15 diagnosed cases here, most from people returning from Europe trips (particularly Italy). Given that, from what I gather, they were only diagnosed a couple of days after returning, I fear that it's too late already to nip it in the butt. Really worried that this will spread like wildfire in the coming months. I have nil confidence in the government's ability to do something about it, given that they can't even keep the country's lights on at the moment.

I was recently talking about those kinds of markets with my friend based in Hong Kong, and he was telling me that the crack down on those seem more severe in HK than on the mainland, with surprise inspections/shut downs and this, not just once in a while but quite often.
Staggering rise in a 2 weeks span. May you be/keep safe.

I have no information about recovered people in Italy who then got reinfected later.
However I've read about people around the world who got sick twice because the virus is apparently able to last in the body even after one recovers from the disease.

Thank you.
You know, I'm not worried for myself, but for the people around me, especially the beloved ones and for Italy itself: consider that in total we approximately have 5000 intensive care units in the whole country, 1000 of which (20%) are currently used for the COVID-19 patients only.

Just the brazenness of Merkel declaring that 60-70% of the population will get this, but at the same time refuse to do anything about it. You know, put some cities under quarantine, close the schools until April (what Austria did, starting today),... you know, stuff that should've been done rather sooner than later. It's absolutely absurd!

Hopefully, with the WHO declaring this a pandemic, the pressure will grow on these assholes to ACT.

Just to put this into perspective: If China (which has been completely sidelined by this disease, unlike the rest of the world, which had a good month or two to take precautions) had the population size of Italy, they wouldn't have had more than 4000 cases. Italy has over 10000 now. Think about that!

I don't want to dog on the Italians too much, though. At least they've taken the necessary measures now. It's too late, but at least they've done something. Unlike Germany, which is still busy picking its nose.

That's usually what good souls do: worry more about others than they do for themselves. At this stage, I am absolutely mad about those 'in charge' who played it all down and have not taken whatever measures needed and necessary in order to protect their People. This is borderline criminal and frankly, zero compassion for those now -and those who will- getting a taste of that nasty.

I remember when the epidemic started in China there was a lot of wishful thinking in western media "Oh, this will shake the Chinese system to its core, might be China's Chernobyl and end the rule of the CCP"...lol, looks more likely now that it will be OUR Chernobyl and that the Chinese government will look remarkably efficient and competent by comparison.
Agree with you about Merkel's government and the general situation in Germany. They had two months time to prepare, but basically did nothing, except warning against a non-existent "panic" and spreading this "It's not worse than the flu" nonsense. Sad and disgusting, but one probably shouldn't have expected anything different in this country anymore.

No worries....take care of what matters more atm...i.e. the health of yourself and those you care about. :)

That is one aspect of this illness that(for lack of a better word) frightens me.

Don't know if and how much consolation this could be for you guys in Germany, but it's practically all of us in Europe who have seen and got that kind of 'attitude' from both "medias" and 'governments", here in quotes for a reason. There is a Chinese curse often mistaken for a blessing: May you live in interesting times. I guess this is it, we're in the middle of it.

My parents are 80 and my dad has CHF, and he's a Fox News guy who's listening to the "it's just a flu" propaganda, so definitely worried for them. I'm 40 with no health issues, so not too worried about myself. My wife and I's main concern for ourselves is her being out of work actually, since she's a nurse and they're sending every nurse home indefinitely who has symptoms. Wouldn't be a good time for us to lose paychecks, since we had some financial emergencies lately.

Seems like South Korea got a real handle on it through mass testing. Wish my government had it together enough to do that.

Compared to what previous generations had to live through, it will probably be not that bad. But what really worries me, is the farcical incompetence of the political leadership of many Western countries and the apparent fragility of many critical systems. As bad as Covid-19 is, there could coneivably be something even worse, a kind of doomsday plague, and I shudder to think what that would lead to.

True for the previous generations comparisons and also true for the incompetence. The thing with that Covid-19 is that I tend to be cautious in neither under or over estimate it, because we don't really know that much about it in terms of variants and mutation rate and so on and more. There could be indeed something worse looking ahead of us but regardless, I too -and this because I do know what human nature is like and what makes it rear its ugly side, sure have plenty to shudder about giving it some thoughts. Just have to see reactions in some countries to get a very small taste of what's in store if push comes to a really hard shove.

NEWS:
Italy shuts down every shop, store, restaurant, bar, with the exception of productive industries, supermarkets, grocery stores and pharmacies.
Italians are ordered to stay at home: they can go out for working, for grocery shopping or for health-related reasons only.

What your people should be asking those in charge is this: How are people going to buy groceries if they work in one of the shut down fields/industries/professions and don't have much saved up?

Also not to sound rude/etc, but that sounds like overkill......if I lived under such a restrictive system(overly strict nation wide directives on even those areas not affected) i'd be pissed to no end.

By some reports the Italian health care system is already close to collapse, so drastic measures are probably necessary.
Obviously people need to get food though, I hope the Italian government manages to organize efficient means of distribution soon.
Anyway, I think I'll buy additional supplies tomorrow or on friday, in case such lockdowns are ordered in Germany as well (a distinct possibility the way things are going).