25 February

If you study the Spanish Flu of 1918, what’s interesting is that it may not have been any more deadly than a normal flu. What may have killed so many is my theme of the week - herding sick people in large numbers into confined spaces. Notice our obsession with locking up in the face of crisis - with refugees for example, crime, cruise ship passengers and other quarantine. The greatest chance coronavirus will kill millions is likely Muslim detention camps in China, which could supercharge the virulence of the virus.