Public emergency declared by WHO on coronavirus

[JustonTime]

The extremes countries are going to in order to stop it spreading suggest that it is more deadly than we've been told i.e that it's like a flu? We don't shut down countries for flu. What are we not being told?

Cuckoo if there was a like button you would get 5

well maybe because China are not that truthful with the figures as has been shown in the past. because they didn't act quick enough and now doing damage control which could have been avoided. There are still people coming into the UK by plane from China.

Surely there are airlines other than BA?

You can still get to China

Yes Cuckooken completely agree.

The decisions made by Airlines are also economic. If the govt recommends not going to China then why would a company operate half empty planes to the region? It makes no economic sense. Other airline have reduced their routes. I live in China and my planned uk flight has been changed to ant other departure airport.
Btw - this was a planned uk trip for next month not an escape the virus trip. And for all the super ‘supportive’ mumsnetters who make comments that we should stay in China as we chose to live there, don’t worry I have cancelled the trip!

If the WHO have declared it an emergency, I perk my ears up. Coincided with BA grounded all flights in and out of China, also perks my ears up.
Quarantining travellers from Wuhan also perks my ears up. (personally, I'd be like 'No sir, I'm fine - I'm going home thank you very much'. But they must have some sort of law or something allowing them to detain these people for 14 days). You can't even detain a suspect in murder for more than something like 72 hours without charging them, so to be able to detain and quarantine travellers is quite a big deal!

I’m so happy my tinfoil hat protects me from infection.

It's a new virus, there's a rare chance to try and contain it, why wouldn't they?

Shanghaidiva- I hope you know that people who think you should just stay in China are a minority.

well put simply they agree to sign to be in quarantine and if caught not doing so face punishment. They don't have to sign it.

Also there aren't finite pilots out there, so if you quarantine even a handful of pilots etc your company would soon be trouble. Grounding flights makes sence to me on that basis alone.

We dont know the full facts yet. We are living in scientific history in the making. But it will be here soon so just wait a week or two and we will get a better idea.

Anyway surely the best conspiracy theory is the UK has hyped it up to stop Brexit news 24/7🤔

I'm not sure whether you all realise, but Britain has decided to quarantine all passengers coming off flights from Wuhan for 14 days. One of my friends frequently travels to China on business. We usually meet up for a drink once a week or so. I think I would laugh a lot once he got out, but I think he would be traumatised being quarantined for 14 days lol. Then we would laugh, but I do think it's serious when they're taking peoples' liberty away.

Reading more of the OPs posts makes me want to ask if she’s on glue. Also it’s not a disease, it’s a virus. HTH.

All of the deaths have been in China and it is far too early to say exactly why those people died; humans from any country die from common coronavirus infections on a daily basis, what's to say that those that died from 2019-NCOV weren't already immunosuppressed and did not receive the treatment needed which is why they succumbed?

There have been numerous PHEICs over the years (Ebola, SARS, polio) - how many times have you or someone you know caught them?

The main concern regarding the new strain from what I can see is that it is spreading rapidly (probably because people didn't know they had it so didn't try to not spread it....) and that it could be particularly harmful if it spreads to parts of the world that aren't as equipped to deal with the virus. That doesn't in itself mean that 2019-NCOV is going to obliterate mankind.

The virus has barely spread. outside of china so all this panicking is useless. If it was as deadly and contagious as the doom mongers are saying, we'd have seen a significant spread at least in Asia by now. That hasn't happened so far.
China has been shut down because nobody knew, or knows the severity of it. Better to be over cautious.

You keep saying "just a flu".

Have you ever had the flu?

Imagine it if everyone got the flu at the same freaking time. Even if zero people died from the flu itself, it would still damage the economy, and it would be months before we sorted out the chaos of cancelled NHS operations (because the surgeon had flu), and so on. We limp on during normal flu season through a combination of immunising the most vulnerable (reducing the number of people who can catch it and the number of people who can pass it on) and the proportion of people who are resistant to the current flu strains circulating because they have immunity to a similar strain that was circulating the previous year. This means that not all the people who do catch the flu pass it on to as many as they potentially could do.

Totally new strain of flu with any kind of incubation period? We need to shut it down. If we don't and it it goes planet-wide, aliens could invade and we'd limply look up and beg them to pass us the tissues.

Ah, I foolishly didn't read the whole thread and have wasted my precious time typing a message. I should have realised you're a Budweiser-drinking conspiracy theory nutjob.

The virus causes disease ye?

People in China are effectively self quarantining as we are encouraged to stay at home, public places are shut, school holiday extended etc.

I don’t know why people keep mentioning the flu. It’s a new type of Corona virus not a new type of influenza virus.
There are concerns - it spreading to countries with lots of people with existing conditions and poor health care, and also it evolving to become more serious. So sensible precautions are being taken to limit its spread.
Nowhere is being shut down - even China.

Believe me, I am probably the furthest person you could get from a conspiracy theorist. But I can read between lines. Governments globally are getting their ducks in a row. We're being told 'nothing to see here' - by we I mean us randomers.. I am not that stupid. If governments and flight agencies are collaborating on this, I kinda believe that maybe we're not being told the full story.
Truth? Governments look at numbers and statistics dying from flu. They take a calculated risk and a cost vs benefit analysis on whether to vaccinate or not. It's the greater good and all that.
But this shit? They've taken measures that they have not taken before. And that has me asking the question - Why?

Most posters will tell us it's just a flu!

(just to point out - when I was a kid if you got hooping cough you & your siblings - who were yet to get it - couldn't go to school for several weeks - ditto several other childhood viruses & we lived in London & I am not that ancient) I think op is a troll myself, with the constant doubling back & personal accusation et al

😂 "I'm the furthest person you could get from a conspiracy theorist"

Proceeds to type two paragraphs accusing the world's governments of hiding a deadly virus, in collaboration with the airlines.

This is a new virus into humans. It is a coronavirus, yes, and related to SARS, MERS, and the type that causes a common-cold-like illness, however there is a great deal of variation possible because it has a very large genome. This is why it is being treated very cautiously as it is, and will be for some time yet, a bit of an unknown.
SARS was a wake-up call for all involved. Caution is being taken, and that is a very positive thing. The Chinese shared the sequence of this new variant within a week, globally, which has enabled all governments to set up a specific diagnostic. It is a good thing to deal robustly with the situation.
The best thing everyone can do is to be aware, that’s all. It is also flu season. Good health and hygiene practice is good at this time of year anyway.
www.who.int