DEADLY CONTAGION
China confirms coronavirus CAN be transmitted between humans as ‘hundreds’ are infected
A DEADLY new virus that has infected hundreds can be spread between humans, China has confirmed.
Coronavirus, which causes fever and difficulty breathing, has hit the Chinese capital Beijing after spreading like wildfire across the country.
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Coronavirus has infected at least 217 people across China and has reached beyond its borders, with four new cases in Japan, Thailand and South Korea.
And experts have now confirmed the deadly virus can move between humans.
Zhong Nanshan, a respiratory expert leading a Chinese government team, said two people in Guangdong province in southern China caught the disease from family members.
The National Health Commission task force also found that some medical workers have tested positive for the virus, the English-language China Daily newspaper said.
Human-to-human transmission could make the virus spread more rapidly and widely.
The infection first appeared in Wuhan in December and the sharp rise in cases since then comes as millions of people prepare to travel to China for the Lunar New Year holidays.
CONTAGION FEARS
It is believed to have started from people who picked it up at a fresh food market in the central Chinese city which has a population of 11 million.
And there are unverified reports that parts of Wuhan have been quarantined to stop the virus spreading after 198 cases were confirmed there.
Obtaining accurate details, especially with a developing outbreak, is difficult in China which is a one-party state where information is often suppressed.
Zhong said the two people in Guangdong had not been to Wuhan but family members had returned from the city, the China Daily said.
The Wuhan Municipal Health Commission confirmed 136 new cases of pneumonia caused by the coronavirus strain had been found in the city over the weekend, adding to 62 already known cases.
Two men aged 61 and 69 have died in Wuhan, with a third death now confirmed.
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Air passengers screened before leaving plane by medics in hazmat suits sparking fears of coronavirus spreading globally
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Some 170 people in Wuhan were still being treated in hospital as of late Sunday, officials said, including nine in critical condition.
And a shocking report by London Imperial College’s MRC Centre for Global Infectious Disease Analysis suggested that by January 12 there were as many as 1,723 cases in Wuhan City.
Chinese health authorities have not commented directly on the report.
Health experts in the UK have told the BBC that the official figure could be downplaying the epidemic and that the number of those actually infected may be closer to 1,700.
But authorities around the world, including in the US and many Asian countries, have since increased screening of travellers from Wuhan, amid fears of a global spread.
SPREADING TO OTHER COUNTRIES
Videos posted online show people in protective suits checking the temperatures of plane passengers one-by-one arriving in Macao, China, from Wuhan.
An official from the Macao Health Bureau confirmed over the phone that such checks are taking place in the southern Chinese region.
Dr Jeremy Farrar, Director of research charity the Wellcome Trust, believes the virus will spread to more countries.
He said: “Uncertainty and gaps remain, but it’s clear that there is some level of person to person transmission.
'MORE TO COME'
“We are starting to hear of more cases in China and other countries and it is likely, as this modelling shows, that there will be many more cases, in a number of countries.”
He added: “Wuhan is a major hub and with travel being a huge part of the fast approaching Chinese New Year, the concern level must remain high.
“There is more to come from this epidemic.”
What is coronavirus?
Coronavirus is an airborne virus, spread in a similar way to colds and the flu.
The virus attacks the respiratory system, causing lung lesions.
Symptoms include a runny nose, headache, cough and fever, shortness of breath, chills and body aches.
It is incredibly contagious and is spread through contact with anything the virus is on as well as infected breath, coughs or sneezes.
Symptoms include a runny nose, headache, cough and fever, shortness of breath, chills and body aches.
In most cases, you won't know whether you have a coronavirus or a different cold-causing virus, such as rhinovirus.
But if a coronavirus infection spreads to the lower respiratory tract (your windpipe and your lungs), it can cause pneumonia, especially in older people, people with heart disease or people with weakened immune systems.
There is no vaccine for coronavirus.
In 2003 an outbreak of a similar virus, SARS, infected more than 8,000 people in 37 countries before it was brought under control, killing 800 of those worldwide.
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Five individuals in Beijing and 14 in southern China's Guangdong province have also been diagnosed with the bug, state broadcaster CCTV reported today.
And seven more suspected cases have been found in other parts of the country, including in Sichuan and Yunnan provinces in the southwest and in Shanghai.
It comes as four cases were also confirmed abroad - all of them involving people from Wuhan or who had visited the city.
On Monday, South Korea reported its first confirmed case of the coronavirus.
The patient was a 35-year-old female Chinese national who had travelled from Wuhan.
And last week, two cases were reported in Thailand, with another in Japan.
The World Health Organisation will have an emergency meeting in Geneva on Wednesday to discuss whether the spread of Coronavirus constitutes an international health emergency.
FEARS FOR BRIT
A Brit tourist, Ash Shorley, 32, is also feared to be the first western victim of the illness.
He was rushed to hospital after the bug infected both lungs while he was on Koh Phi Phi island in Thailand.
The virus belongs to the same family of coronaviruses as Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome (SARS), which killed nearly 774 people globally in the early 2000s outbreak that also started in China.
Its symptoms include fever and difficulty in breathing, which are similar to many other respiratory diseases and pose complications for screening efforts.
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Most read in health news
China’s National Health Commission said on Sunday it will step up prevention efforts, but acknowledged it still doesn’t know the source of the virus.
"As more… cases are identified and more analysis undertaken, we will get a clearer picture of disease severity and transmission patterns," it wrote on Twitter.
It noted that the rise in cases in China was a result of "increased searching and testing for the virus among people sick with respiratory illness".
China identifies mystery lung virus - which has so far caused one death - as coronavirus strain for Wuhan outbreak
More to follow...
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