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