▶️ The number of coronavirus cases in China has mushroomed to more than 6,060, exceeding the total number of SARS cases in that country during the 2002-2003 epidemic. There were 5,327 SARS cases in China and 8,000 across the world between Nov. 1, 2002, and July 31, 2003, according to the World Health Organization.
▶️ China has quarantined 50 million people.
▶️ The youngest confirmed patient is a 9-month-old girl in Beijing. While the majority of confirmed cases were in Hubei, where a number of cities have been put under effective lockdown, an additional 1,800 cases have been diagnosed outside the province, the authorities said.
▶️ Virus shows signs of spreading overseas with people who never visited China falling ill in Germany, Japan, Taiwan and Vietnam.
▶️ China has cut off access to Wuhan – the epicenter of the virus – and 16 other cities in Hubei province to prevent people from leaving and spreading the virus further.
▶️ Australian scientists grow copy of coronavirus in lab, called “significant breakthrough”.
▶️ Swiss pharmaceutical giant Novartis warns finding a coronavirus vaccine will take “over a year”. With no vaccine or treatment, the most effective way to stop 2019-nCoV’s spread is to limit transmission by identifying infected individuals as quickly as possible and isolating them for treatment before they can infect others.
▶️ The results of a study of 41 patients hospitalized for 2019-CoV infection highlight the need for urgent action: A third required ICU-level care and 15% died.
▶️ Each infected person is spreading the disease to two or three other people, British epidemiologists said in studies released over the weekend. A team from Lancaster University projected that infections in Wuhan could explode to 190,000 cases by as early as next week, the Washington Post reported.
▶️ Five cases of the novel coronavirus, known as 2019-nCoV, have been confirmed in the U.S., all among people who had traveled from China. The cases are in Los Angeles County and Orange County in California; Maricopa County, Arizona; Snohomish County, Washington; and in Chicago in Cook County, Illinois.
▶️ The coronavirus has nothing to do with Corona beer. But, some people seem to think so. The alcoholic beverage from Mexico showed a surge in Google searches in the past week, along with the term “corona beer virus” and “beer virus.”
▶️ A chartered plane carrying American consulate personnel and citizens from an area of China at the center of a coronavirus outbreak has been cleared to proceed to California after making a refueling stop at an airport in Anchorage, Alaska, Tuesday night. About a 1,000 Americans are believed to be in Wuhan.
▶️ British Airways cancels all flights to and from China amid fears of the outbreak.
▶️ Starbucks closes 2,000 Chinese branches. Toyota said on Wednesday that its production plants in China will stay closed until 9 February, in response to the coronavirus.
▶️ OPEC’s waning influence laid bare as coronavirus outbreak hammers oil prices, analysts say
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