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China says virus spreading between humans as WHO set to meet

Tuesday January 21 2020
WHO

BY AFP


China has confirmed human-to-human transmission in the outbreak of a new SARS-like virus as the number of cases soared and authorities Tuesday said a fourth person had died.

The news came as the World Health Organization said it would consider declaring an international public health emergency over the outbreak.

The coronavirus, which has spread to three other Asian countries and infected more than 200 people in China, has caused alarm because of its genetic similarities to Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome (SARS), which killed nearly 650 people across mainland China and Hong Kong in 2002-2003.

The discovery of human-to-human transmission comes as hundreds of millions of people are criss-crossing the country in packed trains, buses and planes this week to celebrate the Lunar New Year with relatives.


Health authorities in the central city of Wuhan, where a seafood market has been identified as the centre of the outbreak, said Tuesday that an 89-year-old man became the fourth person to die from the virus and that 15 medical staff had been infected.

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A second case was also confirmed in Shanghai on Tuesday while five people have been diagnosed with the illness in Beijing.

The virus has also reached Japan, Thailand and South Korea, with a total of four people having been hospitalised after visiting Wuhan.

A man showing symptoms of the new disease who travelled to the Chinese city has been put in isolation in Australia as health officials await test results, public broadcaster ABC reported Tuesday.

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