About the outbreak of the disease in central China caused by a new coronavirus
The Health Department of the Lipetsk Region reports that according to the Federal Service of Rospotrebnadzor, as of 09.01.2020, 59 cases of pneumonia of viral etiology were registered in Wuhan, Hubei Province (China). According to the Ministry of Health of Thailand, on January 13, 2020, a case of pneumonia was registered in Thailand, which is classified as imported from Wuhan. The disease occurs in mild and moderate severity, 7 patients are in serious condition, no deaths have been recorded. The first case is dated December 12. Human-to-human transmission of the virus has not yet been reported.
In 15 patients, laboratory diagnostic tests confirmed the presence of a new variant of the coronavirus. The entire genome sequence of the virus has already been decoded and is now being analyzed.
Currently, in the absence of data on the natural reservoirs of the new coronavirus, on the ability to be transmitted from person to person, it is too early to talk about the degree of its danger. The current absence of fatalities and the relatively low percentage (about 10 %) of severe cases may indicate a lower risk to humans of the new virus compared to the coronavirus that caused the 2003 outbreak of the so – called SARS (lethality – about 10%) and the coronavirus that causes the Middle East respiratory syndrome (lethality-about 35%).
Currently, the World Health Organization (WHO) does not recommend restricting international travel and trade.
However, according to health experts in several countries, the outbreak of the disease in central China caused by the new coronavirus still has risks, as tens of millions of Chinese travel around the country during the Lunar New Year celebration, which begins on January 25 and is followed by a weekend on January 24-30.
Health authorities in Singapore and Hong Kong, cities that have direct flights from Wuhan, have issued warnings and are quarantining patients traveling from the region who have fever or shortness of breath.
The Health Department of the Lipetsk Region recommends taking this information into account when planning trips.
For reference:
Coronaviruses are a group of pathogens that cause respiratory and intestinal diseases. On the surface of the virus particle there are many regularly arranged protrusions-proteins, and the virus particle under the microscope looks like a corona, hence the name "coronavirus". In addition to humans, the coronavirus can infect many mammals, such as pigs, cattle, cats, dogs, martens, camels, bats, mice, hedgehogs, and various bird species.
Currently, only 6 coronaviruses are known to infect humans. Four of them usually cause symptoms of the common cold. The other two, Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome coronavirus (SARS) and Middle East Respiratory Syndrome coronavirus (MERS), cause serious respiratory diseases that can be fatal.
Like the SARS and MERS-CoV coronaviruses, the source of the newly identified coronavirus is also most likely an animal. An intensive virological investigation is currently underway to identify the reservoir of this virus.
The seafood market, which is believed to have infected people with the new coronavirus, also sells live animals, such as poultry, bats and snakes. In the case of SARS, the virus carriers were bats. The virus was transmitted to palm civets as an intermediate host, and then from civets there was a transmission of the virus to people in the market of live products. According to Chinese scientists, the strain of the new coronavirus is similar to the SARS coronavirus.
