Cases of COV-19 have surged in Italy, Iran and South Korea. Regions of Northern Italy are under lockdown while public health officials are scrambling to identify a patient zero. So far, none of the cases are linked to a case coming from China. CNN is reporting that:
"A team of health experts from the World Health Organization and the European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control have arrived in Italy, the site of Europe's biggest coronavirus outbreak.
The team will “support Italian authorities in understanding the situation,” the WHO said in a statement. Their focus will be on “limiting further human-to-human transmission,” it said.
“WHO experts are providing support in the areas of clinical management, infection prevention and control, surveillance and risk communication," the statement said.
The WHO said it is concerned over what it calls the “rapid” increase in reported cases in Italy. “However, it should also be noted that based on current data, in the majority of cases (4 out of every 5) people experience mild or no symptoms,” it added.
About coronavirus in Italy: Five people have died and at least 219 others have been infected with the virus in Italy, Angelo Borrelli, head of the country's Civil Protection agency, said at a Monday news conference.
The bulk of the cases — 167 of them — are in the northern region of Lombardy, whose capital is the city of Milan."
More data from CNN:
"There are now 229 confirmed cases of coronavirus in Italy, according to Italy's National Civil Protection Service.
Here's the breakdown of where those cases are:
- 172 confirmed cases of coronavirus in Lombardy
- 33 in Veneto
- 18 in Emilia-Romagna
- 3 in Piedmont
- 3 in Lazio
There are 101 hospitalized patients with symptoms and another 27 are in intensive care. At least 94 are in home isolation, officials said in a statement. Seven people have died from coronavirus in Italy."
https://www.google.com/url?sa=t&rct=j&q=&esrc=s&source=web&cd=33&ved=2ahUKEwjB_tLanevnAhVOaq0KHeGvBR...
That's about a 3% mortality rate among the known Italian cases. Very troubling. Higher than this season's flu mortality rate so far, .05% in U.S. Looks like we could be on the verge of a pandemic, but we are not there yet. There are 800 confirmed cases in S. Korea as of this evening. We need to be focused on pandemic preparedness in all countries. Hospitals, even in developed countries, are under- equipped to handle any huge surge of cases. Other concerns: (1) People can spread the virus without having any symptoms. (2) If the virus gets into countries such as Afghanistan, with very poor healthcare systems, the number of cases can really soar. The good news is that a vaccine is coming. When it will be ready is still in question.
Quoted from "Live Science":
🔶"So far this flu season, about 0.05% of people who caught the flu have died from the virus in the U.S., according to CDC data.
🔶The death rate for COVID-19 appears to be higher than that of the flu.
In the study published Feb. 18 in the China CDC Weekly, researchers found a death rate from COVID-19 to be around 2.3% in mainland China. 🔶That's much higher than the death rate linked to flu, which is typically around 0.1% in the U.S., according to The New York Times. 🔶
Even so, the death rate for COVID-19 varied by location and an individual’s age, among other factors. For instance, in Hubei Province, the epicenter of the outbreak, the death rate reached 2.9%; in other provinces of China, that rate was just 0.4%. In addition, older adults have been hit the hardest. The death rate soars to 14.8% in those 80 and older; among those ages 70 to 79, the COVID-19 death rate in China seems to be about 8%; 🔶it’s 3.6% for those ages 60 to 69; 1.3% for 50 to 59; 0.4% for the age group 40 to 49; and just 0.2% for people ages 10 to 39. Nobody 9 and under has died of this coronavirus to da"
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