Wuhan’s new coronavirus continues its worrying advance. After last Thursday the first two cases abroad will be detected – in Thailand and Japan -, this weekend the Chinese authorities have confirmed a new wave of infections in Wuhan and the first three positive in other cities of the country. Also a new mortal victim, the third deceased to date Because of this strange ailment.
The number of infected has skyrocketed in Wuhan, the city in central China that the origin of the outbreak is considered. The Municipal Health Commission has reported that a third person died on Saturday because of the mysterious virus, which causes symptoms similar to those of pneumonia, causing fever and breathing difficulties. His death adds to that of two other men, 61 and 69 years respectively. Both suffered from lung diseases beforehand and perished as a result of complications arising from the infection.
Local authorities have detailed that 136 new positives have been detected – 59 on Saturday and 77 on Sunday – which brings the total number of confirmed cases to date to 198. The Municipal Commission defended last week that no new ones had occurred. cases since January 3, implying that the situation was controlled, and that transmission between humans seemed unlikely, although it could not be completely ruled out.
The World Health Organization (WHO) has corroborated the latest data through your twitter account, although it has attributed them to the increase in available information about the virus. “This [los nuevos casos] It is the result of a greater search and testing of 2019-nCov [nombre oficial del coronavirus descubierto hace dos semanas] among patients suffering from respiratory diseases ”. “WHO is proposing studies on the new coronavirus that can be carried out in China and anywhere else to better understand the transmission, risk factors and the origin of the virus. These jobs will require time and resources, ”the institution added in a later publication.
At the same time, the National Health Commission of China has revealed the detection of three other new infections, the first in domestic territory outside Wuhan: two in the capital Beijing and another in Shenzhen, a population that faces Hong Kong from the mainland.
But this might not be everything. There are rumors, also, that several suspected cases would have been identified in Shanghai. This was stated by a doctor from one of the main hospitals in the city in anonymous statements to the Hong Kong newspaper South China Morning Post. “Our center is conducting training sessions on prevention and treatment of the virus. The purchases of masks, caps and disinfectants are also rushing, ”he said. “Being honest, I’m scared. It is a new virus with many aspects that are not yet clear. ”
The Chinese Center for Disease Control and Prevention published a statement on Saturday through its website and social networks, in which it stressed that this new virus “is not SARS”, an epidemic originated in China and that killed more than 700 people worldwide between 2002 and 2003. The center also dismissed the “rumors” that point out that health centers outside of Wuhan could be secretly offering treatment to people infected with the virus. On Sunday, the Chinese National Health Commission added a text calling for calm, characterizing the situation as “predictable and controllable,” while recognizing necessary “close monitoring to discover new mutations.”
The center’s publication has generated more than 5,000 comments on Weibo – a Chinese social network similar to Twitter -, a majority of them expressing concern about the development of events. “Have you not found the source of the infection and dare to proclaim that the epidemic is under control? Anyone with a minimum of medical knowledge knows that the most serious thing that can happen in these situations is that the source is not located, ”wrote one user. Investigations by the authorities have pointed from the outset to a fish and seafood market in Wuhan, where the virus would have been transmitted from one animal to several people. The area has been in quarantine for several weeks, although it is not ruled out that there may be other sources.
Many other messages warned of the proximity of the Chinese New Year, celebration that will take place next Saturday, January 25 and famous for constituting the world’s largest human migration with more than 3,000 million displacements. “The dates are approaching and Wuhan is a great transport hub, I hope everyone pays attention to protect themselves,” said another Internet user. Both China and the rest of the countries in the region have begun to take extreme security measures at airports and train stations. Some images released this morning in social networks they show a team of medical personnel wearing protective equipment and checking, one by one, the body temperature of the passengers of an airplane leaving the city of Wuhan.
China’s extreme protection measures against Wuhan’s coronavirus against the new wave of infections this weekend and the proximity of the Chinese new year. Here, health personnel check the body temperature of passengers on an airplane leaving Wuhan. https://t.co/XV3xOBfGxU
– Jaime Santirso (@jsantirso) January 20, 2020
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Some comments, likewise, have reacted with skepticism, distrusting the veracity of official information. Although the Chinese government has greatly improved its reaction to the management of SARS, an epidemic kept secret for weeks, there are still reasonable doubts about data transparency: while new cases came to light abroad, the number of infected it remained, until this weekend, stable within its borders.
A study A recent report by the Center for Analysis of Global Infectious Diseases at Imperial College London estimated that, as of January 12, the number of probable infections rose to 1,723. “It is likely that the outbreak of a new coronavirus in Wuhan has caused a number of mild or moderate respiratory diseases substantially greater than what has been offered,” said the text, produced with support from WHO.
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