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Europe now epicenter of COVID-19 pandemic: WHO

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By Nina LARSON

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Adjusted for population, the following countries will be at the same stage Italy was at when it closed shops in a week:

Norway, Denmark, Switzerland, Spain, Sweden, Slovenia, Belgium, Austria, Netherlands, France, Germany.

For Britain and the rest of Europe, it's 2 weeks.

7 ( +8 / -1 )

@crazyjoe thanks for that. I see Russia isn't on the list. Given the virus has hit Russia's partner Iran so hard, given China is where the virus started and Russia and China have several joint projects and investments, it seems reasonable to think the virus would also be spreading more widely in Russia. A major difference between Russia and the states you listed is those states still allow a free, for-profit press that doesn't have a strong state controlling what's allowed to be reported. Who knows what the situation is like within Putin's oil curtain. Interesting that flights between Russia and the US are still allowed.

https://www.statista.com/statistics/1102935/coronavirus-cases-by-region-in-russia/

0 ( +6 / -6 )

in Europe, everyone and everything is connected... sometimes it feels like it,s one country instead of a group of countries ( not a bad thing depending on how we look at it ) ... also because, if we look at the size ( comparing with countries such as the US and Australia ), it,s actually super small... ... it,s Europe we,re talking about so it,s not easy to get used to this idea... Europe is supposed to be a synonym of “clean”, “safe”, “attractive”... ...

3 ( +4 / -1 )

Europe now epicenter of COVID-19 pandemic

Europe is now the epicenter of the Wuhan flu, because Europeans didn't close their borders fast enough in order to prevent infected persons from China from entering their countries. None of them wished to be called racist by the empty-headed, social justice warriors, habitually haunting the internet. Now they are all playing catch-up.

-9 ( +4 / -13 )

News: Nobody cares what WHO says anymore.

2 ( +4 / -2 )

This coronavirus is or will be everywhere, just a matter of time, closing borders will not change much.

Everyone habits need to change, it is as simple as that.

5 ( +5 / -0 )

U.K. Abandons Effort to Contain Virus as 10,000 May Be Infected

https://finance.yahoo.com/news/u-k-abandons-effort-contain-171402771.html

Once again, why has the US president not put a ban on the UK and Ireland? Oh, that is right! He has resorts that are going bankrupt in those countries without him requiring government and military officials to stay there.

1 ( +5 / -4 )

U.K. Abandons Effort to Contain Virus as 10,000 May Be Infected

https://finance.yahoo.com/news/u-k-abandons-effort-contain-171402771.html

Once again, why has the US president not put a ban on the UK and Ireland? Oh, that is right! He has resorts that are going bankrupt in those countries without him requiring government and military officials to stay there.

News from 2-3 days ago: Really helpful. The situation is changing by the hour.

1 ( +2 / -1 )

because Europeans didn't close their borders fast enough in order to prevent infected persons from China from entering their countries.

The border with China ? How do you close that ? Flights from the Wuhan area to Europe were suspended ASAP. What more would you have done THEN ? It's easy to criticize later.

Note that at the minute China shared the information, there were already many people recently arrived from China in most urban areas of Europe (and of your country wherever you are), and they had interacted with other people...

There is no way to tell if the spread had not already started all over.

First person tested and dead in France was a Chinese old man that had cough symptoms early January (then he had no idea Covid existed) on his way to Paris to visit museums. Maybe it's him that contaminated Japanese /Italian/ Spanish/Korean/Canadian... tourists in the Louvre and they all brought it back home quietely while everybody looked at China... But the same may have occured in any tourist/business exchange area of the planet.

their refusal to wear face masks.

What refusal ? Masks are in insufficient quantities and reserved to medical staff, sick people, those needing in priority.

1 ( +2 / -1 )

There is no way to tell if the spread had not already started all over.

That's for sure. We didn't really see any numbers about infection rates until people started looking for it. The chances of the virus spreading undetected are pretty good because the initial symptoms of Covid 19 are similar to the flu and the group of illnesses caused by other strains of coronavirus, rhinovirus, parainfluenza virus and a couple hundred other bugs that are responsible what is referred to as the "common cold".

During the flu season, people who exhibit flu symptoms are regularly told to get rest, stay hydrated and take something for symptomatic relief. When there isn't an ongoing flu outbreak people exhibiting similar symptoms are given the same basic diagnosis and treatment advice. Ordinarily, testing for a specific pathogen does not occur unless there is a reason to look. Until information started coming out of Wuhan and the virus revealed itself to the world most people weren't looking for it. Now everybody is looking and we see the spike in the numbers.

Covid-19 could have, and probably did, hide among its symptomatic cousins for quite a while and only came out in the open after the world became aware of it and started looking. Up until that point this little beastie was free to roam.

3 ( +3 / -0 )

coskuri - The border with China ? How do you close that ? Flights from the Wuhan area to Europe were suspended ASAP. What more would you have done THEN ? It's easy to criticize later.

Yes, it is easy, and necessary, to critique/criticize later. It's called a post-mortem assessment, and is common in medical, business, and scientific circles.

When did China first notice an illness in Wuhan? When was travel in the Wuhan area finally restricted? When were flights from the Wuhan area suspended?

0 ( +0 / -0 )

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