I wasn't going to make further comment on this affair but I'm unable to resist. Presently official Chinese state media has attributed a worldwide coronavirus death toll of 906, virtually all of whom within China. To the best of my knowledge 100% of fatalities were of east-Asian origin. It seems 100% is the recovery rate of the very few Caucasians and others who became infected.

Let's say for argument's sake and in the interests of simplicity that this virus has been doing the rounds for one month (it's longer but still), in the same one month time frame prior to the virus' appearance 600 thousand Chinese citizens died every month, or just over 20 thousand each and every day. Assuming the Chinese are reporting the true numbers then the hysteria is indeed massively overhyped fear-mongering. But if it is and the Chinese know it why have they locked down dozens of their cities and their 400 million residents plus do tremendous harm to their economy and reputation?

As well as those cities and regions they've quarantined, giant cities such as Shanghai and the capital city Beijing are virtually deserted - without them being ordered to stay indoors - as any number of videos published by Westerners living there easily confirm to be true. Their citizens appear convinced some terrible plague is afoot.

Other videos have emerged showing what seem like perfectly healthy people being dragged from their homes and off the streets by police and health workers. Speculation is rife that the virus restrictions are being used as cover to arrest and disappear every person the Chinese Communist Party view as a threat. It's also being surmised as an opportunity to cull swathes of its aged population who cost a fortune to maintain via health care and pension payments.

Could any government be so evil as to release a new type of mild flu to then exaggerate its danger inside its borders while simultaneously downplaying its danger for the rest of the world purely to kill those citizens it doesn't want live any longer?