Back in 2003, SARS killed 774 people. China and Hong Kong were hit the hardest: China registered 349 deaths while Hong Kong registered 299 deaths. In total, China and Hong Kong had a total of 648 deaths.
Throughout the world, the deadly SARS virus infected 8,096 people, with the virus being confirmed in a whopping 29 countries (if you consider China and Hong Kong separate countries).
By now, you should know that the Wuhan virus hasn’t been merciful as it just registered a totality of 34,875 infections worldwide—almost four times more than SARS.
And the deaths?
It’s now more than the total number of deaths in China and Hong Kong during the SARS outbreak.
Number of Wuhan Virus Deaths in China Exceeds SARS Deaths in China + Hong Kong
Today, it’s reported that an additional 86 people had died from the virus, with 81 of them from Hubei province.
In total, the number of fatality in China alone now stands at 722.
You won’t need a calculator to know that the death toll isn’t looking good, with it overtaking the number of SARS deaths in China and Hong Kong combined.
If we add the two other deaths outside of China, the total would be 724.
Now, remember: the total number of SARS death is 774, and given the history of how many Wuhan virus deaths were reported daily, it could only mean one thing:
Wuhan Virus Might Overtake Overall SARS Death Tomorrow
And here’s why you should start to be socially responsible if you’ve not done so: the Wuhan virus outbreak doesn’t seem to be slowing down now, but the death toll might exceed the overall SARS deaths by tomorrow.
While this looks worrying, do note that the fatality rate of Wuhan virus isn’t as bad as SARS: if the reported Wuhan virus numbers from China are to be believed, the fatality rate for the Wuhan virus is at about 2%, while SARS is about 9.6%.
Singapore at DORSCON Code Orange
And as you probably know by now, the DORSCON Level in Singapore is now at Orange, which is the level we should be at during the SARS outbreak if DORSCON Level had existed back then.
This means temperature checks would be conducted at more premises, and large-scale events should be cancelled if possible. Schools still go on, though; if you’ve received a screenshot pertaining to some school closure by CNA, that’s fake news.
But this doesn’t mean you need to hoard hundreds of household essentials to isolate yourself at home like there’s a zombie outbreak, so please: don’t wipe out all the rice and instant noodles from NTUC FairPrice. Yesterday, I just wanted to buy one pack of biscuits for Netflix and gave up simply because everyone’s queuing as if a war’s going to break out.
Stay vigilant, not stay kiasu.
