'China coughs, the whole planet worries'
The spread of the coronavirus outbreak is worrying health authorities around the world.
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| Prince of Wales Hospital (Hong Kong, China) recorded a suspected case of coronavirus infection on January 22. (Source: Reuters) |
Under the headline “China coughs, the whole planet worries”, the French daily Libération deciphered the origin and potential risks of this outbreak.
DailyLiberationreview: “The appearance of a strange virus strain was signaled on December 30, 2019, from many cases of patients with pneumonia of unknown origin in Wuhan city, Hubei province, China.
Within three weeks, a new strain of coronavirus emerged that attacks the human respiratory system. Hundreds of other confirmed cases have been detected in Wuhan and many other provinces and cities in China. Thousands more may have been infected in and outside China.”
The virus causing the pneumonia outbreak in China this time has been named by world health experts as “2019-nCoV”, a new strain very similar to the virus that caused the SARS outbreak in 2002-2003, which also originated in China. However, the circumstances surrounding the appearance of the “2019-nCoV” virus remain a mystery. According to experts, it is likely that the virus originated from an animal, was transmitted to humans, and then mutated.
How widespread is the disease?
According to medical experts reported by the newspaperLiberationQuote, currently can not say much, only know that detecting patients is quite complicated when the symptoms of the disease are similar to common flu or pneumonia.
How dangerous is the virus?
According to available information, the victims of this epidemic are mainly elderly people who had some chronic diseases before being infected with the virus. In other words, people with weak resistance are at high risk of infection with the virus. Currently, there is no treatment or vaccine to prevent the disease.
In case of infection, treatment can only be increased with antibiotics, and rely on the body's ability to self-regulate. The danger is that the virus can mutate and spread easily from person to person.
China's promise
It seems that having learned from the experience of the 2002-2003 SARS epidemic, when the international community condemned it for trying to cover up information, making the epidemic more serious and killing more than 800 people, this time the Chinese government responded and provided information more quickly.
SheetThe FigaroComment: “The epidemic is out of control, Beijing is under pressure to be transparent with information and quickly take measures to prevent the spread of the epidemic. In particular, the epidemic broke out strongly in the middle of the Lunar New Year holiday, hundreds of millions of Chinese people had to travel, crowded at traffic hubs.”
On the international side, from Asia, through America and Europe, there have been quick reactions, first of all, strengthening disease detection control at border gates and paying special attention to passengers coming from China.
Severe economic consequences
DailyLes Echosattention to the economic damage that this epidemic may entail. According toLes EchosMany experts look at the economic consequences of the 2003 SARS epidemic to estimate the potential damage of this epidemic.
Analysts at UBS bank said that if this epidemic is not contained quickly, many economic sectors such as retail, tourism, hotels and restaurants in China will certainly suffer the consequences first and then the world market.
Right now, facing the risk of the epidemic spreading widely, stock markets in Asia, Europe, and America have shown signs of instability. Since the beginning of the year, Chinese airlines have lost 5% to 10% of their stock asset value.
