Don’t Panic: What You Need to Know About the Coronavirus Outbreak
As of today, the death toll due to the deadly new coronavirus outbreak has reached 56, bringing the total number of confirmed cases to 1,975 in several countries.
The new officially named 2019-nCoV by the World Health Organization (WHO), was first identified in the Chinese city Wuhan, and has since, spread to other cities in China, as well as Japan, Nepal, South Korea, France, Australia, and the United States.
Egypt has been among the earliest countries to take preventive measures against the respiratory illness. According to Egypt Today, the Egyptian Ministry of Health set a plan with WHO to deal with the virus, including: “early detection, accurate definition of cases, and raising the degree of readiness at quarantine departments”.
The WHO declared it as an emergency in China, but confirmed that it has “not yet become a global health emergency”. However, there is a fear of the “unknowns”, as there is much that they still do not fully understand about the virus, its severity, and its transmission.
Officials in China have conducted massive quarantine efforts covering 13 cities, closing transportation links, to control the spread of the virus. More so, several airports around the world have started screening passengers arriving from China.
