Chinese health experts confirmed that the mysterious respiratory disease outbreak this week is caused by a new strain of coronavirus. The strain belongs to the same family of viruses causing respiratory diseases such as SARS and MERS.
Further investigation is needed to identify whether the new coronavirus strain is as the common type which normally spread through coughing, sneezing or touching, or it is of the sever type that requires hospital quarantines, like SARS and MERS.
The virus is spreading as three billion passengers are expected to travel in and out of China for the coming Chinese New Year. The Spring New Year or Lunar New Year will take place on January 25.
The holiday is well celebrated in Asian countries; hence, airports are on their full alert. Apart from measures to handle the pour of travelers, they have sanitary stations where people are required to take health checks and wash their hands.
The crew in airports in Singapore, Bangkok, and Tokyo are asked to be vigilant whenever they see someone exhibiting flu-like symptoms. They are asked to report to health officials monitoring the premises.
Chinese New Year has been the favorite time of year when Chinese travel to Japan, Thailand, Singapore, the Philippines, and Vietnam. Chinese are expected to make 450 million trips for the Chinese New Year. Travels are expected to take place between January 24 and 30.
Last year, there were 415 million trips out of China for the Lunar New Year. That year, the tourism industry earned 513.9 billion yuan. China's Outbound Tourism research Institute now expects that more Chinese will be traveling this year.
There have been no reports yet whether the newly discovered coronavirus strain has brought economic repercussions. But, small businesses are already worried.
For instance, seafood distributors had stocked multiple amounts of wet produce ahead of the spring festival, weeks before the discovery of coronavirus. If travelers decide to stay at home for the holiday, distributors feared big profit loss.
The fear over the new coronavirus strain happened as the country starts to recover from African swine fever. Pig farmers have increased their live hogs in time for the Chinese New Year. This despite agriculture officials saying that ASF is still present although contained.
Vice-Agriculture Minister Yu Kangzhen said the pigs transported to slaughterhouses increase by 14.1 percent in the weeks that lead up to the Lunar New Year. While the demand for pork is expectedly high during this time, the situation calls for extra caution as an increase in the number of live hogs also means there is a high risk of spreading the disease.
