Coronavirus: first BBC TV News mentions, Jan 2020

china has said that an outbreak of an unknown viral pneumonia is not the sars respiratory disease that previously killed hundreds of people, confirmation came from health authorities in the city of uh, where there have been 59 cases so far and seven people are in critical condition. Central China A man has died following an outbreak of an unknown pneumonia-like virus that authorities say comes from the same family as the deadly Sars virus. Health authorities say only 40 other people are infected. Rich Preston reports that authorities say the 61-year-old man made purchases. regularly at this seafood market and that he was the source of the virus, he was sealed by the police and disinfected.

The outbreak began in December in the central city of Wuhan, home to more than 11 million people. The man was initially brought here with flu-like symptoms. Symptoms Officials say about 40 more people are affected, some of them in critical condition, but that many hundreds more have come into contact with an infected person. Chinese health officials insist the situation is largely under control, most patients are showing milder symptoms and some of them have already been discharged, officials say they have managed to sequence the structure genetics of this virus and that it is from the same family as SARS severe acute respiratory syndrome in 2003.

Chinese officials were accused of trying to cover up a SARS outbreak that spread rapidly and led to more than eight thousand reported cases and the death of more than seven hundred and seventy people, at least in this case the authorities say that they have acted early and that the virus is contained. It has been confirmed that a new virus has killed three people and has been spreading in China and can be transmitted from person to person, not just animals. More than 200 people have been infected with the virus that causes respiratory problems. The world health organization has said it will hold an emergency meeting on the outbreak later this week.

Correspondent Fergus Walsh reports that it is official that China's mysterious new virus can be transmitted from person to person. Health authorities are urging the public not to panic. Most cases have occurred as a result of direct contact with animals, but human-to-human transmission means this virus is potentially very distant. The biggest threat is that the outbreak is centered in the city of Wuhan, population 11 million, where the source is believed to be a seafood market. 170 people in Wuhan are being treated in hospital. Several are seriously ill and three deaths have been confirmed. There have been a handful of cases of the virus in South Korea, Thailand and Japan, all travelers who came from Wuhan, the infection is a new type of

coronavirus

that originated in animals, although human-to-human transmission has been confirmed. , fortunately it does not spread easily.

Signs of infection include breathing problems. Fever and cough It is now the peak of flu season, which means it is difficult to initially know what infection patients have. Hundreds of millions of Chinese are expected to travel over the next week to celebrate the lunar new year, making further spread at train stations and airports inevitable. Scanners are being used at some airports in the United States, Singapore and Japan are screening travelers and some experts believe that will eventually have to happen here. I think the UK authorities need to start thinking about introducing some form of screening for passengers coming from China, most obviously.

What could be done would be to institute some type of thermal screening to identify people who have a fever, but that could be supplemented with some questionnaires. The outbreak is a reminder of the SARS epidemic, also caused by a

coronavirus

that killed nearly 800 people worldwide. Almost 20 years ago, there was an initial cover-up by authorities. This time, global health officials say China has learned from past mistakes, although it may be weeks or months before we know how big of a threat this new virus poses. fergus bbc

news

tonight at Six health checks will be carried out at Heathrow as a precaution against the spread of a new virus from China.

Passengers on direct flights from the epicenter of the outbreak will be affected. Hundreds of patients now have coronavirus in China. The international community is right to be concerned about this. It is a very new virus that we have not seen before, therefore we do not know what it can do. International health experts are about to decide whether to declare a global emergency. Good evening and welcome to BBC News from six o'clock today. Specific health checks will be carried out on passengers arriving at Heathrow from the Chinese city at the center of a new and potentially deadly virus that has already infected hundreds of people and killed seventeen.

The coronavirus was

first

detected in Wuhan and that's where most people are sick, except for a handful. Many cases have been reported in other parts of Asia last night we also learned of the

first

case in the United States. The main symptoms include shortness of breath, fever and cough, but in vulnerable people, especially the elderly, it can cause organ failure, pneumonia and death, there is no treatment, so prevention is a priority our medical correspondent fergus walsh has more this It is the epicenter of the outbreak Hospitals in Wuhan are overwhelmed More than a dozen health care workers have been infected so they all now wear protective equipment when dealing with patients in an attempt to slow the spread of the virus China wants to minimize travel inside and outside the city the advice is basically that if there is no urgent need, outsiders should not visit wuhan wuhan residents should not leave wuhan unless there are special circumstances this way we can reduce the flow of people reduce the possibility of contagion and prevention and control can be successful.

Wuhan may not be as well-known as Chinese megacities such as Beijing or Shanghai, but 11 million people live in China's central city, more than in Greater London, which helps explain why the virus has traveled so quickly. throughout asia and beyond wuhan international airport handles more than 24 million passengers a year and offers direct flights to london, paris, dubai and other cities around the world, as hundreds of thousands of people will die each year from of infectious diseases, why then is the world so worried about this new threat, this is a very new virus, we have not seen it before, therefore we do not know what it can do at this time, we are seeing a variety of symptoms They range from mild to severe, but we don't know how.

We are seeing severe cases, mostly severe cases, we don't know how it is transmitted, whether it is very easy to transmit or actually quite difficult to transmit, so until we have this information we will continue to be concerned. 400 million Chinese are traveling for the lunar new year celebrations which will accelerate the spread of the virus a positive seems less serious than the 2002 sars outbreak that killed almost 800 people well this virus seems a significant proportion of the cases actually They have a milder illness They have symptoms They have a fever They feel unwell, but the symptoms are quite non-specific, like the flu, for example, which can be a challenge in terms of quickly identifying cases, although it is good

news

from the point of view of Seeing this may not be as lethal as Sars was, so global pandemic Health threat may be limited, but China, praised for its open and rapid response, is taking no chances ferguson bbc news