Emergence of a Deadly Coronavirus

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Officials in China are racing to contain a deadly new strain of virus that has infected almost 450 people and left almost 20 dead. Over the weekend, the number of cases of the "2019 novel coronavirus" or "2019-nCoV" quadrupled — and U.S. health officials confirmed the first case in the United States on Tuesday, in a man in his 30s who had recently traveled from Wuhan, China, to Seattle.

The outbreak began in Wuhan, a city of 11 million people. Many of the patients have reportedly been linked to Hua Nan Seafood Wholesale Market, a large seafood and animal market in the city, according to CBS News' Ramy Inocencio. But a rising number of people have apparently contracted the virus without exposure to the market, according to Chinese officials. On Monday, a Chinese scientist confirmed that there can be human-to-human transmission of the respiratory illness.

The virus has spread to at least five countries, including the U.S. On Tuesday, federal health officials said a man in Seattle, Wash., who had recently traveled to Wuhan is infected. The case marks the first in the country since the outbreak began. While the virus originated in China, cases have also been reported in Thailand, Taiwan, Japan, South Korea, and now the United States.

The news comes as top officials in China have reportedly warned lower-level officials to not cover up the spread of the new coronavirus, which began at an animal and seafood market in the city of Wuhan and is now said to be transmissible between humans.

Any lower-level officials who attempt to conceal new cases would “be nailed on the pillar of shame for eternity,” officials with the Central Political and Legal Affairs Commission, a top political body in the country that handles law and order, allegedly said, according to the BBC.

The warning was sparked after information was reportedly withheld from the public at the start of the outbreak. More specifically, the number of cases was underreported and the risks of the new coronavirus were understated.

Chinese President Xi Jinping has since pushed for all information regarding the outbreak to be made readily available, according to the BBC, which cited Chinese state media. He reportedly added that “all-out efforts” are being made to control the spread of the virus.

Officials with the National Institutes of Health (NIH) are working on a vaccine to combat the deadly Chinese coronavirus that’s sickened more than 400 people and killed at least 17, an NIH spokesperson told Fox News on Wednesday. The news comes as Chinese officials are reportedly warning against any attempts at a cover-up as the pneumonia-like disease continues to spread.

Sources:
Coronavirus vaccine in 'early stages' as focus turns to China's transparency
What is the deadly coronavirus illness now blamed for 17 deaths in China?

Seen this too .. TY for info.. sorry but could not resist being punny with this: Simple answer ?
stop drinking Corona beer ? or chinese fish?

If Corona beer is made from water in Mexico, could be a good answer. I know the water in Mexico makes people sick.

The Chinese government has quarantined the city of Wuhan and plans to shut down the airport and public transportation within hours amid an outbreak of the coronavirus, according to reports on the country’s social networks.

China quarantines Wuhan amid coronavirus outbreak: reports

CNN article says they’ve sequenced the genome of the virus and analysis concludes it likely originated from a couple different snake species. It probably came from snakes being sold for meat at a large fish market. Health experts remind people not to eat wild meat to avoid spreading animal viruses to people.

I bet most of the world eats wild game. Hell, we do here - people who hunt, do, anyways. But I’ve only eaten meat from hunted animals a couple dozen times in my life.. not a lot of hunters in major city centres here. But still I can’t reeeeally fault them for eating wild meat when we do it here, too.

It is overhyped. Be more worried about the flu...

It originated with bats and bats were eaten by snakes in particular the Chinese Krait.The Krait's were sold at fish markets and eaten by people and spread to people via snakes,mainly the Chinese Krait.

The snake was the Chinese Krait which got the disease from eating bats.

Does that make it the Snake Flu or the Bat flu?

Thats a good question,the Krait is the deadliest snake in the world not living in Australia,now it's found a new way of killing.We must remember the snake thing is still just a theory but the virus definatley seems to have come from fish markets in the small city of Wuhan and Chinese Kraits the likely culprit.

That's a fatality rate of just a little over 4%, meaning 96 out of every 100 people who contract the virus will recover.

The Chinese government restricted travel in two additional cities after announcing a quarantine for the city of Wuhan -- the epicenter of the deadly coronavirus -- and suspended public transportation in the locations as of Thursday evening. The move comes as Beijing also announced the cancelation of major events indefinitely, including celebrations for the Lunar New Year.

Authorities in Huanggang, in Hubei Province, which is around 50 miles southeast of Wuhan, suspended bus and train service and temporarily closed enclosed venues like movie theatres and internet cafes, the city's public television said.

Rail service in Ezhou, a smaller city south of Huanggang, is also being stopped.

Source: Dr. Oz reacts to coronavirus outbreak: Very hard to 'wall it in' once it starts

China’s deadly coronavirus may have the same death rate as Spanish flu, an expert has warned.

Deaths from the new virus rose to 17 on Wednesday with hundreds of cases now confirmed, increasing fears of widespread contagion.

The Spanish flu pandemic of 1918 is widely regarded as “the deadliest in history”, and is believed to have infected around 500 million people worldwide, killing between 20 and 50 million.

Chinese officials have confirmed 440 cases of the new coronavirus strain - 2019-nCoV - so far, with 17 deaths.

Based on existing data, the disease is said to have a 2% death rate. This means that for every 50 people who catch the infection, one will statistically die.

To put this into context, around one in every 1,000 who develop flu die, giving it a death rate of 0.1%.

“This [2019-nCoV’s death rate] could be 2%, similar to Spanish flu,” said Professor Neil Ferguson from Imperial College London.

Professor Peter Horby from the University of Oxford pointed out that fatality estimations are based on “clinical data around hospital cases”.

Of those in hospital, “15%-to-20% are severe cases”, defined as needing ventilation.

Coronaviruses as a class are common, causing everything from the common cold to epidemics like severe acute respiratory syndrome (SARS).

“Novel viruses spread much faster because we have no immunity,” Prof Ferguson said.

2019-nCoV is not the first coronavirus that has got people panicked.

SARS made headlines in the early 2000s after 774 people died across dozens of countries, mainly in Asia.

Genetic analyses reveal 2019-nCoV is more closely related to SARS than any other coronavirus.

Source: China's coronavirus could have same death rate as Spanish flu pandemic that killed 50m people

Is it a time to panic. I personally don't think it is. I think there was way too much panic about the SARS virus.

As doomsday scenarios played out on cable news and in the press, a worried world stocked up on face masks and bottled water to await the apocalypse. Except SARS didn't oblige. Just over 8,000 people ended up infected with SARS, though it did kill nearly 800 — mostly in China and Hong Kong. By July 2003, there were no more human cases of SARS and the virus is considered contained today.

The propensity to see disaster lurking around every corner means that the world is wide open to panics about everything from SARS to smallpox, and the very institutions that are charged with the responsibility for containing these problems instead lead the way in creating a global scare.

Take the WHO’s response to the SARS outbreak. Declaring a ‘global threat’ on the basis of 150 cases was excessive, particularly when followed up by unprecedented travel advisories. It seems as though the WHO was already on the look-out for The Big One, and then reacted as if SARS was it.

The following article describes how a health scare evolved into a full blown doomsday global panic.
WHO’s to blame for the SARS panic?

I also IMHO feel the symptoms of this new coronavirus appear rather weak compared to the Spanish Flu. The Spanish Flu symptoms from my perspective were closer to those of Ebola and the Black Death.

The Chinese Health Commission on Thursday released information on the 17 people who died following the outbreak of novel coronavirus that originated in the Chinese city of Wuhan.

The first victim, as Fox News previously reported, was a 61-year-old man who was diagnosed with abdominal tumors and chronic liver disease prior to falling ill. Officials in the report said the man was hospitalized on Dec. 27 and died on Jan. 9. His death was followed by a 69-year-old man who passed away on Jan 15.

Of the fatalities, 13 were men and four were women. Most of the deaths occurred in older people who had underlying health issues such as hypertension, diabetes, coronary heart disease, and Parkinson’s disease, among other health ailments.

The youngest fatality involved a 48-year-old woman who passed away on Jan. 20. She also suffered from pre-existing conditions. Two 89-year-old men were the oldest of the 17 victims, according to the report.

Source: Who are the coronavirus victims? What to know about the fatalities as the pneumonia-like illness spreads

So the fatalities are concentrated in the elderly who in many cases had debilitating conditions and may have as a result weakened immune systems. As I recall, the Spanish Flu struck down healthy people in their prime. That is another reason why a comparison of the new coronavirus to the Spanish Flu seems in my opinion unwarranted.

Might have something to do with the Chinese penchant for eating live animals

today's news
https://www.news.com.au/travel/travel-u ... f89111c0fb

Apparently young Chinese women think eating live animals will make them beautiful

Maybe this is the wake-up call to those women to take notes from young American women and use beer, wine, and liquor instead of live animals to make them beautiful!