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Outbreak 2020: Novel Coronavirus Situation As At 6th March 2020

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The 2019-nCoV virus situation as at 6th March 2020: 3,348 dead, 55,418 recovered and 98,382 confirmed cases.

Compared to 13th February 2020, the fatality rate as at 6th March 2020 had increased from 2.32% to 3.40% but there were positive news on the recovery rate, it has improved tremendously from 10.87% to 56.33%. The number of confirmed cases in Malaysia unfortunately had increased to 55 confirmed cases but without any fatality and 28 recovered cases. Image source: The Center for Systems Science and Engineering

Coronavirus Mutates

This is indeed a bad news considering that scientists now have found 2 strains of the coronavirus:-

Genetic analysis by Chinese scientists of 103 samples of the virus, taken from patients in Wuhan and other cities, suggests that early on two main strains emerged, designated L and S.

Although the L strain appeared to be more prevalent than the S strain (about 70% of the samples belonged to the former), the S branch of the virus was found to be the ancestral version.

The team behind this research suggested that this may indicate the L strain is more “aggressive”, either transmitting more easily or replicating faster inside the body.

However, this theory is speculative at this stage – there haven’t yet been direct comparisons to see whether people who catch one version of the virus are more likely to pass it on or suffer more severe symptoms.

(Source)

The question is whether there will be more strains of the virus that will merge in the near future.

Indonesia Finally Admits Infection

Something is not right if Indonesia is saying that they only have 2 confirmed cases – after all these months since the virus was first detected on 1st December 2019.

Indonesia finally reported its first two COVID-19 cases on Monday. At a press conference in Jakarta, President Joko Widodo announced that two women aged 31 and 64 from Depok had contracted the virus.

But some scientists believe the country, which has close ties to China, almost certainly has a “silent epidemic” within its borders and should urgently boost its surveillance efforts.

Scientists at the Eijkman Institute for Molecular Biology tell Science they have offered to the Indonesian Ministry of Health to help test more people, but have been snubbed so far.

But epidemiologists have long said COVID-19’s absence in the world’s fourth most populous nation was implausible, given the large number of visitors—both for tourism and business—from nearby China.

(Source)

Surge in confirmed cases in US

It has come to a stage where almost 3,000 people under quarantined in New York and the government had to approve emergency aid:-

The Senate resoundingly approved $8.3 billion in emergency aid on Thursday to counter the spread of the coronavirus, sending the package for President Trump’s expected signature, even as nurses in two of the hardest-hit states warned of a lack of equipment and training.

The bipartisan package includes nearly $7.8 billion for agencies dealing with the virus, like state and local health departments that say that even as they deal with early-stage outbreaks, their resources are strained.

(Source)

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