Coronavirus Cases Outside China Are Accelerating Rapidly. Here ’s What to Know
A surge in deadly coronavirus cases outside China is raising concerns that the outbreak has reached a new stage and could continue its global spread to even more vulnerable countries.
In the central Chinese province of Hubei, where the virus is believed to have originated, the number of cases appears to be stabilizing, according to government figures. But the number of people infected elsewhere in the world is rising quickly, with clusters in South Korea, Italy, Iran and a cruise ship docked in Japan.
As of Monday, more than 2,200 cases of the virus, officially called COVID-19, have been reported outside of mainland China, where the overwhelming majority of the 79,000 cases have been located since officials first discovered the disease in December. The number of deaths outside mainland China has also increased to 33, including 12 in Iran, eight in South Korea and four in Italy.
In a news conference Monday, World Health Organization (WHO) Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said the WHO is “worried about the situation in the Islamic Republic of Iran and in Italy.”
Although there have been a handful of people infected in more than 25 countries, the number of cases outside China remained in the hundreds for weeks, before jumping to around 1,000 cases on Feb. 18. But in the last few days, the number of infected people has skyrocketed in several countries, sparking fears that the virus could take root outside China.
It took draconian measures, including lockin...
Source: TIME: Health - Category: Consumer Health News Authors: Amy Gunia, Hillary Leung and Mélissa Godin Tags: Uncategorized COVID-19 onetime overnight Source Type: news
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