The new coronavirus, which is spreading faster and wider than similar respiratory diseases such as SARS or MERS, killed 38 people in China yesterday as concerns about the severity and mutation of the disease mount.
The World Health Organization, who initially attempted to minimize the severity of the epidemic, will meet today to discuss whether the virus rises to a global emergency.
“Although the numbers outside China are still relatively small, they hold the potential for a much larger outbreak,” said WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus.
In America, Dr. Nancy Messonnier with the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention downplayed concerns, telling reporters the disease posed a “low risk” after 195 people were flown from Wuhan, China, to Riverside County, California, on Wednesday.
Republican Sen. Tom Cotton has called for a travel ban and warned the outbreak is “much worse” than Chinese authorities claim. “There was a 28% increase in coronavirus cases overnight in China,” tweeted Cotton on Thursday. “Make no mistake, though: these aren’t ‘new’ cases. Just what China is willing to admit.”
Fifteen countries have confirmed cases of coronavirus, including Germany and Japan, where “human-to-human” transmission has infected people who haven’t traveled to China.
In China, 50 million people and 18 cities have been effectively quarantined as the Chinese government scrambles to erect temporary hospitals to treat patients. It is believed the virus emanated from a wildlife market in Wuhan. The Chinese New Year has exacerbated the spread as millions travel across the country to visit friends and family.
Videos shared on Twitter show ghastly scenes in which people infected with the virus simply collapse in the street as doctors wearing hazmat suits tend to the illness.
Major cities have been deserted and buildings put on lockdown as panic grips the nation. One Chinese villager, guarding the edge of his town with a massive spear in hand, sat atop a sign that read: “Outsiders forbidden from entering.”
