Watch | What is Coronavirus?

A video on the new Coronavirus outbreak in China

January 22, 2020 02:26 pm | Updated March 03, 2020 04:50 pm IST

On December 31, 2019, China informed the World Health Organization (WHO) of a cluster of cases of pneumonia of unknown cause in Wuhan City, Hubei Province of China. A few patients in Wuhan had been suffering from respiratory illnesses such as pneumonia since December 8, 2019.

The Chinese public health officials began carrying out environmental assessments at the wholesale market, trying to identify the microbe causing the outbreak.

 

The virus belongs in the same family of coronaviruses as Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome (SARS), which killed nearly 800 people globally during a 2002/03 outbreak that also started in China.

Its symptoms include fever and fatigue, accompanied by dry cough and difficulty in breathing, which are similar to many other respiratory diseases and pose complications for screening efforts.

As of January 22, 2020 nine people have died and the number of people infected has risen to 440.

Besides China, cases have been confirmed in South Korea, Thailand, Japan and U.S.

0 / 0
Sign in to unlock member-only benefits!
  • Access 10 free stories every month
  • Save stories to read later
  • Access to comment on every story
  • Sign-up/manage your newsletter subscriptions with a single click
  • Get notified by email for early access to discounts & offers on our products
Sign in

Comments

Comments have to be in English, and in full sentences. They cannot be abusive or personal. Please abide by our community guidelines for posting your comments.

We have migrated to a new commenting platform. If you are already a registered user of The Hindu and logged in, you may continue to engage with our articles. If you do not have an account please register and login to post comments. Users can access their older comments by logging into their accounts on Vuukle.