Wednesday 12 February 2020

Covid-19 virus update, 12 February

Continued drop in rate of increase of new cases
From Worldometer

Now officially known as Covid-19.
The WHO says they had to find a name that didn’t “stigmatise” a place or animal. But it started in Wuhan and from a bat (or maybe a pangolin). The WHO: battling global bat-ophbia (or pangophobia).
Hopes that virus may peak “soon
Singapore has more cases than Hong Kong. Huh?
US postal service halts service to China and Hong Kong
So far only two deaths outside China
Hong Kong “trappings of a failed state”? I don’t think so. Shops are back to normal and finance-wise there is little impact. Alex Lo quotes a Bloomberg columnist: “Who can argue with her?”  I can.

ADDED: FWIW... chart of rate of infections, actual and trendline.

Forecast and trend leading to zero at around 15 Feb
I don’t trust the figures, because there’s likely some decreasing marginal returns. As infections are brought under control, it becomes increasingly difficult to stop the fewer infections. So, the graph is more likely a shallow curve, down to zero later in the month or next month. But that’s only a gut feel. Some others have “mathematical models” and reckon that it’s  going to zero around end March