Three large American airports will immediately check travelers from the Chinese city of Wuhan, where a new corona virus has appeared. JFK Airport in New York, San Francisco International and Los Angeles International will screen passengers for symptoms that indicate the virus. Hong Kong, Singapore, Thailand and South Korea also announced this earlier.
The outbreak of the lung virus, which is related to SARS and MERS, began in Wuhan late last month. More than forty people fell ill, two of whom died. The virus was also detected in Japan and Thailand this week in people who had been to China.
Employees of the Erasmus MC help China with research into the corona virus, about which little is known about. According to Dutch researchers, the outbreak appears to be reasonably under control for the time being, but British experts have doubts about this.
Scientists from the MRC Center for Global Infectious Disease Analysis in London, who also advise the World Health Organization, suspect that not 40 people have been infected, but possibly even 1700. This is mainly because the virus has also appeared in other countries. Researcher Neil Ferguson says to the BBC that he is now much more worried than a week ago.
The scientist points to the fact that people can transmit the virus. In addition, the Chinese New Year will be celebrated next week, which means that millions of people are expected to travel to their families. This increases the risk of contamination.
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