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“It’s Total Panic” – Store-Shelves Empty As Virus-Spread Sparks Panic-Buying Food & Masks Across Italy
“It’s Total Panic” – Store-Shelves Empty As Virus-Spread Sparks Panic-Buying Food & Masks Across Italy
Update (1050ET): It’s not just food. As Bloomberg reports, in the tiny hamlet of Cassago Brianza, half way between Milan and Lake Como, Giovanni Casiraghi was taken aback to find a long line of customers waiting when he opened his industrial equipment store on Monday morning.
They all asked for the same thing: a mask typically used in building sites or factories.
In less than 30 minutes, he had sold more than 500 of them.
“We sell industrial equipment and I know most of our clients, so I was astonished when people I’ve never seen before asked for these professional masks,” the 71-year-old said.
“Someone told me that I was one of the few shops to still have protective masks. Panic is spreading even here, far from the epicenter of the outbreak.”
“It’s total panic,” said Michela, whose family owns the L’Arte del Panino bar in west Milan.
“There have been very few clients today. And we have to shut down the bar at 6 p.m.” She declined to give her last name.
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As Summit news’ Paul Joseph Watson detailed earlier, people in several regions of Italy have reacted to coronavirus spreading throughout the country by panic buying, leaving some store shelves empty.
With more than 220 people infected, Italy has the most coronavirus victims out of any country in Europe. Seven people have died.
Footage out of Milan shot yesterday shows some products almost or entirely out of stock.
…click on the above link to read the rest of the article…
The Coronavirus Is Swiftly Breaching Defenses Across The World
The Coronavirus Is Swiftly Breaching Defenses Across The World
Things are now starting to get fast and furious.
Outside of China, covid-19 is swiftly breaching defense lines all over the world.
Italy is suddenly in big trouble — with the military being called in to enforce city quarantines. Iran, South Korea & Japan similarly find themselves overwhelmed as new cases continue to spread unabated.
And there are many other countries (including the US) whose low reported numbers just don’t appear believable at this point. We may soon find out that there are many more infections worldwide than are currently understood.
As China, Italy, South Korea and a growing list of other countries are showing us, outbreaks can happen extremely fast, slamming the door shut on your window to prepare.
Which is why taking action now is critical — because a government lockdown will likely catch you by surprise (e.g., armed troops, empty store shelves). After the moment it’s implemented, you will have to make do with whatever measures you managed to put in place beforehand.
Meanwhile, we’re starting to be able to quantify the damage of the current shutdown of China’s economy. China is responsible for nearly 30% of world’s manufacturing, and it’s estimated that at this point global trade will take a hit of nearly $600 billion.
And it gets worse. Millions of Chinese firms are at risk of going bankrupt from lack of cash flow — a national bailout by China’s banks is likely needed to keep a huge part of its industry from vaporizing. And on the social front, we’re hearing stories of families giving up babies they can no longer afford, as folks are becoming homeless due to lack of income.
This pain is a likely preview of what’s to come when other countries get hard-hit by this virus.
This is why the downplaying to-date of the coronavirus by world authorities has been so dangerous. The risk is real and the costs are high. The masses should be preparing now.
But until they are, we need to be ahead of the curve.
When Will We Admit Covid-19 Is Unstoppable and Global Depression Is Inevitable?
When Will We Admit Covid-19 Is Unstoppable and Global Depression Is Inevitable?
Given the exquisite precariousness of the global financial system and economy, hopes for a brief and mild downturn are wildly unrealistic.
If we asked a panel of epidemiologists to imagine a virus optimized for rapid spread globally and high lethality, they’d likely include these characteristics:
1. Highly contagious, with an R0 of 3 or higher.
2. A novel virus, so there’s no immunity via previous exposure.
3. Those carrying the pathogen can infect others while asymptomatic, i.e. having no symptoms, for a prolonged period of time, i.e. 14 to 24 days.
4. Some carriers never become ill and so they have no idea they are infecting others.
5. The virus is extremely lethal to vulnerable subpopulations but not so lethal to the entire populace that it kills its hosts before they can transmit the virus to others.
6. The virus can be spread by multiple pathways, including aerosols (droplets from sneezing/coughing), brief contact (with hotel desk clerks, taxi drivers, etc.) and contact with surfaces (credit cards, faucets, door handles, etc.). Ideally, the virus remains active on surfaces for prolonged periods, i.e. 7+ days.
7. Those infected who recover may catch the virus again, as acquired immunity is not 100%.
8. As a result of this and other features, it’s difficult to manufacture a vaccine that will reliably protect against infection.
9. The tests designed to detect the virus are inherently limited, as the virus may be present in tissue that isn’t being swabbed.
10. The symptoms of the illness are essentially identical with less contagious and lethal flu types, so people who catch the virus may not know they have the novel pathogen.
…click on the above link to read the rest of the article…
“Tsunami-Like” Coronavirus Floods South Korea With New Cases; Europe Begins To Isolate Italy: Live Updates
“Tsunami-Like” Coronavirus Floods South Korea With New Cases; Europe Begins To Isolate Italy: Live Updates
Summary:
- In a report that was 4 hours “late”, China reported an additional 409 coronavirus cases across the entire nation, and 150 additional deaths as of February 23 compared to 648 additional cases and 97 deaths on February 22; this brought total China cases to 77150 and total deaths 2592
- China’s Hubei province said it has 398 New Coronavirus Cases As Of Feb 23 and 149 New Coronavirus Deaths.
- South Korea raised its national threat level to “red alert” for the first time since the H1N1 swine flu outbreak in 2009. The total number of confirmed cases in the country reached 763, a jump of 161 overnight, and a 25-fold increase in the past week.
- The Italian government said it has 152 confirmed cases, up from three in a matter of days. Three people have died. Authorities have locked down about a dozen small towns and canceled events across the north, including Venice’s Carnival.
- Iran has confirmed eight deaths related to the coronavirus, the most outside of China, media reported Sunday. South Korea confirmed its seventh death.
- 4 more cases confirmed in UK
- 200 Israelis quarantined
- Japan confirms more cases; Japanese Emperor expresses hope for Tokyo Games
- Trump says US has everything ‘under control’ as he asks Congress for more money
- EU’s Gentiloni says he has ‘full confidence’ In Italian health officials
- Turkey, Pakistan close borders with Iran as confirmed cases soar
- Global Times says virus may not have originated at Hunan seafood market
- Axios reports shortages of 150 essential drugs likely.
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Update (2200ET): In a release that was about 4 hours late, China’s Hubei province said it has 398 New Coronavirus Cases As Of Feb 23 and 149 New Coronavirus Deaths. Overall, China reported an additional 409 coronavirus cases across the entire nation, and 150 additional deaths as of February 23 vs. 648 additional cases and 97 deaths on February 22. This brings the total number of cases across China to 77,150, and total deaths to 2592.
…click on the above link to read the rest of the article…
China’s ‘Fake’ Coronavirus Numbers Exposed: Doctor In Hunan Confirms 50 New Cases, Only One Reported
China’s ‘Fake’ Coronavirus Numbers Exposed: Doctor In Hunan Confirms 50 New Cases, Only One Reported
In one of many shocking videos circulating on Twitter, a recent clip of a doctor in Hunan that was widely shared by credible journalists covering the outbreak has caught our attention because it supports our theory – which has become increasingly widely adopted among the western press – that Chinese health officials are seriously undercounting the number of cases and deaths.
惊恐：湖南中医药大学第二附属医院的这位医生一天确诊50个冠状病毒患者，累到浑身湿透，没力气说话……
As the Washington Post wrote in a piece published earlier this week: “Chinese leaders and state media strike a coordinated note this week about the government’s ability to contain the outbreak, inconsistencies and sudden changes in official data are leaving experts — and journalists — struggling to plot meaningful trends, or even place any confidence in the figures coming from government.”
The WaPo reporters pointed to a clear case of manipulation where the authorities suppressed the true number of cases.
Authorities in Hubei province reported good news Thursday: There were only 349 new coronavirus cases the previous day, the lowest tally in weeks.
The bad – and puzzling – news? Wuhan, the capital of Hubei, reported 615 new cases all by itself.
Hubei authorities have changed their criteria for counting cases three times over the past week or so.
Hubei officials explained that they deducted cases that have not been confirmed through genetic tests from their total reported number of cases. Since this mistake was very, very public, we also reported on it.
But we’ve been reporting on this for weeks. The mainstream press in the US has since caught on, as the WaPo post shows. As its reporters claim, though there is no obvious smoking gun, most experts still believe China is underreporting cases based on mathematical algorithms and other methods used to project the rate of infection.
…click on the above link to read the rest of the article…
The Turn?
The Turn?
Did markets just hit a key wall and are ready for a much overdue turn? That’s the question we want to explore from a technical perspective following the sudden reversal action on Thursday and Friday as action at a key technical juncture may suggest a shift in character.
Let me make perhaps a bit of a controversial statement: It’s not the coronavirus that’s the biggest threat to the global economy, it’s the potential of a massive market selloff that would shake confidence at a critical juncture in the business cycle while the reflation trade everybody was positioning for looks increasingly fragile.
Yes, the virus, hopefully ultimately temporary, clearly has a short term effect, but rather the broader risk is the excess created by ultra-loose monetary policies that has pushed investors recklessly into asset prices at high valuations while leaving central bankers short of ammunition to deal with a real crisis. There was no real crisis last year, a slowdown yes, but central bankers weren’t even willing to risk that, instead they went all in on the slowdown. It is this lack of backbone and co-dependency on markets that has left the world with less stimulus options for when they may be really needed. Reckless.
I repeat what I’ve said before: I hope the coronavirus is not the trigger that gets associated with an eventual end to this bull market. For one, it’s the worst reason as people are dying from it, and second, it would be paraded as an excuse for the proponents of cheap money and debt spending to not learn their lesson again. They’ll just blame the virus and not the monetary monstrosity that has been created and then proceed to do it all over again, or even more so than before.
…click on the above link to read the rest of the article…
The Cost of Covid-19 Quarantine: Would You Be Financially Prepared?
The Cost of Covid-19 Quarantine: Would You Be Financially Prepared?
As the world tries frantically to contain a rapidly spreading outbreak of Covid-19, schools, public venues, tourist attractions, and workplaces are being closed in an attempt to keep even more people from contracting the illness. Quarantines and self-isolation protocols are also being instituted across the globe for those who may have been exposed.
Of course, everyone knows that millions of people in China have been in lockdown for more than a month. People are told to stay home, many businesses have ceased to operate, and Chinese New Year celebrations simply didn’t happen this year. China’s debts are all coming due now, at the worst possible time as the financial loss for the country has been astronomical. For example, car sales are down 92% and Lunar New Year celebrations and travel that usually earn a billion dollars were canceled.
And that tourism hit affects far more than just China. In 2017, Chinese outbound tourists spent $258 billionaround the world. The airline industry is bracing for a $29 billion dollar hit. All in all, this virus could end up costing the global economy more than 1.1 trillion dollars, a number that is practically unfathomable.
While the numbers cited here are outrageously large, obviously, these losses aren’t only going to affect “the economy” and “the businesses.” They’re going to have devastating effects on normal folks who just want to go to work, pay their bills, and keep living their lives normally.
A great deal has been written about the economic hits on a global scale as well as the shortages we could soon expect as production in China grinds to a halt, but what about simply being able to pay your rent when your workplace or business is ordered to shut its doors?
…click on the above link to read the rest of the article…
Italy Declares “National Emergency” As Coronavirus Cases Surge, Northern Italy On Lockdown: Virus Updates
Italy Declares “National Emergency” As Coronavirus Cases Surge, Northern Italy On Lockdown: Virus Updates
Summary:
- Italy announces 79 cases, declares “national emergency”; Nothern Italy put on lockdown.
- Japan cases triple in a week to 121
- Japan confirms “seriously ill” patient in Tokyo
- Hubei reports daily numbers
- Chinese scientists find virus in urine
- Experts propose 27 day quarantine, say 14 days likely not long enough
- Cases outside China go exponential
- 32 UK and European citizens arrive back in UK on evac flight
- Outbreak reported in South Korean psychiatric ward
- WHO team visits Wuhan; will give Monday press conference
- Iran reports 10 new cases, deaths climb to 6
- San Diego says 200 under ‘medical observation’
- Young woman infected five relatives without ever showing symptoms
- South Korea cases surge 8-fold in 4 days to 433; country reports third death
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Update (1940ET): Health officials from two South Korean provinces have reported a total of 28 new cases ahead of a national update, according to BNO.
South Korean officials in 2 regions report at least 28 new cases of coronavirus ahead of national update
https://bnonews.com/index.php/2020/02/the-latest-coronavirus-cases/ …Tracking coronavirus: Map, data and timeline – BNO NewsThe tables below show confirmed cases of coronavirus (2019-nCoV, officially known as SARS-CoV-2 or COVID-19) in China and other countries. To see a distribution map and a timeline, scroll down. There…bnonews.com
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Update (1920ET): NHK reports another case of a “seriously ill” patient in Tokyo. The man allegedly traveled to Indonesia – one of the few countries in the region that hasn’t confirmed a single case – while he was sick.
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Update (1820ET): Officials in Hubei have reported their latest figures on the outbreak, with the number of new cases doubling compared to yesterday (630 on Saturday new cases vs. 366 on Friday), while the number of confirmed deaths dipped (96 vs 106).
…click on the above link to read the rest of the article…
When US Hospitals and Military PUBLICLY Brace for a Coronavirus Pandemic, You Should Pay Attention
When US Hospitals and Military PUBLICLY Brace for a Coronavirus Pandemic, You Should Pay Attention
If you trust the numbers coming out of China (I don’t) it appears that they’re getting their coronavirus epidemic contained. Yesterday they reported the lowest number of new cases in ages, with 349 newly confirmed patients, in a dramatic drop of more than 1300 fewer cases than Tuesday.
Xinhuanet, the official Chinese government propaganda news outlet reported:
NHC spokesperson Mi Feng made the remarks at a press conference in Beijing Wednesday, citing the epidemic data in the province over the past week.
The daily count of newly cured and discharged cases in Hubei, excluding the capital city of Wuhan, has exceeded the number of newly confirmed cases for four consecutive days as of Wednesday, said Mi.
He also noted that the number of newly confirmed cases has decreased significantly since Feb. 13 in areas besides Wuhan, and the increase in the cumulative number of confirmed cases has remained flat. (source)
Of course, there’s plenty of evidence that China has toyed with the numbers all along, so it’s difficult not to take this “good news” with a grain of salt.
Particularly when hundreds of potentially infected people disembarked the Diamond Princess yesterday to make their ways home to 50 different countries via a wide variety of public transportation options.
And particularly when our own government is busily (and visibly) preparing for the potential of a massive outbreak in the United States.
We didn’t even see these kinds of preparations when we were being warned by the CDC to get ready for an Ebola outbreak back in 2014. Mercifully, we dodged the bullet on that one but it certainly wasn’t because of well-thought-out protocols and procedures. The entire thing was handled so poorly that it could have resulted in disaster. Perhaps we learned from that?
…click on the above link to read the rest of the article…
Italy Reports 1st Covid-19 Death, Locks-Down 10 Towns Amid Contagion Fears: Virus Updates
Italy Reports 1st Covid-19 Death, Locks-Down 10 Towns Amid Contagion Fears: Virus Updates
Summary:
- Italy reports 1st virus death, 15 additional cases, 10 cities on lockdown
- 34 cases in USA.
- China pledges to build 19 new hospitals in Wuhan
- Hawaii hasn’t tested any suspected cases in the state
- 253 more passengers depart the diamond princess as 11 of 13 American evacuees in Nebraska test positive
- Local authorities in China warn people will be punished for not returning to work if ordered
- WHO’s Tedros: Window for confronting virus rapidly closing
- CDC says virus tremendous health threat, warns more human to human transmission of the virus in the US likely
- First case declared in Lebanon
- Iran confirms 9 more cases as virus reaches Tehran
- South Korea reported massive jump in cases on Friday as total climbed to 204
- Global Times insinuates that US might be covering up coronavirus cases
- Health officials in Hubei ‘apologize’ for changing case confirmation ‘criteria’
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Update (1735ET): Italy’s Corriere has just reported the first death from Covid-19 – a 77 year old man in Padua, Veneto region.
Authorities in northern Italy on Friday ordered the closure of schools, bars and other public spaces in 10 towns following a flurry of new coronavirus cases.
After 5 doctors and 10 other people tested positive for the virus in Lombardy, IBTimes reports that over 50,000 people have been asked to stay at home while all public activities such as carnival celebrations, church masses and sporting events have been banned for up to a week.
In a desperate attempt to reassure a public beginning to panic, Italian Prime Minister Giuseppe Conte said “everything is under control”, and stressed the government was maintaining “an extremely high level of precaution”.
…click on the above link to read the rest of the article…
‘Weak Start To The Year’ – Maersk Warns Paralyzed Chinese Factories To Damage Global Economy
‘Weak Start To The Year’ – Maersk Warns Paralyzed Chinese Factories To Damage Global Economy
A.P. Moller-Maersk A/S, the world’s largest container shipping company, warned Thursday that the Covid-19 outbreak in China, and quickly spreading across the world, would hit earnings this year.
Maersk said factories in China are currently operating at 50-60% of capacity because the economy has ground to a halt.
Maersk reported an unexpected loss in the fourth quarter of $72 million from a profit of $46 million a year earlier. The shipper is a barometer of global trade, said revenues declined 5.6% to $9.67 billion, missing expectations of $9.4 billion, due mostly to a decline in container shipping.
Shipping volumes in both East to West and North to South routes were lower amid several years of front-loading by corporations ahead of President Trump’s tariffs. Lower demand was seen across Europe, Latin America, the US, and across Asia Pacific countries last quarter.
The shipper said 2020 guidance is filled with many uncertainties because the deadly virus can still spread outside of China and impact the global economy.
“As factories in China are closed for longer than usual in connection with the Chinese New Year as a result of the COVID-19, we expect a weak start of the year,” Maersk warned.
Maersk’s warning comes as China’s economy remains completely paralyzed, expected to slow global trade in goods in the coming months and produce increased trade uncertainties, the World Trade Organization (WTO) said this week.
“The slow start could be dampened further,” the WTO said in the report, “by global health threats and other recent developments in the first few months of the year, which are not yet accounted for in the barometer’s best-available historical data.”
…click on the above link to read the rest of the article…
Chinese Regime Deploys 1,600 Online Trolls To Suppress Information On Coronavirus
Chinese Regime Deploys 1,600 Online Trolls To Suppress Information On Coronavirus
The propaganda department in virus-stricken Hubei Province has engaged over 1,600 censors to scrub the internet of “sensitive” information relating to the coronavirus outbreak, according to an internal document obtained by The Epoch Times.
The internal report, dated Feb. 15, detailed the agency’s efforts to ramp up censorship measures. It was drafted after a speech given by Chinese leader Xi Jinping via video link on Feb. 10 to “frontline responders” of the coronavirus outbreak in Wuhan, the capital of Hubei, where the virus first broke out.
The revelations come as the Chinese regime tightens information controls over the worsening outbreak, as netizens have increasingly turned to the internet to vent their frustrations about the authorities’ response, or document what is happening on the ground.
The illness has seen a steadily growing official list of infections and deaths on a daily basis. Experts and commentators, however, believe the actual number of infections to be far greater, due to underreporting and shortages in testing kits and hospital beds—meaning many people are left undiagnosed.
1,600 Trolls Deployed
According to the document, the department has hired more than 1,600 trolls, known as the 50-cent army in China, to regulate internet speech continuously, 24/7.
The trolls, through technological and manual screening, had identified as many as 606,800 posts online with “sensitive or harmful information,” it said.
Their approach, it said, was to “timely dispel the online rumors” and “strike powerful blows offline.”
As of Feb. 14, the online censors had deleted as many as 54,000 such “rumors,” and had social media influencers write nearly 400 commentary articles to shape the narrative.
The regime’s propaganda efforts, the report said, should be directed toward promoting the effects of officials’ outbreak control measures and the “moving deeds” of volunteers, community workers, and the police.
Some professional “internet commentators” had also made 400,000 comments to “counter the negative public opinions,” according to the document.
…click on the above link to read the rest of the article…
Global Centralization Is The Cause Of Crisis – Not The Cure
Global Centralization Is The Cause Of Crisis – Not The Cure
Once you understand the globalist mindset, almost everything they do becomes rather robotic and predictable. It should not be surprising that the World Health Organization (WHO), a branch of the United Nations, has been so aggressive in cheerleading for the Chinese government and its response to the coronavirus outbreak. After all, China’s communist surveillance state model is a beta test for the type of centralization that the UN wants for the entire planet. They certainly aren’t going to point out that it was China’s totalitarian system that allowed the outbreak to spread from the very beginning.
Even now Xi Jinping is trying to rewrite history, claiming that he had been swift in responding to the crisis more than a month before he actually did. The lie that the coronavirus mutated naturally in a food and animal market in Wuhan continues to be peddled by the mainstream media even though no evidence supporting this claim exists. And China is still releasing rigged death and infection numbers while they have over 600 million people under martial law lockdown and their crematoriums continue pumping out the fumes of the dead 24 hours a day 7 days a week.
Brave health workers like Li Wenliang, who was punished by the government for warning about the virus in December, have died in the process of trying to fight against the centralized behemoth just to get vital information to the world, but that never happened, right? It was actually president Xi and the CPC that saved the day. The WHO and the CPC say so. You’ll never hear the UN praise the efforts of Li Wenliang; they want his name to disappear down the memory hole as much as the Chinese government does.
…click on the above link to read the rest of the article…
Easily overlooked issues regarding COVID-19
Easily overlooked issues regarding COVID-19
We read a lot in the news about the new Wuhan coronavirus and the illness it causes (COVID-19), but some important points often get left out.
[1] COVID-19 is incredibly contagious.
COVID-19 transmits extremely easily from person to person. Interpersonal contact doesn’t need to be very long; a taxi driver can get the virus from a passenger, for example. The virus may be transmissible even before an infected person develops symptoms. It may also be transmissible for a few days after a person seems to be over the virus; it is possible to get positive virus tests, even after symptoms disappear. Some people may have the disease, but never show symptoms.
[2] The virus likely remains active on inanimate surfaces such as paper, plastic, or metal for many days.
There haven’t been tests on the COVID-19 virus per se, but studies on similar virusessuggest that human pathogens may remain infectious for up to eight days. Some viruses that only infect animals can survive for more than 28 days. China is reported to be destroying paper currency from the hardest hit area, because people do not want to accept money which may have viruses on it. Clearly, surfaces in airplanes, trains and buses may also harbor viruses, long after a passenger with the virus has left, unless they have been thoroughly wiped down with disinfectant.
[3] Given Issues [1] and [2], about the only way to avoid spreading COVID-19 seems to be geographic isolation.
With all of today’s travel, geographic isolation doesn’t work very well in practice. People need food and medical supplies. They need to keep basic services such as electricity and garbage collection operating. Suppliers of food and other services need to come and leave the area and that tends to spread COVID-19.
…click on the above link to read the rest of the article…
The stages of the collapse
The stages of the collapse
Could the coronavirus act as a catalyst for a new global economic crisis? It certainly has that potential—but how would the crisis proceed?
In the December 2018 issue of our Q-Review, we laid out the likely scenarios of an approaching global economic collapse. But, like most things in life, such a dramatic event is unlikely to proceed in a linear fashion. There will be different stages within it.
In December 2019 we outlined these stages, which are likely five: the onset, counter-attack, flood, calamity and recovery. Here, we briefly define the characteristics of each.
The onset
Currently, there seems to be two possible ignition points for the collapse: the credit market and the European banking sector.
At the onset, stresses that have been building in the credit markets since the summer of 2019 will explode, shrinking if not eliminating entirely the exits from many parts of that market. Downgrades of corporate debt in the U.S. and peripheral sovereign debt in the Eurozone will push large fixed-income investors, including pension funds, into higher-rated bonds, leading to large-scale selling of lower-rated bonds, forcing wider spreads and even more selling.
Panic will build first in the junk bond market, then in the “investment-grade” corporate bond market, and then rapidly metastasize to engulf the stock market. A frantic retreat to ‘safe-haven’ assets, including U.S. Treasuries, German Bunds and U.K. Gilts as well as cash and precious metals will commence.
Cascading banking troubles in Europe will have the same destabilizing effects on the global stock and bond markets.
The counterattack
The second phase of the collapse will be the desperate efforts of authorities to stop the crisis by a counterattack.
These are likely to include the restarting and acceleration of QE-programs and other market support programs, gigantic fiscal stimulus, increasing trade protectionism and possibly even calls for direct debt monetization (see Q-Review 3/2019 for an explanation).
…click on the above link to read the rest of the article…
