How China’s Coronavirus Is Spreading—and How to Stop It

A medical staff member takes the temperature of a man at the Wuhan Red Cross Hospital in China on Jan. 25. HECTOR RETAMAL/AFP VIA GETTY IMAGES

Article initially published in Foreign Policy on January 26, 2020 and written by Annie Sparrow

Until the 21st century, the worst a coronavirus, a large family of viruses capable of infecting humans and animals, could do to humans was to deliver the common cold – annoying but hardly sinister. But three times so far in the 21st century, novel coronaviruses have emerged that could potentially cause a deadly pandemic – SARS (severe acute respiratory syndrome) in 2003, MERS (Middle East respiratory syndrome) and now 2019-nCoV emanating from Wuhan, China. As of January 26, the new coronavirus has reportedly infected at least 2,463 people and cause at least 80 deaths. Those numbers are certain to mushroom.

Controlling the spread of the virus requires both public health and medical measures – and for that we need a clear clinical profile. At this stage, that information is jut being put together, but what we do have is disturbing.

Read the full article on foreignpolicy.com