Coronavirus leading to cancellation?

[Daniel Gormally]

I guess a lot of tournaments will get cancelled now?

[John McKenna]

Looks like things could end up going that way, Danny.

Perhaps smaller events might be able to continue in a worst case scenario.

In Japan, which is obviously ahead of the UK in the spread of Covid-19 (see link below for details), the following two things have just occurred -

Last weekend (Sat. 22 & Sun. 23 Feb. 2020) the Chiba (a region just to the east of Tokyo - roughly the equivalent of Essex) Chess Ch. took place.

35 players participated and that is not bad for Japan where "International Chess", as they call it, is a minority game. However, a slightly higher number might have been expected, perhaps.

It was 6 round 45 min.. + 30 sec. tourney with 3 rounds each day.

FM Simon Bibby, an old, lapsed forumite, came 1st= with Tran Thanh Tu of Vietnam on 5/6.

Then earlier today -

TOKYO

Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe on Wednesday called for sports and cultural events to be scrapped or curtailed for two weeks as the country battles to stem coronavirus contagion amid mounting concerns the 2020 Tokyo Olympics could be cancelled...

https://japantoday.com/category/nationa ... rus-spread

In addition, FIDE have announced this -

"Zhansaya Abdumalik will replace Zhao Xue at WGP in Lausanne" (the event starts 1st Mar.)

https://fide.com/news/375

[Nick Grey]

Coronavirus = minimum 2 WEEKs Self isolation.

We do not want a 28 days later pandemic but with tourists arriving with bags from a city on the list is something on the public health radar and events cancelled.

Schools are receiving the info so I suggest you check

[Nick Grey]

is not shaking hands enough?

[Nick Grey]

Coronavirus = minimum 2 WEEKs Self isolation.

We do not want a 28 days later pandemic but with tourists arriving with bags from a city on the list is something on the public health radar and events cancelled.

Rome on list.

Schools are receiving the info so I suggest you check.

[John McKenna]

TOKYO Thurs. 27th Feb. 2020

A woman working as a tour bus guide in Japan tested positive for the coronavirus for a second time, Osaka's prefectural government said Thursday, the first person in the country to do so amid growing concerns about the spread of the infection.

The second positive test comes as the number of confirmed cases in Japan rose to 186 Thursday from around 170 the day before. Tokyo has urged big gatherings and sports events be scrapped or curtailed for two weeks to contain the virus while pledging the 2020 Olympic Games will still go ahead in the city.

The 186 cases reported by Japan's health ministry are separate from 704 reported from an outbreak on a cruise liner that was quarantined off Tokyo earlier this month. A total of seven people have died, including four from the ship.

The woman, a resident of Osaka, tested positive on Wednesday after developing a sore throat and chest pains, the prefectural government said in a statement, describing her as being in her 40s. She first tested positive in late January and was discharged from the hospital after recovering on Feb 1, according to the statement.

The health ministry confirmed the case was the first in Japan where a patient tested positive for coronavirus for a second time after being discharged from hospital, the Nikkei newspaper said.

Though a first in Japan, cases of second positive tests have been reported in China, where the disease originated late last year. The outbreak has spread rapidly and widely, infecting about 80,000 people globally and killing nearly 2,800, the vast majority in mainland China.

"Once you have the infection, it could remain dormant and with minimal symptoms, and then you can get an exacerbation if it finds its way into the lungs," said Philip Tierno Jr, Professor of Microbiology and Pathology at NYU School of Medicine.

He said much remains unknown about the virus. "I'm not certain that this is not bi-phasic, like anthrax," he said, meaning the disease appears to go away before recurring.

Asked to comment on prospects for the Olympic Games going ahead in Tokyo this summer, Prof Tierno said, "The Olympics should be postponed if this continues ... There are many people who don't understand how easy it is to spread this infection from one person to another."

Japan has changed its strategy in combating the contagion, seeking to slow its spread and minimize the number of deaths...

Japan Today

https://japantoday.com/category/nationa ... l-recovery

NB: the reference to 'anthrax' should not cause undue alarm since Covid-19 is nowhere near as lethal.

[Nick Grey]

I was thinking closer to home.
I have 2 banker relations in isolation - clients colleagues .
More schools closing.
We cancelled a works do in china town.
In Paris Monday decision on major events.

Hopefully all the glasses cleaning is OK but as for tube Crossrail Canary Wharf we may be in '12 Monkeys' scenarios.

[JustinHorton]

We cancelled a works do in china town.

What was your thinking there

[Paul McKeown]

Thank you, Nick, but irrelevant to the OP.

[John McKenna]

We cancelled a works do in china town.

What was your thinking there

Presumably the "thinking there" was along the lines of loads of other customers of Chinese restaurants. Namely - that it is better to be safe than sorry.

Meanwhile -

A surprise announcement to which there's a lot of confusion and some resistance -

TOKYO

Prime Minister Shinzo Abe's abrupt request on Thursday for all of Japan's schools to be closed from next week through early April amid concern over the spread of the new coronavirus has triggered confusion in the country, with bureaucrats expressing anger.

The instruction, which comes as Abe has been under fire for a delayed response to prevent the virus from spreading in the country, is a reversal from the government policy adopted earlier this week. The sudden move prompted an education ministry official to speculate that the prime minister "just wanted to show his leadership, as he was put into a corner politically."

In a meeting of a government task force to fight the virus, Abe said the government plans to request all elementary, junior high and high schools in Japan to close from Monday until the end of a spring break through early April...

Japan Today

https://japantoday.com/category/nationa ... n#comments

Also, New Zealand has now confirmed its first case of coronavirus.

[JustinHorton]

We cancelled a works do in china town.

What was your thinking there

Presumably the "thinking there" was along the lines of loads of other customers of Chinese restaurants. Namely - that it is better to be safe than sorry.

What kind of ignorant racist nonsense is this? You think this is something to do with Chinese restaurants?

[David Sedgwick]

What kind of ignorant racist nonsense is this? You think this is something to do with Chinese restaurants?

Doesn't China Town attract Chinese visitors to the UK, who are more likely than others to be infected?

My preceding sentence may be ignorant, but I don't think that it's racist.

[JustinHorton]

What kind of ignorant racist nonsense is this? You think this is something to do with Chinese restaurants?

Doesn't China Town attract Chinese visitors to the UK, who are more likely than others to be infected?

Does it? Are they? Has there been any health warning to avoid this area?

Are there any consequences for anybody when people just make assumptions like this?

[John McKenna]

What kind of ignorant racist nonsense is this? KYou think this is something to do with Chinese restaurants?

Doesn't China Town attract Chinese visitors to the UK, who are more likely than others to be infected?

My preceding sentence may be ignorant, but I don't think that it's racist.

David, I do not think anything that you and I have said in this thread is either ignorant or racist.

Justin is leading a very sheltered life these days out in the sticks, somewhere in Spain, I believe. His village may not even have a Chinese restaurant.

In London's China town things are very different and you don't have to be ignorant or racist to know the increased risk if you go there. Not only are there tourists from all over including Chinese ones, of course, many of the restaurant staff have strong links and ties to both Hong Kong and mainland China.

For what it's worth, I have read that the outbreak in N. Italy was linked to a Chinese couple who dId a tour of the region before testing positive for Covid-19.

[And, by the way, I played chess for a couple or three hours sitting next to a player of Chinese extraction in a league match on Wed. I was happy to do so as I estimated the risk to me to be negligible as I had both played and played next to him before.

In future if I find myself playing in close proximity to a Chinese person who I don't know I will just have to try to estimate the potential risk and act accordingly, but without the inclusion of any ignorant or racist considerations coming into play.]

Closer to home -

Sky News27 February 2020, 21:15 GMT

Schools in the UK could be closed for more than two months if the coronavirus outbreak intensifies and becomes "out of control", England's chief medical officer has said...

https://uk.news.yahoo.com/coronavirus-u ... 00742.html

[JustinHorton]

.
In future if I find myself playing in close proximity to a Chinese person who I don't know I will just have to try to estimate the potential risk and act accordingly

This sort of thing is deeply ignorant and racist and this forum should not play host to it.

Aside from the virus itself, the biggest danger here is ignorance.