The mysterious nCoV

THE death toll from the 2019 novel coronavirus (2019-nCoV) now stands at 81, barely a month since the World Health Organization (WHO) was informed last Dec. 31 of a cluster of pneumonia cases of “unknown cause” detected in Wuhan City, China.

“The virus did not match any other known virus. This raised concern because when a virus is new, we do not know how it affects people,” WHO said.

A week later, on Jan. 7, 2020, Chinese authorities confirmed that the new virus, named 2019-nCoV, is a coronavirus.

The coronavirus is a family of viruses that include the common cold, and viruses such as the Middle East Respiratory Syndrome (Mers-CoV) and Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome (Sars-CoV), which had fatality rates of 34-36 percent and 10-12 percent, respectively.

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) defines coronaviruses as a large family of viruses that are common in many different species of animals, including camels, cattle, cats and bats.

Rarely, animal coronaviruses can infect people and then spread between people such as with Mers-CoV and Sars-CoV.

Earlier, many of the patients in the outbreak of the 2019-nCoV in Wuhan had some link to a large seafood and live animal market, suggesting animal-to-person spread.

“However, a growing number of patients reportedly have not had exposure to animal markets, indicating person-to-person spread is occurring,” CDC said.

On Sunday, various media outlets, including BBC News, USA Today and CNN, reported Chinese health officials’ discovery that the 2019-nCoV is infectious even before the symptoms show.

“There is much more to learn about the transmissibility, severity, and other features associated with 2019-nCoV, and investigations are ongoing,” CDC said.

In a press briefing Monday, Jan. 27, 2020, Health Secretary Francisco Duque III included shaking hands and cheek kissing (beso) among the acts that the Department of Health discourages amid the 2019-nCoV outbreak in China.

Although a vaccine is being developed, there is no treatment yet for the 2019-nCoV.

Being a new strain of coronavirus, Duque said it would take months or years before a vaccine would be made available to the public.

The 2019-nCoV has killed 81 people in China. More than 2,700 cases have been reported, mostly in China but also in a dozen other countries, including the US and France, the Associated Press reported. (RTF with a report from SunStar Philippines )

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