America Detects Its First Case of Wuhan Coronavirus While China Confirms 453 Fresh Cases
The man had just entered the country after travelling to the city of Wuhan which is the heart of the outbreak. It was only two days later that the officials began sending health officials to airports to screen the passengers who were traveling from Wuhan.
A first case of a person being affected by the Wuhan virus has emerged in America on Tuesday. The man who is in his thirties has been hospitalized for short term monitoring and not because he’s severely affected. This step is taken by health officials as a precautionary measure and according to state officials he’s in good condition.
The man had just entered the country after travelling to the city of Wuhan which is the heart of the outbreak. It was only two days later that the officials began sending health officials to airports to screen the passengers who were traveling from Wuhan.
A senior official at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) Nancy Messonier said, “This is an evolving situation and again, we do expect additional patients in the United States and globally.” She also paid emphasis that the overall risk to Americans is low.
Meanwhile the death toll in China from the Wuhan Coronavirus has risen to nine. 4 fresh cases have been reported in China and 3 people have succumbed to the virus in Hubei which Wuhan is the capital of. Confirmed cases have been reported in countries like United States, China, Thailand, South Korea, Japan and Taiwan.
China has said that it would have to adopt class A prevention to contain the virus which is generally used for major outbreaks like Cholera and Plague.
Officials at the World Health Organization are organizing an emergency meeting in Geneva on Wednesday to discuss the seriousness of the outbreak and whether it would have to be placed in the “public health emergency of international concern.”
China’s national health commissioner Li Bin said that the disease is mainly transmitted through the respiratory tract. It is in the same family of infections as the Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome (SARS) and Middle East Respiratory Syndrome (MERS). It has been finally confirmed that the virus is transmitted via animals and people. There is a possibility of viral mutilation with this disease and the disease can be spread very easily. One of the major challenges is difficulty in detecting those who are carrying the virus. Li Bin has therefore advised citizens to avoid large crowds as a precautionary measure.
A market in Wahun that was selling seafood and live animals is believed to be the first source of the outbreak. The virus broke out in Wuhan in the month of December. It is now left to be seen how global health organizations come together and contain one of the biggest health threats.