The 2019 Novel Coronavirus outbreak is affecting people across the world. The virus can pass from person to person and has infected over 1,200 people, killing dozens.
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2 p.m. UTC—New Countries Confirm Cases
Authorities in Australia and Malaysia confirmed new cases of coronavirus, meaning the Wuhan virus has spread to 10 countries around the world.
The virus already spread to Nepal, Japan, South Korea, Vietnam, Singapore, Thailand, the United States, and France.
The Australian cases included a Chinese national who flew into Melbourne on Jan. 19 and didn’t show symptoms until after landing. There were also three other men—aged 53, 43 and 35—who all arrived from Wuhan earlier in January, as early as Jan. 6.
All four were isolated and Australian authorities said the risk of transmission remains low.
Malaysian authorities, meanwhile, said three people tested positive for coronavirus.
The trio, all Chinese nationals, are related to the 66-year-old man who is isolated in neighboring Singapore with the illness. That man also transmitted the virus to his son.
1 p.m. UTC—Social Media Depicts Chaos in Wuhan
The epicenter of the virus is chaotic amid an ongoing quarantine and a rash of deaths from the coronavirus, known in some quarters as the Wuhan coronavirus.
Wuhan, a city of some 11 million, was locked down on Thursday.
Wuhan residents, including some health workers, took to Chinese social media, such as Weibo and WeChat, to relay their exasperation and fears for the future in a city that has entered into a partial lockdown. Some have gone out of their way to bypass China’s internet firewall and access blocked sites so that their voices can be heard by the outside world.
In one video, what appear to be covered bodies are seen in a hospital hallway between two rows of seated patients, as fully covered medical staff continue to hustle about. The woman who took the video said some of the alleged bodies may have been there all morning. In another clip shared online, a patient is seen falling to the ground while waiting in line for treatment, apparently fainting.
12 p.m. UTC—Chinese Doctor Worries Outbreak Will Get Worse
A doctor in Wuhan City who has been treating patients with Wuhan pneumonia disclosed some alarming information about the new virus, and expressed concern that the disease will be out of control in the next several months due to the authorities’ slow response and lack of transparency.
The doctor, surnamed Xu, spoke to U.S.-based Chinese-language outlet Secret China on the condition of anonymity on Jan. 24.
He disclosed that by Dec. 31, 27 patients were confirmed to have been infected by the coronavirus, but Wuhan’s public health officials decided not to inform the public of the new disease. Moreover, some features of the Novel Coronavirus make it more dangerous than SARS (Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome).
10 a.m. UTC—Snakes Could be Original Source of Coronavirus
Snakes—the Chinese krait and the Chinese cobra—may be the original source of the coronavirus that has triggered an outbreak of a deadly infectious respiratory illness in China this winter.
The many-banded krait (Bungarus multicinctus), also known as the Taiwanese krait or the Chinese krait, is a highly venomous species of elapid snake found in much of central and southern China and Southeast Asia.
The illness was first reported in late December 2019 in Wuhan, a major city in central China, and has been rapidly spreading. Since then, sick travelers from Wuhan have infected people in China and other countries, including the United States.
Zachary Stieber, Olivia Li, Frank Fang, Eva Fu, Cathy He, and The Conversation contributed to this report.
This article is from the Internet:Novel Coronavirus Live Updates: New Countries Confirm Cases