The World Health Organization (WHO) officially declared coronavirus an International Public Health Emergency. A Public Health Emergency of International Concern (PHEIC) is declared by WHO when there is a global crisis affecting public health. PHEIC is defined by the World Health Organization (WHO) as an “extraordinary event”, which “constitutes a health hazard to States through the international spread of disease”, requiring “coordinated response” from many countries.
That shows that the epidemic situation caused by the corona virus (Wuhan Pneumonia) is particularly serious and spreads very quickly, so what is the corona virus disease and how dangerous it is? Let’s find out:
What is Corona Virus (Wuhan Virus)?
The “Wuhan virus” that has been constantly mentioned in recent days is a new virus of the corona strain (symbol 2019-nCoV or nCoV), which has never been discovered before. Originating from Wuhan city, Hubei province, central China. “Coronavirus” is the noun that refers to this new virus.
The corona strain is the strain of viruses that cause respiratory diseases such as SARS or Middle East Respiratory Syndrome (MERS) in 2012.
It is currently unclear where the new coronavirus emerged from, but such coronaviruses often originate from animals (hosts). There is some information that the first infected people in Wuhan were people from a large market specializing in selling seafood and animals in Wuhan.
What are the symptoms of the new coronavirus in Wuhan?
New corona virus causes acute pneumonia. People with pneumonia caused by this virus have symptoms such as cough, fever and difficulty breathing. The Guardian newspaper said that in serious cases, patients also have organ weakness.
Because this is viral pneumonia, antibiotics are not effective, and current antiviral drugs used for common flu are also ineffective.
The best way is still hospitalization for monitoring. To date, most of the people who have died from the new corona virus are elderly and have pre-existing conditions and poor health.
Possibility of spread
The new corona virus is causing fear because of the speed at which it spreads. Many people fear it will be like previous SARS and MERS pandemics. In 2002, SARS spread to 37 countries/territories, infected 8,000 people and caused 750 deaths. MERS, meanwhile, is less transmissible from person to person but is more deadly, killing 35% of the 2,500 people infected.
Currently, China has confirmed that the new corona virus, the Wuhan virus, is capable of transmitting from person to person. On January 28, an expert at the Robert Koch Institute in Germany said a man testing positive for the new virus was the first case of human-to-human transmission in Europe.
Currently, the virus has spread to 18 countries/territories. In addition to China, 17 other countries/territories with people infected with the new corona virus include: Hong Kong, Macau, Australia, Cambodia, Canada, France, Germany, Japan, Malaysia, Nepal, Singapore, South Korea, Sri Lanka , Thailand, Taiwan, America and Vietnam.
How dangerous is it?
The World Health Organization (WHO) on January 28 raised the warning level for the new corona virus from “medium” to “high”.
This is a small WHO scandal amid the fear of epidemics covering the world. This organization once assessed the swine flu epidemic at a “very high” level in 2009, but the actual results of this epidemic were not “so high”. During the period 2014 – 2016, WHO was again wrongly assessed the severity of the Ebola epidemic.
Considering the theoretical number of deaths/cases today, the mortality rate of the new corona epidemic is about 3%. However, public opinion is still very confused.
Is there a cure yet?
Up to now, at least China and Vietnam have had cases of recovery after testing positive for this new strain of corona virus. However, there is no specific medicine to treat the new virus.
On January 28, Xinhua News Agency reported that researchers in China have selected 30 drugs to test against the corona virus causing acute pneumonia in Wuhan, including existing drugs, oriental medicine and products. naturally biologically active.
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