CoronaVirus

It has certainly put a big doubt for me, like you I was considering a trip there this summer but now it's up in the air

higher chances of you dying if flu in dublin.... or being killed in a road accident... then dying of coronavirus in Thailand

I'd definitely wait to see, number are doubling at the moment and there's no clear information. I'd probably book a cozy week or 2 in spain instead.

Currently in Hunan, bout an eight hour drive from Wuhan where the virus is.

As more cases of the corona virus turn up around the world linked with travel to the area of origin in China, is it not time to ban flights form those areas now?

Van.Bosch wrote: »

How would it work in reality? I could connect through Frankfurt on my way home - do you block the Frankfurt flight (illegal in EU) or block a flight from China landing in EU?

What about people who connect from China through Singapore for example?

Even if you could do it, are you imprisoning people there at the moment, in that they couldn’t get out?

I don't know how it would work but I would absolutely keep people there, costs paid by the Government until this is under control. The few that would suffer would be more that counterbalanced by the possible consequences of corona taking hold in this country.

Padre_Pio wrote: »

Taking hold? What are you talking about?

It's a new strain of flu, that's all. People get sick, nearly all get better.

The elderly and infirm are susceptible, but that's no different to the normal flu.

Nobody knows if it is similar to normal flu yet but it seems to be far more contagious that other strains.
The Chinese authorities are taking this very seriously we would be foolish not to.

Kev11491 wrote: »

https://www.channel4.com/news/factcheck/factchecking-the-coronavirus

"Like SARS, the new coronavirus strain has no known cure – although most cases do not prove fatal, and some patients have already recovered and been discharged from hospital."

Banning flights will probably have little effect now and if anything would increase panic.

You may be right that it's now too late to halt flights as it is already outside China but there is no panic and I can't see how stopping a few flights interconnected with affected regions would cause much inconvenience except for the few involved much less panic.

saabsaab wrote: »

You may be right that it's now too late to halt flights as it is already outside China but there is no panic and I can't see how stopping a few flights interconnected with affected regions would cause much inconvenience except for the few involved much less panic.

Ok, there's concern. I tried ordering facemasks to send to a friend in Singapore today and almost everywhere in Dublin seems to be out of them.
Banning flights will cause panic though and again be completely pointless.

there are around 15 to 70 thousand deaths every year in Europe by the common flu. Ask yourself, would you like your long awaited vacation to Tenerife cancelled just because there are some people in your country who are sick? If so, why stop at travel ban - we should cancel all public events, mass gatherings etc.

I understand we don't know much about this virus, but we do know that the patient zero got sick at around Christmas, for best part of the month there were no restrictions to move about and only for the last few days affected areas are under a lock down.. After a month of virus being free to roam around in a densely populated area with not the highest hygiene standards we only have couple of thousand infected and a little over 100 people dead. I wish flu was this passive.

I think we have to wait and see what's happening for the next two or so weeks, but so far it looks like it's a carbon copy of SARS that didn't really spread outside Asia, with isolated cases of people getting the virus in China and bringing it to North America/Europe but not spreading it further.

Accumulator wrote: »

This is not the common flu. It's not common, hence the term 'novel' (virus jump from bats/snakes to humans).
There is no immunity nor vaccine available. There is also a small risk of 2nd wave mutation (as per the Spanish flu).

Current 1st wave, displays x20 the fatalitiy rate (2-3%) compared to regualar seasonal flu (0.1%).

The very earliest vax may be 3mths away, but when you add in human trials, then it's closer to 1yr before roll-out of a preventative jab.

why would you consider vaccines and immunity for something that essentially is a once-off freak event? I would much rather try to persuade (I know how naive it sounds, but..) China to bring their food safety and hygiene standards into 21st century, all these issues are coming from their gross negligence and incompetence when handling animals

Accumulator wrote: »

It's a 'once-off freak event' (like the Spanish flu), that is currently increasing x2 (or more) each day, do the math to calculate what that means.

Outdoor wet markets in China have already closed down and generally made illegal. Well much of China is closing down for pretty much anything currently.

Pretty sure this has drifted away from aviation and aircraft now