Virus update 20th March 2020

Romanians face up to 15 years in prison if they know they have the disease, break the quarantine rules and someone gets infected and dies as a result of their actions.
Anyone failing to respect quarantine rules faces up to three years in prison and up to five if his actions leads to the infection of someone else.

Around 3,800 people have been placed in quarantine in Romania, because of returning from high-risk places or being in contact with a confirmed or suspected coronavirus patient.

Things are starting to return "not to normal but a new normal" in China, according to an article in yesterday's Daily Telegraph.



Donald Trump said finding that the malaria drug hydroxychloroquine cures the virus was a "tremendous breakthrough" and said it would be available almost immediately to fight coronavirus. But the FDA contradicted him.

Other drugs are said to be effective too. The Australians have found one, as I blogged previously.


Ambrose Evans-Pritchard, international business editor of the Daily Telegraph, writes that the EU has failed badly once more.

America has mobilized for total economic war. The Trump treasury, the Pelosi Congress, and the Federal Reserve have come together with formidable force.


Washington was slow to act. Covid-19 denialism wasted three vital weeks. But the US is now moving with the sort of determination shown after Pearl Harbour. It is an impressive beast when roused, even if it cannot alone stop markets repricing the frightening reality of an economic sudden stop for the whole planet.

It is Europe that now looks bitterly divided and incapable of meaningful action, the world’s weakest link, and rapidly becoming the greatest danger for the international financial system.

Bel Mooney put a very good post on Facebook.

"I just made a comment on somebody's timeline which I will share here. It is so depressing to read carping about Boris Johnson all over the place and the opinion that naturally Corbyn would be better. So this is what I put - and I'm not inviting discussion, just telling you what I think. Which is pretty straightforward.

"I have no doubt Corbyn would stumble along, out of his depth but doing his best - just as BJ is. And so would Keir Starmer. Which politician of any stripe has the magic bullet to see off a deadly virus, a collapsing economy, a people in need, food panics, and the rest? The people who are still carping along tribal political lines have already stripped the shelves of their brains - not only of intelligence but of decency and fellow-feeling too.'"

I agree with her. Same goes for the USA but, at the risk of being political myself, I do think it should be remembered by everyone that Joe Biden and Ursula v d Leyen condemned Trump for his ban on people coming to the EU from Schengen.

What absolutely disgusts me are the people tweeting that the Tories are happy for the poor to die. People who think like that are very contemptible. And I usually never feel contempt. Not even for David Aaronovitch or the Liberal Democrats.