OKAY, THIS IS GETTING WEIRD: China reports outbreak of deadly bird flu among chickens in Hunan province, close to coronavirus epicentre of Wuhan. First the swine flu, then the coronavirus, now this? “The H5N1 avian flu virus, often called bird flu, causes severe respiratory disease in birds and is contagious to humans. The virus was first detected in 1996 in geese in China and is especially deadly for poultry. It is possible, but difficult, to transmit bird flu from person to person, according to the World Health Organisation (WHO).” So possibly a public health problem, but mostly an agricultural and food supply problem at present.

Is Xi going to face seven more plagues before it’s over? At least it won’t be hard to persuade the Chinese to just eat the frogs.