Photo: CDC (original), Mapystics (rendering)
On December 31st, Chinese officials alerted the World Health Organization (WHO) to an unknown virus outbreak in Wuhan, the capital city of China’s Hubei province. Several cases of pneumonia were reported among workers in Wuhan’s busy Huanan Seafood Wholesale Market, which was consequently shut down on January 1st. On January 7th, the virus was identified as a new strain belonging to the coronavirus family and was named 2019-nCoV by the WHO. On January 11th, China announced its first death from the virus, and on January 13th, Thailand reported the first 2019-nCoV case outside China. By the end of January, the number of 2019-nCoV cases in China had soared to thousands, claiming hundreds of lives, and the virus had spread to not just neighboring regions in Asia, but also to regions in Europe, North America and Australia. On January 30th, the WHO declared the outbreak a global emergency.
Photo: Pixabay
According to the CDC, coronaviruses are a large family of viruses that are common in many different species of animals. The 2019-nCoV, like MERS and SARS, has been identified as a betacoronavirus of bat origin. Animal coronaviruses can, in rare instances, infect people and then spread between people such as with MERS, SARS, and now with 2019-nCoV, though much is unknown about how this new strain of coronavirus spreads. Person-to-person spread is believed to occur mainly via respiratory droplets produced when an infected person coughs or sneezes, similar to how influenza and other respiratory pathogens spread. Reported illnesses of confirmed 2019-nCoV infections have ranged from people with little to no symptoms to people being severely ill and dying. According to the CDC, symptoms, which include fever, cough and shortness of breath, may appear in as few as 2 days or as long as 14 days after exposure. The best way to prevent infection is to avoid being exposed to the virus. There is currently no vaccine to prevent 2019-nCoV infection.
As of February 1st, China has 11821 confirmed cases of novel Coronavirus infections, 1795 of which have been categorized as severe and 259 of which have resulted in deaths. Geographically speaking, confirmed cases have been reported in all provinces across China, as shown in the Coronavirus Outbreak map above (note that this map will be updated as new data becomes available). The Hubei province, where Wuhan is located, has the largest number of confirmed 2019-nCoV cases. An additional 132 novel coronavirus infections have been confirmed outside China as of February 1st, bringing the total the number of confirmed 2019-nCoV cases around the world to 11953. Countries that have confirmed novel coronavirus infections are shown in the Coronavirus Outbreak world map below (note that this map will also be updated as new data becomes available).
International alarm on the novel coronavirus outbreak is understandable, given its rapid spread and the fact that many details of this virus are still unknown. But this is no reason for bringing upon ourselves an unnecessary panic epidemic . Contrary to the WHO’s recommendation for not limiting either trade or travel to China, many countries have imposed travel restrictions and started mandatory quarantining. Rumors about the origin of the outbreak and dubious cures for it are now circulating on social media at rates faster than the virus itself. With less than 2% of confirmed cases outside China, maybe we should approach this with caution not panic, at least for now. As Dr. Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, the Director-General of the WHO, aptly said, "This is the time for facts, not fear. This is the time for science, not rumors. This is the time for solidarity, not stigma." After all, facts, science and solidarity are what will help researchers nail down a vaccine to protect against this new strain of coronavirus, and we sincerely hope that this happens before yet another life is lost.
Photo: Pixabay
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