We all know that certain governments can't be trusted to be open about serious internal matters (look at our own). It's the usual story of not wanting to create a panic. The idea of erring on the side of caution should apply here.

This is a dangerous distortion of what was actually said in the report from the U.K. Health Authorities which was leaked to the Sun newspaper. They said that In the event of the worse case scenario that SHOULD 80% of the population become affected by the Coronavirus then up to 500,000 COULD die. They then went on to stress that this was NOT what they expected to happen, but was what they had to plan for to be sure they could cope, It is most irresponsible to misrepresent the facts and is why people are becoming panicked and beginning to hoard and stockpile food and other commodities. I don’t know where you got your figure of 1.5 million deaths in the UK...that is a ridiculous exaggeration of 3 times the figure of 500,000, which itself was only a worse possible estimate. Your alarmist figures regarding how many Chinese may or may not have died are purely figments of your imagination with no reason behind them except to cause fear and alarm and mistrust of China. This is a developing crisis, and bad enough without fear-mongering and exaggerated reports being circulated here.

Knowing who has it and who doesn't, is kinda pointless. Think back to how HIV AIDS was handled when it first started but wasnt really understood very well. Health fell into two catagories. 1 Personal protection/safe sex, because you never know. 2 trying to find ways to treat people who were sick, so they didn't die. Later on, when the disease was better contained, mapping became more prevalent.

I struggle to understand how anyone know how many cases are anywhere.

Is every person with mild muscle soreness or a dry cough being tested? These are the symptoms shown in 80% of cases. Isnt it nearly impossible to get tests in the US? Does Chima have more tests or do all the people report mild symptoms of unknown origin (even if it means they could be quarantined or who knows what..) I'm not sure I would if I was in China.

China have a much better “control “ of its population. If they say you stay put then that’s what happens, unlike most western countries.

I expect it may/ most likely to get pretty bad. That said, please cite articles saying UK looking at 80%. Nothing I've read says that.