Nuked A new virus appeared in Wuhan, China, at the beginning of December 2019. The World Health Organization named the virus covid-19. It references the type of virus and the year it emerged.
So far, there have been over 92,000 confirmed cases and 3,131 deaths. The majority of the illnesses are still in China, but the rate of new cases has slowed. There are large outbreaks of the disease in South Korea, Italy, Iran, and Japan.
The Verge will update this page with all the latest news and analysis. Our hope is to answer all of your questions as people work to understand this virus and contain its spread.
An unknown, new virus was causing pneumonia-like illness in the city of Wuhan. Public health officials from China quickly determined that it was a coronavirus.
Since the start of the century, two other coronaviruses have jumped to humans, causing the SARS outbreak in 2002 and the MERS outbreak in 2012.
The first patient to get sick did not have any contact with the market. Experts are still trying to trace the outbreak back to its source.
The genetic sequence of the new virus is 96 percent identical to one coronavirus found in bats. Both SARS and MERS originated in bats.
The new virus is n’t SARS, although that also began in China. Because it comes from the same viral family as SARS, it has some similarities. Scientists and public health officials can use what they’ve learned from the past outbreak to try to stop this one.
China lied to the who about SARS. Is it lying about this, too?. China lied about SARS, according to who.
China is allowing a team of experts to assist Chinese public health officials. During the SARS outbreak, officials attempted to conceal cases from who inspectors. This time, officials quickly reported the outbreak of the new virus to the who.
Us Department of health and Human Services also said China has been more transparent than they were with SARS. The US Department said the Chinese government’s level of cooperation is completely different from what we experienced in 2003.
Wuhan police investigated citizens for spreading what it called rumors online at the start of the outbreak. There were early concerns that Chinese officials were undercounting the number of illnesses.
China is n’t the only country known for concealing the extent of public health problems. In the US, dozens of cities have concealed the amount of lead in their public water supply.
It takes information about both how severe an illness is and how easily it can spread. Epidemiologists often use this tool to assess new strains of the flu.
If something affects millions, the small percentage it kills will still be a high number of fatalities. If something does n’t affect millions, it kills only a small percentage of people.
Who named the illness caused by the coronavirus covid-19. The who named it as’K’ and’frivo-19′ for the year when the disease emerged.
The symptoms of covid-19 have ranged from mild to severe. That’s 80 percent of the cases that we know about. It’s still possible that there are many more mild cases of the illness that have n’t been flagged.
The fatality rate for SARS was about 14 to 15 percent. Most deaths have been in older people and those who have underlying health issues, like heart disease, hypertension, and diabetes.
In China, sick people have been infecting others through person-to-person transmission since the start of January. Clusters of high numbers of cases have appeared in Italy, Iran and South Korea.
Early evidence suggests that the virus jumps between people who are in very close contact with each other. It probably spreads when an infected person sneezes or coughs.
Chinese officials have said that they have seen cases where people with the virus infected others before they start showing symptoms. Research out of China showed that people without symptoms still have high levels of the virus in their throats and noses.
Even if there is some asymptomatic transmission, in all the history of respiratory borne illness, it probably would n’t significantly affect the outbreak.’an epidemic is not driven by asymptomatic carriers,’ says Anthony Fauci, director of the National Institute of Allergy and infectious diseases.
Who says each sick person will go on to infect, on average, between 1.4 and 2.5 additional people. Other teams of researchers have published their own estimates.
The r0 is the mathematical representation of how well an infection might be able to spread. For comparison, the r0 for SARS was between two and five. The higher the number, the more potentially spreadable it can be.
remdesivir is an antiviral medication originally developed to treat Ebola. There are clinical trials testing it in patients in China and in the US.
Research teams and pharmaceutical companies are working to develop a vaccine that can protect people from infection. However, vaccine development takes a long time.
You can protect yourself with the same measures you’d take to protect yourself against the flu. Wash your hands, cover your mouth when you cough, and stay away from people who are sick.
It’s still flu season, and high levels of flu activity are n’t expected to die down anytime soon. It’s not too late to get a flu shot!.
Contact your doctor if you live in the US and have a fever, a dry cough, or have been in contact with someone who has a confirmed case of covid-19. Call your doctor in the U.S. or have contact with a person who has been to one of those places.
Level 4 is the most severe warning issued. It applies only to areas with a’greater likelihood of life-threatening risks’.
There are level 3 travel advisories for China, Iran, Italy and South Korea. The CDC recommends people avoid non-essential travel to those countries.
Many countries have travel restrictions in place and are placing travelers in quarantine if they’re suspected of having the disease. Travelers should prepare for their plans to be disrupted if the situation changes.
Dozens of other cities were placed under effective quarantine to try and slow the spread of the virus into other countries. Many canceled celebrations for the lunar New year, a huge holiday in China.
For many migrant workers this is their only holiday off all year. It is the only time they see their families back in distant villages.
China also suspended public gatherings, isolated sick people and aggressively tracked their contacts. China also had a dedicated network of hospitals to test for the virus.
The number of new infections reported in China has been declining. Who officials say transmission is slowing down – and their containment measures are working.
The CDC is using its guidelines for pandemic influenza as a starting point. People in the US should prepare for disruptions to everyday life.
Nine people in the U.S. have died of the virus. There is an ongoing outbreak at a nursing home in Washington state.
There are cases in California, New York, Washington, Oregon, and Florida in people who did not have contact with a person known to be infected with covid-19. The source of those illnesses is unknown, and it may mean the virus is spreading through communities in the United States.
The CDC updated testing guidelines to allow doctors to test people they suspect of having covid-19 even if they had not been to a country with ongoing spread of the virus. The guidance still says that people without those exposures should only be tested if they’re ill enough to be hospitalized.
The CDC also plans to do more widespread surveillance for the virus to see if there are cases it is missing. Problems with testing kits slowed its start to the start of testing.
Growth in case counts in S Korea, Italy, Iran reflects testing strategy. We are n’t doing enough surveillance to understand when/if/how much community spread.
All flights from China to the US are being diverted to seven airports. Any US citizen who has traveled to China will be asked to self-quarantine for 14 days.
The who said countries should not restrict travel or trade in their response to the virus. That decision is not supported by the who.
Trump announced new travel restrictions on Iran at the start of March. Foreign nationals who have traveled to Iran in the past 14 days will not be allowed to enter the US.
How is the virus affecting businesses that operate in China?. How is it affecting businesses in the country?. The virus affects businesses in China.
A number of airlines, including United Airlines, British Airways, and Air Canada, are canceling some or all flights to and from China. United Airlines said their decision to do so was due to a drop in demand for those flights.
South Korea’s LG banned travel to China completely. Facebook and Razer told employees who had recently returned from China to work from home.
