The Wuhan Coronavirus

Coronaviruses are a large family of viruses that cause diseases in mammals and birds. They are zoonotic, which means that they are transmitted between animals and people. Coronavirus usually causes respiratory infections such as the common cold in humans. But in rare cases, Coronavirus can evolve into special forms such as SARS, MERS and the novel coronavirus, also called the Wuhan Coronavirus, which are lethal to the human body. 

The city of Wuhan in China. Foto: cdc.gov

The Wuhan Coronavirus is a recent offshoot of the coronavirus family which has not been identified before the outbreak in Wuhan, China in December 31st, 2019. The new variant is termed as 2019-nCoV.

Symptoms 

2019-nCoV can cause symptoms of respiratory infections such as sore throat, cough and fever to appear initially. But these symptoms can lead to severe inflictions such as pneumonia and other breathing difficulties. People with already weaker immune systems as well as people suffering from other long-lasting diseases such as asthma and diabetes are more susceptible to severe illness through the virus, leading to death. 

Where does it come from?

The origin of 2019-nCoV is suggested to be from a fish market in Wuhan, as six of the seven original patients worked in this fish market. Wuhan has become site-zero for the 2019-nCoV variant of the Coronavirus. Due to this reason, the bustling city Wuhan has become the city of death. The Hubei province in which the Wuhan is located has been sealed by the Chinese Government. The Government has banned all kinds of transportation to and from the province due to which more than 30 million people have been affected.  

 Spreading around the Globe

According to the latest reports, the death toll has risen to 425 and more than 20,000 confirmed cases have been reported across the world. The virus has been spread to various countries of the world. Majority of the confirmed infected are Chinese residing within Hubei province. But confirmed infected have started to appear across different oceans. Countries with confirmed cases include Australia – 12, Belgium – 1, Cambodia – 1, Canada – 4, Finland – 1, France – 6, Germany – 12, India – 3, Italy – 2, Japan – 20, Malaysia – 10, Nepal – 1, Philippines - 2, Russia – 2, Singapore – 18, South Korea – 16, Spain – 1, Sri Lanka – 1, Sweden – 1, Taiwan - 10, Thailand – 19, UAE – 5, UK – 2, USA – 11, Vietnam – 9. The only death confirmed outside China was in the Philippines.

Many countries have initiated a travel ban on the Chinese people travelling from China, these countries include the United States, Singapore and Australia. Russia has sealed its border along China to prevent any further spread. Iran has sealed all of its borders to diminish the spread of the Wuhan Coronavirus.

  Conspiracies Theories

With the spread of the new virus, conspiracies are sure to emerge. The same was seen in the case of the Wuhan Coronavirus. A popular conspiracy theory was that the virus was bio-engineered by Chinese Scientists as a bioweapon. The theory arose because of the presence of a Chinese Bio Lab which is located 8 miles away from the fish market where the first cases emerged. Another factor was the similarity of 2019-nCoV’s genome to the SARS genome. 

But all in all, this is just a theory and there isn’t much proof to indicate whether this is true or not.

AM