China put millions of people on lock down at the epicenter of a coronavirus outbreak, as authorities around the world worked to prevent a global pandemic. The 2019–20 Wuhan coronavirus outbreak is a rapidly evolving emergence of a novel coronavirus of unknown origin, designated 2019-nCoV, which causes pneumonia, first reported in a cluster of people in the city of Wuhan in central China during December 2019. Fatalities have occurred in Wuhan, human-to human transmission has become evident and cases have been detected in a number of other provinces in China, with spread to a number of other countries and continents. Of the first 41 people confirmed by real-time RT-PCR and next-generation sequencing to have been infected, two-thirds were found to have a link with the Huanan Seafood Wholesale Market, which also sold live animals. The seventh member of the coronavirus family to infect humans, 2019-nCoV's genome sequence has been reported to be 75- to 80-percent identical to SARS-CoV, and more than 85-percent similar to several bat coronaviruses. Whether this virus is of the same severity or lethality as SARS is unclear.
Chinese scientists were able to quickly isolate a strain of the new coronavirus, with the genetic sequence being made available for laboratories across the world to independently develop PCR tests that can confirm infection in a person. Chinese premier Li Keqiang has urged decisive and effective efforts to prevent and control the epidemic. Wuhan has been placed under quarantine, in which all public transport in and out of Wuhan has been suspended. Thereafter, transportation in at least 15 other cities in Hubei province have also been halted in a similar fashion. Many New Year events have been closed over fear of transmission, including the Forbidden City in Beijing, traditional temple fairs, and other celebratory gatherings. Hong Kong has also declared a state of emergency, closed its schools and universities until mid-February and cancelled its new year celebrations.
The WHO decided against declaring the outbreak a public health emergency of international concern on 23 January 2020, but said that their emergency committee would quickly reconvene to review the decision if necessary. The WHO had previously warned that a wider outbreak was possible, and there were concerns of further transmission during China's peak travel season around the Chinese New Year, Chunyun. A sudden increase in occurrences of the disease since late January has raised questions relating to its origin, wildlife trade, uncertainties surrounding the virus's ability to spread and cause harm, whether the virus has been circulating for longer than previously thought, and the possibility of the outbreak being a super-spreader event. There is evidence of human-to-human transmission.
The WHO was notified of the first suspected cases on 31 December 2019, with the first instances of symptomatic illness appearing just over three weeks earlier on 8 December 2019. The Huanan Seafood Wholesale Market was closed off on 1 January 2020, and people who showed signs and symptoms of the coronavirus infection were isolated. Over 700 people, including more than 400 healthcare workers who came into close contact with possibly infected individuals, were initially monitored. After the development of a specific diagnostic PCR test for detecting the infection, the presence of 2019-nCoV was subsequently confirmed in 41 people in the original Wuhan cluster. Of those 41 people, two were later reported to be a married couple, one of whom had not been present in the marketplace, and another three were members of the same family that worked at the marketplace's seafood stalls. Extensive testing thereafter revealed over 2,000 confirmed cases in China, some of whom were working in healthcare. Confirmed cases have also been reported in Thailand, South Korea, Japan, Taiwan, Macau, Hong Kong, the United States, Singapore, Vietnam, France, Nepal, Australia, and Malaysia. The first confirmed death from the coronavirus infection occurred on 9 January 2020. By 25 January, the number of deaths due to 2019-nCoV stood at 56, all in China.
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