China: Coronavirus claims 25 lives, nearly 20 million quarantined

The Chinese government on January 24 reportedly said that the number of casualties in the country's coronavirus outbreak had increased to 25. According to reports, the number of people who tested for the disease also increased to 830 and 20 million has been quarantined due to the viral outbreak. China's National Health Commission also said that they were looking into cases of 1,072 individuals suspected to have contracted the viral disease.

WHO stops short of declaring a global epidemic

According to reports, China's National Health Commission stated that the number of casualties was revised after 8 deaths were confirmed on January 23 and a total of 259 cases were reported across the country. The Health commission further added that out of the 830 cases, 117 people were said to be in serious condition. The revised numbers were released after the World Health Organization stopped short of declaring the coronavirus outbreak an epidemic on a global scale. China has quarantined Wuhan and cities in close proximity because of the virus. The country announced necessary measures to restrict the virus's spread by cancelling all inbound and outbound flights and public transport.

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The virus originated from seafood and animal market

According to reports, the coronavirus originated from seafood and animal market located in Wuhan. The viral outbreak has caused concern because of its similarity to Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome (SARS) which claimed the lives of almost 650 people across China and Hong Kong in the year 2002-2003.

After public transport was restricted in Wuhan, the centre of the novel coronavirus (CoV) outbreak, another central Chinese city was put on lockdown to tackle the spread of coronavirus. According to media reports, Huanggang, a prefecture-level city in easternmost Hubei Province and neighbour of Wuhan, followed the lead to suspension of public transport in an out of the city.

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The novel coronavirus is a new strain in the large family of coronaviruses (CoV) which was previously not identified in humans. CoV causes illness ranging from the common cold to more severe diseases such as Middle East Respiratory Syndrome (MERS-CoV) and Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome (SARS-CoV).

CoV is zoonotic which means such viruses transmit between animals and humans but Chinese health authorities confirmed human to human transmission of the SARS-like virus, creating fears of a possible pandemic.

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