The death toll of that coronavirus in China continues to climb:
At least 17 people have died, all of them in Hubei province, where Wuhan is the capital. More than 570 people nationwide, almost all of them in Hubei, have been confirmed as infected. A handful of cases have been reported abroad, including one in the United States, but the World Health Organization (WHO) postponed a decision Wednesday on whether to declare a public health emergency. [WaPo]
Transmission is not well understood yet:
Officials said it’s not unusual in outbreaks of respiratory illness for patients to become infected through close contact with family members and in health-care settings, as has happened in Wuhan. What matters is the route of transmission and whether authorities can track those contacts down, they said.
“There are still many unknowns,” said Michael Ryan, the WHO’s executive director of health emergencies.
He said that the patients who died in China tended to be older people, and that 40 percent had significant underlying medical conditions, a feature of previous coronavirus outbreaks.
Authorities are attempting to restrict travel from Wuhan, but whether that is, or will be, effective, is unclear; expert opinion is mixed.
This will certainly keep my interest until it burns out or someone figures out how to stop it.
