............... Chinese export......................
Richard. I, for one, do wish you would stop using these terms: Chinese export, Chinese takeaway, etc. It is not correct and may be seen as offensive and lead to racism. I am no accusing you of racism and I am quite prepared to believe that you are using these terms somewhat tongue in cheek. It is the continued and repetitive use of these terms that is starting to worry me and I find it fastidious.
There is no arguing with the fact that the virus seems to have originated in China, however despite all the theories, nobody really knows who was the first person and how the virus jumped from an animal to that person. There is no way of knowing wther or not that person had anything to do with bats, wet markets or research. It may well be that it was a kind person like our next door neighbour who, the other night, caught a bat that had accidentally flown into her house, and put it outside in the garden.
WHO specifically recommends the use of a name that is not related directly to the country of origin of any epidemic specifically to avoid racist connotations. We have seen both acts of racism against Chinese and acts of kindness from Chinese. The Chinese residents of a tower block in Milan, none of whom were CV19 positive, distributed medical masks free of charge to all the residents. Not to mention the medical and scientific assistance that arrived from China to help Italy.
If the next, because there will be a next, outbreak of an epidemic seem to start in the UK should we call it the "Brit 'n chips" or some such? I don' t recall BSE (though not exclusive to the UK) being called the "British Export", and as a matter of fact "Spanish Flu" did not started in Spain.
Tme to give it a rest Rich. The virus is COVID-19, and in its serious infection form is SARS-CoV-2.
Thank you for your understanding.
