The epidemic has, so far, killed more than 1,600 and infected over 67,000 people. China tops in death toll with more than 1500 people killed by the deadly virus till Friday. It has spread its wings in Europe where an 80-year-old Chinese tourist infected with the Coronavirus died in France on Saturday, becoming the first fatality in Europe.
China's latest figures on Saturday showed 66,492 cases and 1,523 deaths, mostly in Hubei. Outside mainland China there have been about 500 cases in some two dozen countries and territories, with four deaths - in Japan, Hong Kong, Philippines and France.The biggest outbreak outside China has been on a cruise ship, the Diamond Princess, quarantined off Japan’s Yokohama. Out of about 3,700 passengers and crew on board, 285 people have tested positive and hospitalized.
The outbreak deadly Coronavirus has slowed down the Chinese economy. Tremors of this slowdown are belt across the world. The outbreak is leading to less consumption, idle factories and has broken global supply chains.As the global economy is now much more interconnected, the Chinese economy is much more important. Today China's share in world economy is more than 16%. It is an important export market for German products, an important production location for German industrial companies and the starting point for many global supply chains.
As a precaution, Beijing has,unusually, injected nearly 1.2 trillion yuan (€156 billion, $171 billion) to keep the domestic money market and banking system functioning. Besides,import duties on goods needed to fight against the disease have been eased.
Not only the stock markets that have been hit,consumption has also plummeted following the outbreak of virus. Large New Year's events have been canceled; tourist attractions and cinemas closed. The doors remain closed at around 2,000 Starbucks, hundreds of McDonald's restaurants, 130 Uniqlo shops and at all 30 Ikea stores.
The travel industry has also been badly affected. Several countries issued travel warnings about China; some airlines even suspended flights to China. Lufthansa and its subsidiaries Swiss and Austrian Airlines canceled their connections to and from Beijing until February 29. The outbreak of the Coronavirus began in Wuhan, China in 2019, affecting over 1,300 people, the largest recorded to date. The outbreak is ongoing as of February 2020.
Coronavirus (zoonotic virus) is a disease that spreads from one species to another, however it is unclear which species is the culprit of the latest outbreak.A zoonotic virus is born when a single animal is infected with two related viruses.
According to Professor Ian Goodfellow, department of pathology, University of Cambridge: "it came from wild or domestic animals that were being kept at the Wuhan food market, including the civet cat. "Now the civet cat is in fact the animal which the SARS Coronavirus emerged from several years ago."
Remember in 2003, deadly Sars - severe acute respiratory syndrome - that killed 774 people and infected around 8,100 people- was also a Coronavirus. The current Wuhan Coronavirus outbreak has overtaken the total Sars cases and it is a strand of the virus not seen before.Experts see more viruses evolving in the future. Despite advanced scientific exploration and technology, mankind faces more and more threat.