I've spent an hour and a bit, maybe more trawling through translated news sites in far flung places. Thus far Africa seems to be the only place that is as switched on as the UK.
If I was living in South America right now I would either be blissfully ignorant of the threat, or mostly ignorant, but with the promise of immune system boosting `supplements' to get me through the crisis and gods supporting hand ... god of course providing that support from socially isolated ecclesiastical kitchens worldwide, ably supported by fabulous technology created in laboratories by scientists thus allowing the religious to spout irrelevant and meaningless mumbo jumbo (beautifully and ironically caveat-ed in the the sensible countries, with sound scientific advice, that will actually help if you pay attention).
Russia, who knows? The independents in Russia seem to be saying the same things as TASS, which isn't much, and mostly seems to be concerned with Russia's new tanks and submarines. Covid is very much something in the background and either Russia has climactic advantage at the moment (maybe Covid doesn't do well in the cold, though given Russia's size I think the weather conditions are mostly irrelevant)... or they are lying through their teeth... one of the two.
The Middle-east, again difficult to tell, and especially as the middle-east news crosses over significantly with the North-African Arabic news. Needless to say, a certain religious sect we all know and dislike intently actually seems to be making some inroads in reducing the chances of some people catching and passing on Covid-19 ... by blowing them up.
I think what is most worrying is the fact that most of these regions are reporting on regions external to their own, as if in some way by pointing at Europe or America and saying `they're in the shit over there' in some way makes the various domestic situations look better. Smokescreen news and politics, very concerning.
So my friends, my gut says says the marathon isn't going to be the disease in the UK, the marathon is going to be keeping our borders closed to travellers for far longer than we currently think, foreign holidays probably going to be something of a luxury again for a couple of years at least. And lets not understate the potential for apocalyptic disintegration of social order in the third and developing world, through a mix of misinformation, corruption, lack of infrastructure and believing that the magic man in the sky is going to save you ... if not here then in the next life.
So while we all enjoy our very middle-class, first world live-streaming, House-Party, Facebook, Whatsapp, online shopped, jobs about the house and garden with a board game renaissance pandemic. Spare a thought for all those `Shithole Countries', the ones that bring you avocados, out of season and exotic fruit, coffee, tea and rice, because a quick whiz round the web tells you that all those things come from the countries that are least able to support their populations as more of the shit hits the fan.
