Pollyana

I actually have a friend who is stuck in Hubei province at present. Australia had no warnings out about Wuhan going into lockdown the day it did, and Qantas blithely flew him in on the very day the lockdown happened..They now can't fly him out again.
When contacting the Aussie Consulate in Shanghai yesterday he got a recorded message saying they were close for several days. He then called the new hotline at DFAT (Dept Foreign Affairs) he was told someone might be back at the Consulate after January 30th and meantime to check the website!! Very helpful for someone stuck in a hotel that is closing tomorrow as their staff cannot get to work due to the travel lockdown

Bo-Jangles

Talking to some colleagues in work today it seems that level of panic is high among the Chinese community; with many NZ based families in a panic of SARS proportions encouraging or assisting family members to get out of China and over to NZ or elsewhere asap. That should all serve nicely to assist with further spread.

Charismatic

I saw a story suggesting that the government where considering bringing people in China back to New Zealand which I didn't quite understand. The thing they should be doing is stopping people from travelling from countries with the disease, not moving people. Hong Kong have been the first to restrict travel.

Hopefully by the time it's had a few transmission cycles through weak hosts the lethality of the disease has been reduced.

spouse of scouse

I think the idea is for a country to get its citizens home is to remove them from harm's way. The returnees would have to agree to 'self-isolation', at least that's what the Oz govt has said so I assume it'd be the same over there.

Mishclark

Crikey, poor guy!

I'm just going to stick with my original plans of flying back later this week unless advised otherwise. I always go jetstar with a flexifare anyway. You're right though, I've been on public transport numerous times as I don't have a car when I'm in Oz.
I am a panicker at the best of times !

Pollyana

That would be the plan, either keep them in isolation somewhere for the incubation period, or get them to self-isolate at home.

A4Ron

Not all though; 40% of the deceased so far have been under 50 years old, including a doctor on the front line

Justcol

​​​Haven't heard a single thing about any cases, suspected or otherwise in NZ, and who cares anyway.

Nothing like a bit of good old wild panic and scaremongering to stir things up eh !!

Mishclark

Yep and I'm first to panic although ok now and still going back to chch on the weekend.

I did say I was ridiculous though..I'm a panicky person but usually calm down pretty quick. .😀

Clappy

Yes, but it would be terrible if the crisis meant that any New Zealanders started to treat anyone who 'looks-a-bit-asian' with an air of suspicion.

Bo-Jangles

What do you mean, the already do, since they bought all their houses and nicked all their jobs. LOL

It seems inevitable that the virus will be heading this was any day soon, given the official death toll is now at around 170, with more than 7,000 cases having been reported in China and spread through every province. There's at least 91 confirmed cases outside of China, spread across 20 countries, including seven in Australia.

A4Ron

over 9,000 'official' cases
213 deceased
5th case revealed in Germany
1,476 in serious/critical condition
150 treated and released
27% increase on confirmed cases since yesterday.

on a positive note, the fatality rate has decreased from 3% to 2.3%

A4Ron

Given we've had on average 11 flights landing daily in NZ from China since the first Coronavirus case back in December, I'd bet the virus is already here and has been for some days.

Here's an interesting article: https://www.nationalgeographic.com/s...ds-on-a-plane/

anyone thinking Coronavirus is just like another common cold or bout of seasonal flu may want to have a read of this:

"Preliminary results indicate a transmissibility rate for the new coronavirus ranging from 2.0 to 3.1 people. That’s higher than influenza - 1.3 to 1.8 - but similar to SARS, which has a basic reproduction number in the 2 to 4 range. So, coronaviruses are slightly more prone to spreading between people.

"The case-fatality ratio - or death-to-case ratio - is the number of people killed by disease divided by the number of people who catch it. Seasonal influenza, despite being considered a global scourge, technically kills a relatively small proportion of its cases, with a case-fatality ratio around 0.1%. The reason the flu is an annual public health emergency is because it infects boatloads of people - 35.5 million in the U.S. across 2018 and 2019, which led to 490,000 hospitalizations and 34,200 deaths. That’s why health officials perpetually recommend that people receive a flu shot."

In comparison, 3% of 35.5 million Coronavirus mortality rate would be 1,065,000 deaths and 6.2 million serious/critical hospitalisations.

"If SARS or the Wuhan Coronavirus ever reached millions of people, it could be devastating. Unlike with influenza, Landon says, the entire human population is susceptible to this Coronavirus because no one has ever had it before - and there is no specific treatment like a vaccine."

While it may not be another medieval black plague, it's not exactly a bit of a sniffle.

Charismatic

I said it mockingly, stuff printed it as a story :
https://i.stuff.co.nz/business/11916...t-house-prices

Charismatic

May well well been. You'd think one of the benefits of living on an isolated island would be to control disease movement. Air NZ and BA is calling it, I don't see why government doesn't just do what aleady seems inevitable and close flights to countries with outbreaks.