First, the covid pandemic.  China is undergoing a serious outbreak, and the   world is close to imposing a quarantine for the entire country .  However, there was   considerable New Year's Eve celebration in Wuhan , so maybe it's not so bad, at least at the site that caused this all.   Most wore masks, and feared getting infected.  Asked why they showed up into a packed crowd, the general conclusion is that after almost three years of confinement...people just wanted to have a nice time. Yet, in that  same article , the UK-based health data firm Airfinity reported that there are now 9000 DEATHS/day in China.  THE WHOLE WORLD HAD 9686 DEATHS FOR THE ENTIRE PAST WEEK, OR 1384 DEATHS/DAY.  MORE The World mortality rate for this 7-day period was 0.32%, based on 9686 deaths and 2,958,173 cases.  That is, just about 3 million cases for that week. If China's mortality rate was about the same, that would mean 2.8 million new cases/day or around 20 million new cases this past week.