Chinese coronavirus: truth and myths
Disturbing news comes from China these days. The infectious outbreak that occurred in December in the central province of China - Hubei, turned out to be a new kind of coronavirus, more precisely, its variant that was not previously transmitted to people. And, therefore, there are no ways to treat this infection. The outbreak gradually grew into a full-fledged epidemic, frightening with its dynamics.
Doctors can't stop a new virus
On Wednesday, the Hubei Provincial Health Committee, where the outbreak was registered, issued a statement to the press: on January 22, from midnight to 20:00, sixty-nine new infections were detected in the province, eight people died in that time.
On the morning of Friday, the mournful list expanded to 26 people, to 876 the number of people infected with pneumonia caused by the new type of coronavirus 2019-nCoV increased. According to doctors, 177 of them are in serious condition.
The Chinese authorities are taking unprecedented measures in connection with the epidemic. On Wednesday, they decided to quarantine the capital of Hubei - Wuhan, and then another ten cities of this province (Huangang, Ezhou, Xiantao, Chibi and others). However, coronavirus has already gone around the country and around the world. Myths and rumors crawled with him: "the secret development of the Chinese military that went beyond the laboratory," "the secret development of the US military," sprayed "in China," the blow of US intelligence to China as part of a trade war - to buy less in the world Chinese goods, "etc.
On Wednesday, an 80-year-old patient died in a hospital in the northern (border with Russia) Hebei province in Suihua City. The old man was staying with relatives in Wuhan. Upon returning home, he turned to doctors for help. They were powerless before the 2019-nCoV virus diagnosed in the patient.
It has been discovered in twenty-five provinces of China. A new type of coronavirus has been detected in Shanghai, Tianjin, Chongqing, Jiangxi, Guangdong, Zhejiang, and other million-plus cities. 2019-nCoV was also noted on the world map - in Thailand, Vietnam, the Republic of Korea, Singapore, the USA and Japan.
Doctors cannot stop the spread of coronavirus yet. However, the World Health Organization has refrained from declaring an international emergency due to an outbreak of pneumonia in China. WHO, based on truthful facts, not myths, makes a prediction: the peak of the disease caused by 2019-nCoV will occur in mid-February. Then the epidemic will decline.
How to cancel the New Year
A similar opinion is shared by the State Duma deputy, the former chief sanitary doctor of the Russian Federation Gennady Onishchenko. On the NTV television channel, he urged viewers not to panic. Hundreds of people in the multi-million-dollar city of Wuhan are hundreds, and even the flu epidemic "sweeps away everything." In addition, the vaccine will help defeat the coronavirus, however, "today it is difficult to understand whom to vaccinate."
However, Onishchenko acknowledged the seriousness of the situation. Especially in connection with the upcoming celebration of China's new year. It was supposed to go from January 25 to February 1. By tradition, the Chinese celebrate the New Year with their families. Multimillion-strong human flows could spread the infection further not only across the country, but also around the world. Realizing this, the Chinese authorities canceled the celebration of the New Year. How effective their measure will be will be seen in the coming days.
Without mysticism and conspiracy theories
In the new century, the world has repeatedly faced the threat of a pandemic. Atypical viral pneumonia, Ebola, swine and bird flu pop up. Now the coronavirus 2019-nCoV. Persons prone to mysticism and conspiracy theories have already given their assessment of the situation in the Networks: these are viruses that developed in military laboratories got out of control.
Scientists look at the problem easier. The truth is that in the new century, the mobility of people has increased dramatically. While traveling around the world, they began to spread the natural viruses familiar to their habitat. The viruses themselves in this new turnover for them mutate, change their qualities and begin to infect people, including Aboriginal places of natural origin of this infection. The situation is aggravated by a low hygienic culture.
So it was with Ebola, when viruses spread among bats got to people through the poorly fried meat of these animals. Similar story occurred in China. The source of the 2019-nCoV coronavirus outbreak, according to Chinese authorities, was a market in Wuhan.
As you know, the Chinese have very wide gastronomic preferences. So in the market in Wuhan, bats were also sold. Authorities now say that wildlife trade was illegal.
Now it has been banned, suspecting that the virus came into circulation through this trade, and then passed on to the person. Now people are advised to “not touch animals, avoid undercooked or undercooked meat and eggs, and avoid contact with people with symptoms of the common cold or flu.”
Measures seem to have been taken, but the world is worried. The head of the WMA World Medical Doctors Union Leonid Eidelman predicts a global epidemic for us. “We know that in the next few years, a large epidemic threatens the world. It will be some new virus. We do not yet know which, perhaps, it will be one of the coronaviruses. They pass like a common cold with a runny nose and cough. But viruses change, mutate. One of the changes in 2003 triggered a severe epidemic called SARS. The virus caused pneumonia, there were deaths. The virus then also came from China. Another manifestation of this virus was in the Middle East - it was called MERS from the word Middle East.", - quotes the doctor RIA News.
Adelman’s concerns are shared by many virologists. Today, laboratories in the world are proactively developing new types of vaccines. With their help, scientists want to protect people from a possible epidemic. As for today, optimism inspires the position of WHO. The World Organization does not yet see big problems for the world due to the new coronavirus 2019-nCoV.
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