What is coronavirus?
In keeping with the WHO, coronaviruses are a household of viruses that cause diseases ranging from the frequent cold to more severe ailments similar to extreme acute respiratory syndrome (SARS) and the Middle East respiratory syndrome (MERS).
These viruses were originally transmitted between animals and people. SARS, for instance, was transmitted from civet cats to humans while MERS moved to people from a type of camel.
Several known coronaviruses are circulating in animals that have not but infected humans.
The name coronavirus comes from the Latin word corona, which means crown or halo. Under an electron microscope, the image of the virus appears like a solar corona.
The novel coronavirus, identified by Chinese authorities on January 7 and since named COVID-19, is a new strain that had not been beforehand recognized in humans. Little is known about it, although human-to-human transmission has been confirmed.
What are the signs?
According to the WHO, signs of an infection embody fever, cough, shortness of breath and breathing difficulties.
In more extreme cases, it may well lead to pneumonia, a number of organ failure and even death.
Current estimates of the incubation interval – the period of time between an infection and the onset of signs – range from one to 14 days. Most contaminated people show signs within 5 to six days.
However, infected patients can also be asymptomatic, that means they don’t display any symptoms despite having the virus in their systems.
Read more on what the coronavirus does to your body in case you catch it here.
How deadly is it?
With more than 2,004 recorded deaths, the number of fatalities from this new coronavirus has surpassed the toll of the 2002-2003 SARS outbreak, which additionally originated in China.
SARS killed about 9 percent of these it infected – practically 800 people worldwide and more than 300 in China alone. MERS, which didn’t spread as widely, was more deadly, killing one-third of those it infected.
While the new coronavirus is more widespread in China than SARS when it comes to case numbers, the mortality rate remains considerably decrease at approximately 2 %, in response to WHO.
What is being done to stop it from spreading?
Scientists around the globe are racing to develop a vaccine but have warned that one is unlikely to be available for mass distribution earlier than 2021.
Meanwhile, Chinese authorities have effectively sealed off Wuhan and placed restrictions on journey to and from a number of different cities, affecting some 60 million people.
Many worldwide airlines have cancelled flights to China. Some nations have banned Chinese nationals from getting into their territories and several more have evacuated their citizens from Wuhan.
The place did the virus originate?
Chinese health authorities are still making an attempt to determine the origin of the virus, which they say likely got here from a seafood market in Wuhan where wildlife was additionally traded illegally.
On February 7, Chinese researchers said the virus could have spread from an contaminated animal species to humans through illegally-trafficked pangolins, which are prized in Asia for meals and medicine.
Is this a global emergency?
The outbreak now constitutes a global health emergency, the WHO said on January 30.
The decision to sound the highest-level alarm was made after the primary cases of human-to-human transmission outside China had been confirmed.
The international health alert is a call to nations all over the world to coordinate their response under the guidance of the United Nations health agency.
There have been 5 global health emergencies since 2005 when the declaration was formalised: swine flu in 2009, polio in 2014, Ebola in 2014, Zika in 2016 and Ebola once more in 2019.
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