Unless you live under a rock, you’d have known about the Wuhan virus. But as days go by, more details about the mysterious virus were revealed, and today could be the day that would go down to history as the day of a big discovery—if this becomes a deadly outbreak, that is.
Lest you’ve not been following the news, here’s a brief summary:
- The mysterious Wuhan virus, which is now commonly known as the “new coronavirus” or “2019-nCoV”, infected people from a live animal market in Wuhan on 31 December 2019
- Since then, details of the virus are unclear; no one knows if it can be transmitted from human to human
- On 11 January 2020, China stated that there has been no new cases since 3 or 5 January 2020 (there have been different reports)
So, by then, it seemed like everything’s rather safe, and authorities are just playing it safe with all the screenings and whatnot.
But on 16 January 2020, things took a turn when Japan informed WHO that a person has been tested positive for 2019-nCoV—that means it wasn’t the end yet.
And to make things worse, the person hadn’t even visited the market, but merely had close contact with an affected person in Wuhan.
Which could imply one thing: it could be transmitted human-to-human.
More Cases and Bad News About 2019-nCoV from Then On
Soon, a person in Thailand became the second person outside of China to be infected. On 19 January 2020, the first confirmed case outside of Wuhan was detected, followed by a confirmed case in South Korea the next day.
And yesterday night marked the beginning of yet another SARS period.
Human-to-Human Transmission Confirmed
Yesterday (20 January 2020), after Beijing, Guangdong and Shanghai registered their confirmed cases, China’s National Health Commission confirmed that the coronavirus can be transmitted between humans.
And the evidence of human-to-human came today.
Which leads to this article:
China Just Confirmed 291 Cases of Wuhan Virus
Yesterday, the number of confirmed cases was at 218 and there have been three deaths.
Today, China state media reported that the number of confirmed cases now stands at a whopping 291—a sharp increase of 73 new cases in a day. And the number of deaths rose to six.
Yesterday, only 90 people were quarantined but today, the number spiked to 922, most probably due to new evidence of human-to-human transmission.
WHO Announces Emergency Meeting
With such severity, whereby even 15 medical workers were infected with 1 in critical condition, WHO (World Health Organisation) announces that a key emergency committee would meet this week to discuss about the infections.
The virus comes at an untimely period, as it would be Chinese New Year this Saturday, whereby many people would be travelling which could increase the risk of a major outbreak.
Hong Kong Scientists Believe Infections Are Much More Serious
Over in Hong Kong, a team of scientists projected that the number of infected people should be much higher, at a range of about 1,300 to 1,700 from the onset of the outbreak to 17 January. Their projection is based upon maths and historical data of SARs and MERS.
Back in 2003, SARS killed nearly 800 worldwide before it was contained.
