Government set to issue travel advice as pressure mounts on ministers
UK Government is set to issue new travel advice as pressure mounts on ministers to BAN all travellers from China after third case of the killer coronavirus in Brighton
- At least 16 nations around the world have already banned travellers from China
- Saudi Arabia has today followed the likes of US and Australia in imposing a ban
- But the Government has been criticised for its ‘passive’ response to the outbreak
- Outbreak has so far claimed 566 lives and infected almost 30,000 worldwide
- Do YOU have a coronavirus story? Email [email protected] or call 0203 615 0203
British ministers are set to issue new travel advice amid mounting pressure to ban all passengers from coronavirus-hit regions of Asia after a third case of the killer SARS-like infection was confirmed in the UK today.
At least sixteen nations around the world, including the US, Australia, New Zealand, Iraq and Saudi Arabia, have already banned travellers from China – where 99 per cent of cases have been recorded.
But the UK Government has been criticised for its ‘passive’ response to the outbreak, with officials slammed for being days behind other nations in launching a mission to evacuate British expats stuck in the epicentre of Wuhan.
Scores of travellers from China and other coronavirus-hit parts of Asia have been pouring into Britain every day without being properly tested for the infection, prompting calls for a US-style blanket ban.
Chief medical officer Professor Chris Whitty announced in a Department of Health press briefing this afternoon that Number 10 will update travel advice later today, with the UK thought to be on the brink of declaring a ban on arrivals from China.
The briefing was announced after news of Britain’s third coronavirus case. Officials revealed the unidentified patient flew into the UK from a country outside of China and had not visited the mainland at all.
GPs will get new NHS guidance in the coming days, telling them to be alert to patients with symptoms from other countries in Asia – not just China. Hong Kong, Singapore, Thailand, Japan and South Korea have all recorded at least 20 cases.
Ministers refused to reveal where the patient caught the SARS-like infection, only saying it was ‘elsewhere in Asia’. Sources say they were taken to the Royal Sussex County Hospital in Brighton before being whisked off to a specialist London unit.
More than 560 people have died from the coronavirus, which can be spread through coughs, sneezes and touching contaminated surfaces. Figures also show nearly 30,000 cases have been recorded in 28 countries and territories around the world.
Saudi Arabia has become the 16th nation to ban travellers from coronavirus-hit China from entering the country
Almost 30,000 people have now been diagnosed with the coronavirus, which has devastated China. Most cases around the world are among people who caught it in China and then travelled out of the country
Passengers from China are checked by Saudi Health Ministry employees upon their arrival at King Khalid International Airport, in Riyadh
A makeshift hospital in Wuhan has started accepting patients infected with coronavirus
US
The US has temporarily banned any non-US citizens who have been to China in the past two weeks from entering America.
AUSTRALIA
Australia has banned entry for any Chinese travellers or foreign passengers who been to China within the last 14 days or even have passed through the mainland during a layover.
NEW ZEALAND
New Zealand has closed its borders to any foreigners arriving from China after February 2, including passengers who passed through in transit.
JAPAN
Japan has barred entry for anyone with symptoms of the coronavirus and no travellers from Wuhan are allowed to enter – even if they don’t have symptoms.
MONGOLIA
Mongolian citizens have until February 6 to return to their home country if they want to. Travellers from China – whether they are Chinese or not – are not allowed to enter the country.
NORTH KOREA
North Korea was one of the first countries to completely shut its borders to travellers and flights from China, introducing the measure on January 21.
KAZAKHSTAN
Officials have suspended all forms of passenger travel to and from neighbouring China. The country has also suspended the issuance of visas to Chinese citizens.
TAIWAN
Authorities have decided to ban entry to all foreign nationals who have visited mainland China in the past two weeks.
SINGAPORE
Singapore has banned travellers who have been to mainland China in the past 14 days.
SOUTH KOREA
South Korea has banned all foreign travellers who have passed through Wuhan in the past 14 days.
THE PHILIPPINES
Authorities banned all travellers from China, Hong Kong and Macau – except for Filipino citizens and holders of permanent residency visas.
PAPUA NEW GUINEA
Papua New Guinea has shut its air and seaports to all foreign travellers from Asia. Its land border with West Papua has also been closed.
SAUDI ARABIA
Saudi Arabia has banned travellers from coronavirus-hit China entering the country. The kingdom suggested it would tear up the passports of anyone who defied the ban.
IRAQ
Iraq has banned entry for all foreign nationals travelling from China.
GUATEMALA
Guatemala has banned non-resident travellers who had been to China in the past two weeks.
TRINIDAD & TOBAGO
Trinidad & Tobago have banned non-resident travellers who had been to China in the past two weeks.
The US is temporarily barring entry to foreign nationals, other than immediate family of US citizens and permanent residents, who have travelled in China within the last 14 days.
Australia and New Zealand have imposed the same ban, while Japan is refusing entry to anyone travelling from Wuhan, regardless of whether they have symptoms.
Scores of passengers fleeing the coronavirus-hit country have been pouring into Britain every day without being properly screened or tested for the virus, prompting calls for a similar blanket travel ban.
But the UK is still thought to be bound to EU immigration laws and obligated to fall in line with any decisions on travel restrictions made by the bloc, despite having technically left on January 31.
Ministers are said to be debating whether or not to impose the ban anyway, but Government sources say it would be pointless if Brussels does not follow suit.
Passengers could still enter Britain indirectly via another EU state due to freedom of movement rules.
‘What is the point in one of you banning flights if none of the others are going to do it?’ a senior government source told MailOnline on Wednesday. ‘Because you just get in by an indirect route.’
Brexit Party leader Nigel Farage said last night: ‘We can monitor flights from China landing back in the UK but we can’t monitor those landing from China in the rest of Europe. EU freedom of movement does make us more vulnerable.’
It comes after China’s ambassador to the UK, Liu Xiaoming, criticised the UK’s plea for all 30,000 of its citizens in the mainland to come home.
He said it was an overreaction and a disregard of World Health Organisation (WHO) advice.
Mr Xiaoming said: ‘[There] should be no panic, no overreaction. We advise the British side to take professional advice of WHO.
‘They told us they will follow WHO’s advice. It seems to me the words do not match with the deeds.
‘Life is still normal in most parts of China so I do say again in private and public I hope the British Government and public take an objective, cool-headed view of what is going on. We should support each other rather than weaken the other’s efforts.’
Saudi Arabia’s flagship national carrier, Saudia, had already joined other major airlines in suspending flights to China.
On Sunday, 10 Saudi students were evacuated from the Chinese city Wuhan, the epicentre of the outbreak, and quarantined upon arrival to Riyadh for two weeks.
It comes after British scientists claimed to have made a breakthrough in the race against time for a vaccine to protect millions against the killer coronavirus.
Infection specialist Professor Robin Shattock, of Imperial College London, revealed his team plan to begin trials of their experimental jab on animals next week.
The team will then move onto humans in the summer, if they can achieve funding and that early tests are successful.
Researchers across the world are desperately trying to find a vaccine against the SARS-like infection, which can cause pneumonia.
The number of people infected with the coronavirus has soared since late January. The true toll is expected to be considerably higher as many may have such mild symptoms they never get diagnosed
Leading statistician Dr Brian Jarman has predicted that cases could soar to almost 200,000 by the end of February if the outbreak carries on as it has for the past couple of weeks
The death toll jumped by more than 70 overnight, taking total deaths to 565 since January 20
Dr Jarman said thousands more people are expected to die in the outbreak before the month is out
A medical worker in East Java, Indonesia, examines an isolation chamber which could be used to contain people with the contagious coronavirus
Patients infected with the coronavirus are pictured arriving at a makeshift hospital in Wuhan, the Chinese city at the centre of the outbreak
Experts say the difficulty of containing the coronavirus is that so many patients have mild, cold-like symptoms and don’t realise they have the infection – but it can quickly turn deadly
A flight carrying dozens of Australians out of Wuhan landed today. Evacuees are being quarantined on Christmas Island in the Indian Ocean for two weeks
WUHAN CORONAVIRUS: WHAT WE KNOW SO FAR
What is this virus?
The virus has been identified as a new type of coronavirus. Coronaviruses are a large family of pathogens, most of which cause mild lung infections such as the common cold.
But coronaviruses can also be deadly. SARS, or severe acute respiratory syndrome, is caused by a coronavirus and killed hundreds of people in China and Hong Kong in the early 2000s.
Can the Wuhan coronavirus kill?
Yes – 566 people have so far died after testing positive for the virus.
What are the symptoms?
Some people who catch the Wuhan coronavirus may not have any symptoms at all, or only very mild ones like a sore throat or a headache.
Others may suffer from a fever, cough or trouble breathing.
And a small proportion of patients will go on to develop severe infection which can damage the lungs or cause pneumonia, a life-threatening condition which causes swelling and fluid build-up in the lungs.
How is it detected?
The virus’s genetic sequencing was released by scientists in China and countries around the world have used this to create lab tests, which must be carried out to confirm an infection.
Delays to these tests, to test results and to people getting to hospitals in China, mean the number of confirmed cases is expected to be just a fraction of the true scale of the outbreak.
How did it start and spread?
The first cases identified were among people connected to the Huanan Seafood Wholesale Market in Wuhan.
Cases have since been identified around China and are known to have spread from person to person.
What are countries doing to prevent the spread?
Countries in Asia have stepped up airport surveillance. They include Japan, South Korea, Thailand, Hong Kong, Indonesia, Malaysia and Philippines.
Australia and the US are also screening patients for a high temperature, and the UK announced it will screen passengers returning from Wuhan.
Is it similar to anything we’ve ever seen before?
Experts have compared it to the 2003 outbreak of severe acute respiratory syndrome (SARS). The epidemic started in southern China and killed more than 700 people in mainland China, Hong Kong and elsewhere.
SCROLL DOWN TO SEE MAILONLINE’S FULL Q&A ON THE CORONAVIRUS
The current record time for producing a vaccine is for Zika, which took academics seven months to go from the lab to human trials.
Doctors fear if it takes that long this time, the unnamed coronavirus could already have swept the globe.
Professor Shattock told Sky News that standard approaches to creating a vaccine can take between two and three years before it gets ‘to the clinic’.
But he added: ‘We have gone from that sequence to generating a candidate in the laboratory in 14 days.
‘And we will have it in animal models by the beginning of next week. We’ve short-tracked that part.
‘The next phase will be to move that from early animal testing into the first human studies.’
The World Health Organization yesterday called for countries around the world to pull together more than half a billion pounds to stop China’s coronavirus.
Dr Tedros Ghebreyesus, the director of the organisation, yesterday held a conference at which he called for donations totalling £521million ($675m).
More than 28,000 people have now been infected with the coronavirus in China, as well as 260 in other countries, and 565 have died.
The WHO money will be used for ‘frontline efforts’ to help countries contain the virus and to fund scientists trying to create a vaccine, as well as helping poor countries – potentially African nations – to prepare for possible infections.
Dr Ghebreyesus’s rallying call comes as a leading statistician in the UK predicts another 3,000 people in China could die of the virus by the end of the month.
Dr Brian Jarman, an retired professor from Imperial College London and former president of the British Medical Association, has used statistics to predict how the outbreak could progress over the next three weeks.
He worked out how many new cases are being diagnosed each day and the rate at which this is increasing, then applied it as a formula to the next 22 days.
Dr Jarman found that there could be 31,810 cases and 636 deaths by the end of today, February 6.
By February 13, this could rise to 67,409 cases and 1,304 deaths.
By February 20, 116,444 cases and 2,214 deaths and, by February 29, 199,230 cases and 3,741 deaths.
The calculations assume that the outbreak will continue to escalate at its current rate. He said predicting any further ahead in the same way would be inaccurate because the virus should soon start to slow down naturally.
Dr Jarman told MailOnline: ‘I find it very worrying both medically, because the infection seems to have a relatively long incubation period and therefore people are infective for a longer time before they realise they may have the disease, and financially because China is so important to the world economy.’
Britain’s third coronavirus patient was diagnosed in Brighton today – almost a week after a mother and son tested positive in York
It is thought the third coronavirus patient was diagnosed at the Royal Sussex in Brighton (pictured) after flying in from outside China
A neighbour claimed they marched a young woman outside the property at 7.20pm and loaded her into the back of the van
Medics in full white protective suits and face masks were filmed leaving a residential home in York in an ambulance on Tuesday night
What do we know about the Wuhan coronavirus?
Revealed: The UK Government’s ‘shambolic’ response to the outbreak so far
The Foreign Office has been accused of poor organisation during the coronavirus outbreak and of leaving British citizens in China to ‘fend for themselves’.
Emily Thornberry, Labour’s Shadow Foreign Secretary, said: ‘From the very start of this outbreak, the government’s response has been a total shambles, and now they appear to be telling British nationals in China simply to fend for themselves in terms of getting out of the country.
‘How on earth has the Foreign Office not got plans and protocols in place for how these crises are managed?’
Her comment followed a slew of shortcomings over the past two weeks that included:
Dragging its feet before chartering an airlift
When the epidemic started to ramp up in late January, the US, France and Japan all evacuated hundreds of citizens on chartered planes.
Spain, Portugal, Thailand, Sri Lanka, Australia and India all announced plans to rescue expats before Britain did.
It wasn’t until January 30 that the first wave of British nationals were flown home.
Giving just two hours’ notice before evacuating
When the dithering Government finally organised the airlift, it gave stranded Britons just two hours’ notice before taking off.
This made it impossible for some citizens to make it to the airport on time because Wuhan was on lockdown, with public transport banned.
Leaving expats to make their own way to the airport
The Foreign Office made no attempt to arrange buses or taxis to transport British citizens to Wuhan airport.
With the city completely sealed off, this reportedly made it impossible for Britons in the wider Hubei province to make the flight.
British nationals told to abandon their loved ones
Desperate expats were told there were no guarantees their Chinese partners or children would get on the rescue plane because Beijing was stopping its own citizens from leaving.
Bus drivers did not wear masks
Coach drivers who picked up the evacuees from RAF Brize Norton in Oxfordshire when they landed from Wuhan were photographed without any protective gear.
It came despite the highly contagious virus being able to spread via a simple cough or sneeze, or by living on inanimate objects such as door handles and seats.
The photos were even more jarring because medics in full hazmat suits were seen directly beside the bus drivers.
Hotel with first confirmed cases allowed to operate as normal
The first two patients to have confirmed coronavirus in the UK were staying in the Staycity hotel in York.
The budget hotel said it was ‘left in the dark’ by the Government who refused to tell it whether its customers had in fact been infected with the disease.
The hotel was told to ‘operate as normal’ but keep the room the patients were staying in shut and their belongings inside.
This meant dozens of unwitting customers continued to stay and touch door knobs, cutlery and counter tops that may have been handled by the infected pair.
Someone who is infected with the Wuhan coronavirus can spread it with just a simple cough or a sneeze, scientists say.
At least 565 people with the virus are now confirmed to have died and more than 28,200 have been infected in at least 28 countries and regions. But experts predict the true number of people with the disease could be 100,000, or even as high as 350,000 in Wuhan alone, as they warn it may kill as many as two in 100 cases. Here’s what we know so far:
What is the Wuhan coronavirus?
A coronavirus is a type of virus which can cause illness in animals and people. Viruses break into cells inside their host and use them to reproduce itself and disrupt the body’s normal functions. Coronaviruses are named after the Latin word ‘corona’, which means crown, because they are encased by a spiked shell which resembles a royal crown.
The coronavirus from Wuhan is one which has never been seen before this outbreak. It is currently named 2019-nCoV, and does not have a more detailed name because so little is known about it.
Dr Helena Maier, from the Pirbright Institute, said: ‘Coronaviruses are a family of viruses that infect a wide range of different species including humans, cattle, pigs, chickens, dogs, cats and wild animals.
‘Until this new coronavirus was identified, there were only six different coronaviruses known to infect humans. Four of these cause a mild common cold-type illness, but since 2002 there has been the emergence of two new coronaviruses that can infect humans and result in more severe disease (Severe acute respiratory syndrome (SARS) and Middle East respiratory syndrome (MERS) coronaviruses).
‘Coronaviruses are known to be able to occasionally jump from one species to another and that is what happened in the case of SARS, MERS and the new coronavirus. The animal origin of the new coronavirus is not yet known.’
The first human cases were publicly reported from the Chinese city of Wuhan, where approximately 11million people live, after medics first started seeing infections on December 31.
By January 8, 59 suspected cases had been reported and seven people were in critical condition. Tests were developed for the new virus and recorded cases started to surge.
The first person died that week and, by January 16, two were dead and 41 cases were confirmed. The next day, scientists predicted that 1,700 people had become infected, possibly up to 7,000.
Just a week after that, there had been more than 800 confirmed cases and those same scientists estimated that some 4,000 – possibly 9,700 – were infected in Wuhan alone. By that point, 26 people had died.
By January 27, more than 2,800 people were confirmed to have been infected, 81 had died, and estimates of the total number of cases ranged from 100,000 to 350,000 in Wuhan alone.
By January 29, the number of deaths had risen to 132 and cases were in excess of 6,000.
Where does the virus come from?
According to scientists, the virus has almost certainly come from bats. Coronaviruses in general tend to originate in animals – the similar SARS and MERS viruses are believed to have originated in civet cats and camels, respectively.
The first cases of the virus in Wuhan came from people visiting or working in a live animal market in the city, which has since been closed down for investigation.
Although the market is officially a seafood market, other dead and living animals were being sold there, including wolf cubs, salamanders, snakes, peacocks, porcupines and camel meat.
A study by the Wuhan Institute of Virology, published in February 2020 in the scientific journal Nature, found that the genetic make-up virus samples found in patients in China is 96 per cent similar to a coronavirus they found in bats.
It is thought the third coronavirus patient was diagnosed at the Royal Sussex in Brighton (pictured) after flying in from outside China
There may have been an animal which acted as a middle-man, contracting it from a bat before then transmitting it to a human, researchers suggested, although details of this are less clear.
Dr Michael Skinner, a virologist at Imperial College London, was not involved with the research but said: ‘The discovery definitely places the origin of nCoV in bats in China.
WHAT DO WE KNOW ABOUT THE THREE CORONAVIRUS CASES IN THE UK?
THE FIRST TWO CASES
A University of York student and his mother became the first two confirmed cases of the deadly coronavirus on British soil when they were diagnosed on January 31. But neither have been named.
Health officials repeatedly refused to give any details about the two cases, citing ‘patient confidentially’, and knocked back questions about where and when they entered Britain.
But MailOnline later that same day revealed the pair had stayed at a budget hotel in York.
Sources at the Staycity apart-hotel said the pair – who had been whisked away by paramedics on January 31 – never returned or collected their suitcases, clothing or toiletries.
It is thought their toiletries remain sealed in their room. Officials have already paid for a sterilisation company to disinfect the room the pair stayed in, as well as surrounding ones. It is not clear if they are open again but the £49-a-night hotel is still operating.
Sources then confirmed that both the infected patients had been whisked off to quarantine at the Royal Victoria Infirmary in Newcastle, one of four specialist centres in the UK set-up to treat contagious airborne infections. The patients are still there being treated.
The University of York confirmed one of the patients was a student on February 1. In hope of quashing fears, it said the infected student had not stepped foot on campus before or after he caught the virus. It was later revealed that the second patient was his mother.
THE THIRD CASE
The patient is thought to have been diagnosed in Brighton and whisked off to a specialist infectious diseases unit at a London hospital, where they will be kept in isolation for at least two weeks.
Only four hospitals in England are equipped with these wards, two of which are in the capital – the Royal Free and Guy’s and St Thomas’ NHS Foundation Trust. The others are in Newcastle and Liverpool.
Public Health England said the patient did not catch the highly contagious disease in the UK, suggesting they had recently flown back from China. Officials have so far refused to offer any more details about the patient.
But there has been no flights into the UK from Wuhan since January 22, when Chinese authorities made the unprecedented decision to put the city into lockdown and ground all flights to fight the outbreak.
London Gatwick, the closest airport to Brighton – just 27miles (44km) north of the seaside city, has direct flights from Shanghai, another Chinese city that has recorded cases of the killer virus.
‘We still do not know whether another species served as an intermediate host to amplify the virus, and possibly even to bring it to the market, nor what species that host might have been.’
So far the fatalities are quite low. Why are health experts so worried about it?
Experts say the international community is concerned about the virus because so little is known about it and it appears to be spreading quickly.
It is similar to SARS, which infected 8,000 people and killed nearly 800 in an outbreak in Asia in 2003, in that it is a type of coronavirus which infects humans’ lungs.
Another reason for concern is that nobody has any immunity to the virus because they’ve never encountered it before. This means it may be able to cause more damage than viruses we come across often, like the flu or common cold.
Speaking at a briefing in January, Oxford University professor, Dr Peter Horby, said: ‘Novel viruses can spread much faster through the population than viruses which circulate all the time because we have no immunity to them.
‘Most seasonal flu viruses have a case fatality rate of less than one in 1,000 people. Here we’re talking about a virus where we don’t understand fully the severity spectrum but it’s possible the case fatality rate could be as high as two per cent.’
If the death rate is truly two per cent, that means two out of every 100 patients who get it will die.
‘My feeling is it’s lower,’ Dr Horby added. ‘We’re probably missing this iceberg of milder cases. But that’s the current circumstance we’re in.
‘Two per cent case fatality rate is comparable to the Spanish Flu pandemic in 1918 so it is a significant concern globally.’
How does the virus spread?
The illness can spread between people just through coughs and sneezes, making it an extremely contagious infection. And it may also spread even before someone has symptoms.
It is believed to travel in the saliva and even through water in the eyes, therefore close contact, kissing, and sharing cutlery or utensils are all risky.
Originally, people were thought to be catching it from a live animal market in Wuhan city. But cases soon began to emerge in people who had never been there, which forced medics to realise it was spreading from person to person.
There is now evidence that it can spread third hand – to someone from a person who caught it from another person.
What does the virus do to you? What are the symptoms?
Once someone has caught the virus it may take between two and 14 days for them to show any symptoms – but they may still be contagious during this time.
Dr Tedros Ghebreyesus, the director-general of the World Health Organization, yesterday said he was worried some countries’ health systems were so poor they would not be able to detect cases of the virus if they did appear
Arrivals at Juanda International Airport in East Java, Indonesia, go through thermal screening points to check for signs of fever
If and when they do become ill, typical signs include a runny nose, a cough, sore throat and a fever (high temperature). The vast majority of patients – at least 97 per cent, based on available data – will recover from these without any issues or medical help.
WHERE HAS THE WUHAN CORONAVIRUS SPREAD TO?
CHINA
JAPAN
SINGAPORE
THAILAND
SOUTH KOREA
HONG KONG
TAIWAN
AUSTRALIA
MALAYSIA
GERMANY
US
MACAU
VIETNAM
FRANCE
UAE
CANADA
INDIA
PHILLIPINES
UK
ITALY
RUSSIA
BELGIUM
SWEDEN
SPAIN
FINLAND
NEPAL
SRI LANKA
CAMBODIA
WORLD TOTAL
28,088
45
30
25
23
21
16
14
14
12
12
10
10
6
5
5
3
3
3
2
2
1
1
1
1
1
1
1
28,356
In a small group of patients, who seem mainly to be the elderly or those with long-term illnesses, it can lead to pneumonia. Pneumonia is an infection in which the insides of the lungs swell up and fill with fluid. It makes it increasingly difficult to breathe and, if left untreated, can be fatal and suffocate people.
What have genetic tests revealed about the virus?
Scientists in China have recorded the genetic sequences of around 19 strains of the virus and released them to experts working around the world.
This allows others to study them, develop tests and potentially look into treating the illness they cause.
Examinations have revealed the coronavirus did not change much – changing is known as mutating – much during the early stages of its spread.
However, the director-general of China’s Center for Disease Control and Prevention, Gao Fu, yesterday said the virus was mutating and adapting as it spread through people.
This means efforts to study the virus and to potentially control it may be made extra difficult because the virus might look different every time scientists analyse it.
More study may be able to reveal whether the virus first infected a small number of people then change and spread from them, or whether there were various versions of the virus coming from animals which have developed separately.
How dangerous is the virus?
The virus has so far killed 565 people out of a total of at least 28,000 officially confirmed cases – a death rate of around two per cent. This is a similar death rate to the Spanish Flu outbreak which, in 1918, went on to kill around 50million people.
However, experts say the true number of patients is likely considerably higher and therefore the death rate considerably lower. Imperial College London researchers estimate that there were 4,000 (up to 9,700) cases in Wuhan city alone up to January 18 – officially there were only 444 there to date. If cases are in fact 100 times more common than the official figures, the virus may be far less dangerous than currently believed.
Experts say it is likely only the most seriously ill patients are seeking help and are therefore recorded – the vast majority will have only mild, cold-like symptoms. For those whose conditions do become more severe, there is a risk of developing pneumonia which can destroy the lungs and kill you.
Can the virus be cured?
The Wuhan coronavirus cannot currently be cured and it is proving difficult to contain.
Antibiotics do not work against viruses, so they are out of the question. Antiviral drugs can, but the process of understanding a virus then developing and producing drugs to treat it would take years and huge amounts of money.
No vaccine exists for the coronavirus yet and it’s not likely one will be developed in time to be of any use in this outbreak, for similar reasons to the above.
The National Institutes of Health in the US, and Baylor University in Waco, Texas, say they are working on a vaccine based on what they know about coronaviruses in general, using information from the SARS outbreak. But this may take a year or more to develop, according to Pharmaceutical Technology.
Currently, governments and health authorities are working to contain the virus and to care for patients who are sick and stop them infecting other people.
People who catch the illness are being quarantined in hospitals, where their symptoms can be treated and they will be away from the uninfected public.
And airports around the world are putting in place screening measures such as having doctors on-site, taking people’s temperatures to check for fevers and using thermal screening to spot those who might be ill (infection causes a raised temperature).
However, it can take weeks for symptoms to appear, so there is only a small likelihood that patients will be spotted up in an airport.
Is this outbreak an epidemic or a pandemic?
The outbreak is an epidemic, which is when a disease takes hold of one community such as a country or region.
Although it has spread to dozens of countries, the outbreak is not yet classed as a pandemic, which is defined by the World Health Organization as the ‘worldwide spread of a new disease’.
The head of WHO’s global infectious hazard preparedness, Dr Sylvie Briand, said: ‘Currently we are not in a pandemic. We are at the phase where it is an epidemic with multiple foci, and we try to extinguish the transmission in each of these foci,’ the Guardian reported.
She said that most cases outside of Hubei had been ‘spillover’ from the epicentre, so the disease wasn’t actually spreading actively around the world.
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