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26th Jan 2020

The ability of the coronavirus to spread is getting stronger and infections could continue to rise

Rebecca O'Keeffe

coronavirus

Scary stuff.

The ability of the coronavirus to spread is getting stronger and infections could continue to rise, China’s National Health Commission has said.

RTE has reported that over 2,000 people globally have been infected by the virus and 56 in China have died.

The National Health Commission Minister in China, Ma Xiaowei, said that knowledge of the virus was limited.

He said that the “incubation period for the coronavirus can range from one to 14 days, and that the virus is infectious during incubation.”

“That was not the case with Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome (SARS), a coronavirus that originated in China and killed nearly 800 people globally in 2002 and 2003.”

coronavirus

It has been said that the virus originated late last year in a seafood market in the central Chinese city of Wuhan that was illegally selling wildlife.

The coronavirus has since spread to Chinese cities including Beijing and Shanghai, as well as the US, Thailand, South Korea, Japan, Australia, France and Canada.

Today, China confirmed 1,975 cases of patients infected with the new coronavirus as of 25 January, while the death toll from the virus has risen to 56, state broadcaster CCTV reported.

The outbreak has prompted widening curbs on movements within China, with Wuhan, a city of 11 million, on virtual lockdown, and transports links all-but severed except for emergency vehicles.

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Coronavirus