Following a decision from the World Health Organization to declare the coronavirus a worldwide health emergency, its director-general, Dr. Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said he is flying to Beijing to discuss the Wuhan coronavirus outbreak with the local government.
In its refusal to declare a global health emergency, WHO said it wants more data to avoid premature declaration. The organization, however, said that as per China's case, the Wuhan coronavirus is already a national emergency.
The virus has spread from China into at least 10 countries. Panic ensues as China's Health Minister Ma Xiaowei said people infected by Wuhan coronavirus might spread it even before their symptoms become obvious. This means that carriers of the strain aren't aware they are already affected and continue unsafe interactions with others. Coronavirus symptoms like fever, cough, and shortness of breath may come later.
The finding means it will be challenging to contain the virus since it will be hard to track down patients who are already infected. Worse, the patient may have been infected for weeks and continue moving or traveling around.
The United States' Centers for Disease Control wants to send a team to China to clarify the country's most recent finding. CDC is particularly concerned with how the virus spread from humans to humans. However, for the team to fly to Beijing, the Chinese government would have to invite them formally.
Rest assured, Dr. Nancy Messonier, CDC director for its national Center for Immunization and Respiratory Diseases, said the risk of the Wuhan coronavirus to the Americans remained to be low.
Meanwhile, as of January 27, there were already 2,700 confirmed cases in China with the death toll rising to at least 80. Wuhan alone may have about 1,000 cases. In Hubie, the region identified as the epicenter of the outbreak, there were already 796 confirmed cases. Of that 461 were in serious condition. Outside the epicenter, Shandong province, Beijing, Shanghai, Xi'an, and Tianjin have already banned buses from coming and leaving the region.
Outside China, the U.S. confirmed a fifth case. The US State Department said it was now arranging outbound flights from Wuhan to San Francisco for consulate staff and Americans.
Elsewhere in the world, there were already eight confirmed cases in Thailand, six in Hong Kong, five in Macau, four in Australia, four in Japan, four in Malaysia, four in Singapore, three in France, three in South Korea, three in Taiwan, two in Vietnam and one in Nepal.
