or “2019-nCoV”. I’m giving it the informal label, “Wuhan virus”.
Here in Hong Kong medical staff are on strike to try to force the government to close the borders with China. Carrie Lam the C-E says she is “considering”. Hmmm…
Economies here in Hong Kong and in China have been hit, with stock markets down around 9% on the mainland.
For comparison with other viruses, here’s a useful chart sent by reader J.
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I’d thought the “seasonal flu” figures were higher, based on WHO figures via Wikipedia:
According to the World Health Organization: "Every winter, tens of millions of people get the flu. Most are only ill and out of work for a week, yet the elderly are at a higher risk of death from the illness. We know the worldwide death toll exceeds a few hundred thousand people a year…”.Anti-China Xenophobia and racism.
There’s a lot of nasty stuff by US podcasters: blaming China for all recent virus outbreaks, saying pretty despicable stuff, verging on outright racist. One called China a “rubbish country”. Hells bells, I don’t like Xi Jinping, but the whole country?
So it’s worth context: the 2009 H1N1 virus began in Mexico and was propagated via the United States. It ended up killing between 285,000 and 580,000 people worldwide, most in our part of the world. That’s according to diseases experts quoted here. (The reasons for the disparity in total deaths is explained at that link). So, suck on that, you podcast bigots!
