China reports about 6,000 confirmed cases of coronavirus, surpasses SARS

Chinese health authorities have reportedly confirmed that the infection cases in the deadly Coronavirus outbreak have reached 5,974, surpassing the SARS epidemic in the year 2002- 2003. China’s National Health Commission detected 1,400 new cases of the deadly virus on Wednesday as the death toll has also spiked to 132, according to reports. The Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome (SARS) pandemic had over 5,327 confirmed cases in mainland China and had claimed at least 770 lives globally.

The National Health Commission said that 9,239 people in the country were suspected of being infected with pneumonia, cold or respiratory problems, out of which 1,239 were in a critical condition as per the reports. The experts have reportedly claimed that China was more focused on projecting stability and containment of the disease than responding and initiating measures on the outbreak as cases soared to nearly a third.

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Shortage of test kits, count expected to be higher

According to the reports, the official count of the infection cases is expected to be higher, than what amounts to now, owing to the shortage of the test kits. It has also been established by the officials that Chinese authorities have reportedly agreed to allow teams of international experts coordinated by the World Health Organization to assist in the containment and research of the virus.

The scientists are reportedly working on the invention of the vaccine to curb the global contagion of coronavirus in the United States and Australia. Reports suggest three companies namely Johnson & Johnson, Moderna Therapeutics and Inovio Pharmaceuticals began their research on the antidote when Chinese scientists revealed a complete genome of the Wuhan-Hu-1 on a public database.

Mike Catton, director of the Victorian infectious diseases reference laboratory, that is reportedly the first lab outside of China to grow and inspect virus from a patient sample, told the media that the development will provide expert international laboratories with crucial information to combat the virus and understand the epidemiology of the outbreak.

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