(CNN Spanish) – The coronavirus outbreak is an international public health emergency, as stated by the World Health Organization on Thursday. The decision was made for confirmed cases of transmissions of the virus from person to person in places other than China, where the virus originated. First it was a case in Germany, and then in the US.
More than 200 people have died, there are more than 9,700 cases in mainland China and the virus is already present in more than 20 other countries.
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One of the questions that most worries the public is how the coronavirus can be transmitted, especially in light of the new evidence.
Dr. Anthony Fauci, a leading infectious disease doctor in the US, said Friday that people can spread the coronavirus even when they are not showing symptoms.
Fauci referred to a study published Thursday and says that “there is no doubt that asymptomatic transmission is happening.”
China is a country from which millions of e-commerce shipments originate through platforms such as AliExpress, Amazon, Wish and more, which has left many wondering if they are at risk for the packages they receive from China.
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The SARS and MERS viruses, epidemics that left hundreds dead in Asia and that are cousins of the Wuhan coronavirus, had a low survival at room temperature objects, said Dr. Jan Messonnier, director of the Center for Immunization, on January 27 and US respiratory diseases of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, in a call with journalists.
For Messonier, there is a “very low risk, if there is a risk” that a product that is shipped at room temperature and that travels several days can spread the virus.
“We don’t know for sure if this virus will behave in exactly the same way,” said Messonnier, but there is no evidence to support the transmission of the virus through imported products.
What has been proven, as announced to the Health Commission of China, is that the coronavirus can be transmitted from person to person through something called “droplet transmission,” which is when a virus passes from an infected person to another when you sneeze or cough. Direct contact with an infected patient is also a way of becoming infected.
With information from Elizabeth Cohen, John Bonifield and Michael Nedelman of CNN.
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