Arne Ruckert, L’Université d’Ottawa/University of Ottawa; Hélène Carabin, Université de Montréal, and Ronald Labonte, L’Université d’Ottawa/University of Ottawa
China’s coronavirus outbreak is stoking fears that it could become the next great global pandemic. As the World Health Organization declares a global emergency, it’s also fanning a pandemic of fear.
Australian scientists have grown the Wuhan virus in a lab, and that will speed up the search for a vaccine. It also will help scientists understand how the virus is transmitted from person to person.
The World Health Organization declared the new coronavirus to be a public health emergency on Jan. 30, 2020. Does the action really change anything? An expert answers four questions.
An ancient practice to prevent the spread of infectious disease looks likely to make a comeback in modern-day Australia. Here’s the rationale behind quarantining Australians returning from Wuhan.
During a crisis, communities seek to come together. But quarantined residents of Wuhan at the epicentre of the coronavirus epidemic have had to show their encouragement in a different way.
Scientists do not yet know the severity of the current coronavirus. A biologist who worked on the 2009 flu pandemic offers insights on that outbreak as well as the SARS outbreak.
Ilan Noy, Te Herenga Waka — Victoria University of Wellington
The preliminary evidence suggests the Wuhan coronavirus is less deadly than SARS. But with social media, panic can now spread more rapidly and further.
One of the dangers of the new coronavirus is that there is no treatment – and no vaccine. But researchers had already been at work on vaccines for close-related viruses.
There’s no evidence you can spread the Wuhan coronavirus before showing symptoms, but one study suggests it’s possible for children and young people to be infectious without ever having symptoms.
The World Health Organization decided that the coronavirus outbreak in China is not a public health emergency of international concern. At least, not at the moment.
Four people in Australia have tested positive to the Wuhan coronavirus so far. So how does it spread, who is most at risk, and what is Australia doing to reduce transmission?