To be concerned about the new coronavirus?

[MissPoldark]

I’m increasingly alarmed by the developments on this. Today we learn that 1 hospitalised patient infected a number of healthcare workers and the first case has been confirmed in the US (a patient who had been to Wuhan).

There are 3 direct flights per week from Wuhan to London, it only seems like a matter of time
Shouldn’t these flights be temporarily suspended?

USA just confirmed it's first case.

@Adayatthebeach
Pretty sure hygiene standards and the flu vaccine will stop that happening again its pretty common for people to shower daily and have fresh clothes each day and good hand washing facilities unlike in 1918....

I mean in China. Not one of my Chinese friends is remotely concerned. If you read about coronavirus you can see that it’s fairly common and often mild-moderate. This is just a new strain of that, which can cause (like any chest infection or even flu) pneumonia if the sick person is particularly elderly or already weak from another sickness. The vast majority of infected people this time have mild symptoms, apparently, with the deaths being people over 60 years old (most recent was an 89 year old). I don’t think you need to worry any more than you would for a flu or normal chest infection going round and it’s just the same - if you’re older or weak already just be extra cautious. If you’re young and healthy be extra cautious too, but if you do get it you’ll probably just have a cough. Actually just got a message from my chinese friend as I type this that they have found a suitable cure (the only problem previously was that as this was a new strain there wasn’t a known cure yet) so if this is true then that's nipped it in the bud!

I LIVE in China, not I mean in China. Not sure how that happened!

It is very worrying. Every year or two there is a new super-virus going around . We (the west, countries with good health care) always seem to avert disaster, but for how long?

We (the west, countries with good health care) always seem to avert disaster, but for how long?

Sorry, what sort of statement is this? What are you implying? This thread has a worrying racist undertone.

God, so much hysteria. Every few years, we're all going to die of something and everyone laps it up. MERS, swine flu, bird flu, zika, ebola...none of these things ended up in any kind of mass extermination so what on earth is the issue? Wash your hands, don't cough on people, wipe your phone occasionally and chill out.

Yes, there's no particular need to be concerned atm.

If you are in a vulnerable population (pregnant, pre-existing health conditions, elderly) then take usual precautions re hand washing, don't touch your face if you can help it especially when out (to avoid transfer of germs from hands), eat and sleep properly and use existing techniques (meditation, exercise, etc) to reduce stress levels.

If you are immune suppressed, chat with your GP.

If it becomes clear the disease is in my city and spreading rapidly, I will wear a face mask in public as I have a chronic disease predisposing me to infection. We are nowhere near that point in 99% of the world.

So a few corrections to make.

'Swine flu' which is now one of the seasonal circulating flu viruses is thought to have killed up to around half a million people world wide. It turned out to be mild as flu pandemics go, but of course when a new virus first emerges it's impossible to tell how it will behave. It disproportionately affected young children, pregnant women and middle aged adults. Happily a vaccine was rapidly develop led for it.

This virus first emerged in China last month, so any flu like infections over here will not have been this new coronavirus. It would be impossible for us to have had an outbreak here without it being picked up by medical people.

Having said that, there is no point in worrying about it. As I said before, SARS was contained.

Poorolddaddypig I'm afraid they don't have a cure yet. It would be impossible to have found one yet.

However, they are probably finding that treatments that help those with MERS and SARS are also proving to limit the seriousness for many of those with this virus. They have learned a huge amount from those outbreaks.

Population control, innit.

The risk has been changed to 'low' from 'very low'

I hope that pandemic can be averted, just as the spread of other newly emerging diseases has been contained.

It very may well end up being like one of the mild corona viruses that already circulate once it settles down.

Also the ECDC say there is no evidence of sustained person to person transmission yet. If that remains the case then it should be pretty manageable in terms of containment.

No need to suspend flights, public transport is being shut down which includes the airport being closed
www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-china-51215348

@meditrina it’s the other way around - the risk was upgraded, from very low to low.

I really hope you’re right OYBBK

More people die of the flu.

I worry about the horrific animal farming conditions producing a deadly strain of something. That plus international travel means it’s a matter of time

But I’m not that worried about this one, no. I think it’s already here as everyone I know has been coughing for weeks!

Does anyone else just end up thinking about the beer?

That's what Meditrina said too about the risk. I read it backwards at first as well.

Saying more people die of the flu is silly. This is brand new in humans, almost entirely confined to one district in one city at present. flu is global

In this century we have had bird flu and swine flu, yeah but this is the one.

There will be people who post on here how terrible it is, there is a end of the world fetish emerging.

MERS is not yet contained, and it's mortality rate is three times that of SARS. This latest virus - well, it's too early to write it off as having a low mortality rate, because of where we are in the cycle of identification and diagnosis. However, it's too late already to stop flights - it's already spread in the region and outside, so only a matter of time before we see cases in the UK.

Part of the problem with containing ebola is that people are reluctant to give up certain cultural practices (especially around burial) when dealing with the dead, which has a direct knock on effect in transmission rates. Ebola is relatively difficult to pass on compared to coronaviruses, but, of course, it's also much more deadly, so it's not an entirely useful comparison.

Fortunately MERS doesn't really see any sustained human to human contact (yet?) It's quite difficult to transmit, which is why it hasn't gone global.

“MERS, swine flu, bird flu, zika, ebola...none of these things ended up in any kind of mass extermination”
Half a million deaths from swine flu seems significant to me. But as far as your point goes: no, because the various authorities look at the risk and take steps. Otherwise there could have been mass death. Like the 50m who died in the 1918 flu pandemic. When they had less knowledge on control or to respond quickly with vaccines.

There was huge international support to stop the spread of Ebola.

Meanwhile Over 400,000 die every year from malaria, 62% under the age of 5.

But no panic because we are unlikely to catch it.

Nah be orrrrite

Do those masks do anything against viruses? Surely they are small enough to just sail right through