Coronavirus Testing

I did wonder whether the masks might also be connected with pollution. So we don't really know if they're wearing them because of pollution or the virus. It's horrible seeing people in masks whatever the reason, like a science fiction movie.

Lynker possibly not. I know it’s a big country though and it may depend on where you are planning to visit.
Some years ago I was shot down in flames on GN when I voiced fears about the Ebola virus and the fact that you can fly half way round the world before there are any real symptoms.
A member (or two) took me to task for panicking, saying that good hygiene and alcohol hand rub would be sufficient.
Hollow laugh.
Ease of travel definitely has disadvantages as well as advantages. It sounds medieval to quarantine millions (?) of people in the affected area, but what is the alternative?
So to answer your question Lynker I would contact the travel company and your insurers.
A worldwide pandemic?

This was my OP at the time
(There were over 28,000 cases and 11,323 deaths in that outbreak between 2013 and 2016.)
Should we be worried about Ebola? When I first heard about it , it seemed a long way away but now there is a case of someone who was able to travel across 3 countries by international airlines before dying in Nigeria.
As a disease it is 90% fatal and has a long incubation period - up to 21 days. With the increased ease of international and intercontinental travel - is there a real risk of it reaching Europe and the UK?

Each year at Christmas time there's a mutated virus hanging about. There was a case of it in a Liverpool hospital in December, so it's been in this country a few weeks.

I'm very curious about this. Why is there such a lot of concern about a virus which has killed 26 people out of many, many millions and which is said to be similar to flu? I cannot imagine Britain even considering locking down a city or airport in these circumstances.

The problem is knowing how serious the virus is. Ebola was deadly and thank goodness it didn't get completely out of control. We still don't know exactly how deadly this one is, and we certainly don't want it going rampant all over the world.

Maw Ebola is one of the deadliest diseases out there. The idea that hand washing etc is the answer is risible. Even when fully kitted out in ‘space’ suits some health workers caught the disease and died.

The World Health Organisation was useless and it was the Charities such as Medicines Sans Frontières and Save the Children who grasped the nettle and set up field hospitals.

NN the reason to worry is that these viruses can easily mutate to something much deadlier. And the more people who contract it the more chance of mutation.

@Yehbutnobut. But isn't that true of all viruses?

Yehbutnobut Fri 24-Jan-20 16:08:11
Maw Ebola is one of the deadliest diseases out there. The idea that hand washing etc is the answer is risible. Even when fully kitted out in ‘space’ suits some health workers caught the disease and died

Unsurprisingly I thought that too, but if you look for the thread via the Search facility, you would be surprised how many people thought I was scaremongering!

The population of China and Japan have been wearing face masks for years. You see them wearing them in London when they are visiting as tourists. It takes 5 days for symptoms to show once infected. The patient in Northern Ireland is reported to have arrived on Sunday and was put into quarantine 3 days later so was infected before leaving China. As with all viruses including the flu and bird flu it is very rare that previously healthy individuals die, usually the elderly or people/children with pre-existing health issues. As advised on the news at lunch time anyone who has cough fever etc stay at home and contact GP, do not go to surgery or ED to help prevent spreading.

The SARS virus affected 8000 people, 800 of whom died.
Avian flu and Swine flu similarly spread from other continents.
I don’t think we can afford to be complacent and treat it like common or garden flu or dismiss it as only dangerous to the elderly.
For heavens sake- hands up who fits that demographic here!

The WHO China office first hearted about this virus on 31st December. How long had it been circulating before this?
We'll never know ?

I am really not holding my breath on the notion that people who have a cough/fever etc. will stay at home! It will never happen ?

I have a cough and nursed a fever since Christmas Eve, DH similarly. Airborne infection, probably picked up by people who should maybe have stayed at home ??

I remember your thread Maw, like talking to a brick wall when explaining minimising the risk to all is poo pooed and you are just being dramatic.

The problem is people eating "bush" meat. This is where the animal diseases get into the human population

What is "bush" meat, Pat? Is it like roadkill here, which quite a few people eat apparently?

Bushmeat:
Bushmeat is meat from wildlife species including mammals, reptiles, amphibians and birds that are hunted for human consumption in tropical forests. Bushmeat is an important food resource for poor people, in particular in rural areas

I watched a programme on orphaned chimpanzees in Sierra Leone on tv the other night, the parents are killed for meat and take the babies for pets. Bushmeat was shown graphically in scenes from the markets.

sorry, the babies are taken for pets.

Bush meat is sometimes available in UK - illegal.

I read in the paper today about the sort of meat on sale in Wuhan market. Some of it is still alive. It sounds horrific. Eating exotic meat in China is very fashionable - an indication of wealth - and it's likely to continue.

The route of one of the buses I sometimes catch goes past the expensive student accommodation blocks that the Chinese students largely use. The bus can be absolutely heaving with Chinese students. Worries me a bit. It's Graduation this week, there must be quite a number of Chinese parents who have flown over.

For some years now quite a few female Chinese students wear face masks.

It does make a lot of sense to wear masks especially at this time of year when so many are spreading airborne germs around.

No idea if this will take off in the UK though.

A WHO Doctor talking on channel 4 news has just stated 'this is the most worried I have ever been' That's good enough for me.

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It's horrible seeing people in masks whatever the reason, like a science fiction movie.
It just seems the norm if travelling to places in the Far East. However, I am not keen to go at the moment.

Gagajo you must be relieved you chose not to go there!

EllanVannin
It does make you wonder what all us ladies have had with our coughing and spluttering since we all ? had our 'flu jabs before Christmas as the type of bug we seemed to have had was obviously not covered by the vaccination ? My thoughts.

It's a virus causing a cough which lingers on and on but it wasn't flu. Unfortunately, I wasn't well enough to have the flu vaccination then got this virus before I had a chance to have it. DH, who had the flu vaccine, got better much more quickly.

The trouble is that researchers are always trying to catch up with these viruses and other infections as they mutate.

who had the flu vaccine, got better much more quickly. even though it wasn't, apparently, flu.
He had had the pneumonia vaccine a few years ago though.