Authorities have confirmed that the current death toll from the Wuhan coronavirus has jumped to 106 while the current number of infected cases has soared to at least 4,193. That’s an increase of 1,291 people who were infected and 24 more people who have died, compared to the latest update.
According to Straits Times, Bloomberg confirms this on Tuesday (Jan 28th). This number was recently reported by the health commission in central Hubei province. In response, China’s National Immigration Administration has urged its citizens to postpone or cancel any trips overseas or to other provinces in a bid to contain the virus.
Other measures the Chinese government has taken to contain the virus include postponing the start of the spring semester for schools and universities across the country. A few other countries have advised its citizens to reconsider travelling to China during this time. The director-general of the World Health Organisation, Dr Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus is visiting Beijing to assess the situation.
Based on a report by CNA, this new coronavirus could have been present in China since December 1st, about a whole month before the alarm was raised. This is based on research that was published in The Lancet Medical Journal. In fact, they analysed the first 41 confirmed patients the first case of the 2019-nCoV and discovered that patient zero did not have any link at all to the Huanan Wholesale Seafood Market.
Another 13 people of those 41 people who were diagnosed had no link either which means that it is very likely the virus had been circulating earlier than December. Neil Ferguson, an Imperial College epidemiologist, calculates that 4,000 could have been infected by Jan 18th. Jonathan Read, of Lancaster University, and colleagues provisionally calculate that the total infected cases could very well exceed 190,000 by Feb 4th.
Oh no! Let’s hope this gets better!