The number of people infected by coronavirus in China has risen to 830 with 26 having died.
Wuhan, the Chinese centre of the outbreak, has begun building a 1,000-bed hospital scheduled to be completed in just six days to treat victims of the epidemic amid concerns about shortages of beds and equipment.
The second confirmed case has been identified in the US, in the city of Chicago. The patient, a woman in her 60s had returned from Wuhan on 13 January and was tested after exhibiting symptoms. She is said to be in a stable condition. She has had limited contact with others since returning to the US, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, but people she has had contact with are being monitored.
There have been calls for a worldwide ban on wild animal markets by experts who says the sale of sometimes endangered species for human consumption is the cause both of the new coronavirus outbreak and other past epidemics. The Huanan seafood market in Wuhan, which has been closed down as the source of the infection, had a wild animal section, where live and slaughtered species were on sale.
The Scottish government confirmed on Friday afternoon that results for two of the five patients in Scotland tested for coronavirus had come back negative.
Emphasising that the risk to the public remained low, Scotland’s chief medical officer, Catherine Calderwood, said:
Scotland is well prepared for these types of outbreaks – we have a proven track record of dealing with challenging health issues and the UK was one of the first countries in the world to develop a test for the new virus.
I am being kept fully informed about the precautionary steps being taken, including timely updates on the patients who are currently being tested.
Here are some details of what the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) is saying about the second case of coronavirus identified in the United States.
The patient returned to the US from Wuhan on 13 January 2020, and called a healthcare provider after experiencing symptoms a few days later. The patient was admitted to a hospital, where infection control measures were taken to reduce the risk of transmission to other individuals. The patient remains hospitalised in an isolation room in stable condition and is doing well.
Based on the patient’s travel history and symptoms, healthcare professionals suspected 2019-nCoV. A clinical specimen was collected and sent to CDC, where laboratory testing confirmed the infection. The Illinois Department of Public Health (IDPH) and the Chicago Department of Public Health (CDPH) are investigating locations where this patient went after returning to Illinois and are identifying any close contacts who were possibly exposed.
The patient has limited close contacts, all of whom are currently well and who will be monitored for symptoms. Since returning from China, the patient has had very limited movement outside the home.
The CDC added that while it considered coronavirus “a serious public health threat” the immediate health risk to the US public was considered low.
While history reminds us that outright panic is unlikely, fear seems more certain as a consequence of mass quarantine. Anxiety within Wuhan is to be expected even without quarantine. During disease outbreaks, community anxiety can rise following the first death, increased media reporting and an escalating number of new cases. Mass quarantine is likely to raise that substantially, for multiple reasons.
It says elevated anxiety may lead to a surge in patients referred to as the “worried well” and that stigma may affect those on the inside of the cordon.
Previous incidents have seen residents of affected areas socially shunned, discriminated against in the workplace and their property attacked. Unless active steps are taken to prevent this, the official imposition of a cordon may aggravate such effects. Vigilante-imposed isolation can follow or even run ahead of official quarantine.
A crucial question for how the outbreak will unfold is how contagious the virus is. Scientists around the world are trying to establish how many people, on average, each infected person will pass the virus on to, a number known as R0 in epidemiology. If this number is more than one, an epidemic will grow and if less than one it will fizzle out.
An analysis posted online on Friday by scientists from Lancaster University puts R0 for the new coronavirus at 3.8 and estimates that should the epidemic continue unabated, there could be 191,529 infections by 4 February.
The paper also suggests that travel restrictions from and to Wuhan city are unlikely to be effective in halting transmission across China. The analysis assumes that only 5% of infections in Wuhan have been identified, which would imply a far larger pool of people whose symptoms have been mild and who have not attended hospital. So while more people may have been infected than initially thought, on the positive side, it would imply that the majority of infections do not cause severe symptoms.
Chinese state television’s traditional lunar new year extravaganza on Friday paid tribute to the people of Wuhan and to medical staff fighting the coronavirus crisis, urging them on to victory in the battle to defeat the outbreak, Reuters reports.
Traditionally, hundreds of millions of people gather around their televisions to watch the CCTV Spring Festival Gala, a more-than-four-hour showcase of skits, music and dance that has been a TV staple since the first edition was broadcast in 1983.
This year an extra segment was added at the last minute to what is normally a carefully planned show, slotted in early in the broadcast. The hosts offered their best wishes to medical staff on the frontlines and to the people of Wuhan. “We will definitely be victorious!” the hosts announced in unison.
After a montage showing doctors and nurses in their hospitals donning protective gear and hard at work looking after their patients, the hosts read out further exhortations.
Bai Yansong, one of state television’s best-known anchors, told the gala the virus segment had been prepared very shortly before the actual show.
“Remember that we love you, not just today but every day in the future,” Bai said as the camera cut to an audience member with tears streaming down her face.
Bai’s colleague Kang Hui, who often reads the main evening news, said the whole nation was involved in the virus fight. “There is no predicament we cannot get over,” Kang said, to stirring music against a backdrop of more scenes of medical workers in protective body suits.
Here is the full statement by the chief medical officer for England, Prof Chris Whitty, in which he said the risk to the UK public remained low:
COBR (Cobra) met today to discuss the situation in Wuhan, China, and elsewhere in Asia. I updated on the current situation, the preparedness of the NHS, and possible next steps.
I am working closely with the other UK chief medical officers. We all agree that the risk to the UK public remains low, but there may well be cases in the UK at some stage. We have tried and tested measures in place to respond. The UK is well prepared for these types of incidents, with excellent readiness against infectious diseases.
We have global experts monitoring the situation around the clock and have a strong track record of managing new forms of infectious disease. The UK has access to some of the best infectious disease and public health experts in the world.
There are no confirmed cases in the UK to date. We have been carefully monitoring the situation in Wuhan, China, since the beginning of the outbreak and are now implementing our planned response.
A public health hub will be set up in Heathrow from today. This consists of clinicians and other public health officials, in addition to existing port health measures.
The World Health Organization has rightly responded quickly and China has introduced strong public health measures.
In the UK, tests for coronavirus on 14 people in the UK have come back negative but there are checks ongoing on other people, the chief medical officer, Prof Chris Whitty, has said.
He was speaking after a meeting of the government’s Cobra emergency committee in Whitehall, chaired by the health secretary, Matt Hancock.
