Overseas cities with close transport links to China could become outbreak centres: Study

A recent study published by a team led by Gabriel Leung from the University of Hong Kong has reported that the actual number of people that have been infected by the deadly new coronavirus could be as high as 75,000 people that is a staggering ten times the official number provided by the Chinese authorities.

The infection could be worse than reported

According to Chinese officials, the number of confirmed cases has crossed 10,000 with over 200 deaths already. According to the study, the discrepancy between their figure and the figures of the government could be caused by a time lag between infection and symptom onset, delays in infected persons getting medical treatment, and the time needed to confirm cases with lab tests.

The study added that each infected person may have possibly infected a minimum of two or three more people and if the number of confirmed cases keeps increasing in the same rate as it has in the past few weeks then it is possible that there already growing epidemics in multiple Chinese cities just a week or two behind Wuhan.

In more chilling news, the study also said that large overseas cities which have close transport links to China could also become outbreak centres. Confirmed cases of the deadly new coronavirus have already been discovered in other nations like Japan, Singapore and most recent one being in India.

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Recently, amid the coronavirus outbreak, China's aviation authority had announced that it had approved chartered flights to bring some residents of the central city of Wuhan back from overseas trips. According to international media reports, the announcement on January 30 came after domestic and international flights between Wuhan and overseas cites were cancelled in a bid to prevent the spread of the virus. However, the authority further also asked airlines to not to stop healthy Wuhan residents from boarding the flights. 

If the study is true these residents of Wuhan could have possibly infected people during their trips as well. Every day the virus seems to be increasing at a terrifying pace. The World Health Organisation (WHO) has also urged all the governments to take action over the outbreak of deadly SARS-like virus.

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The organisation also called for an emergency meeting to be held on Thursday over whether the viral epidemic should be declared a global health emergency. Earlier this week, WHO had also updated the global risk degree from 'moderate' to 'high' and cited an error in their previous report. Further, the WHO's risk assessment for China is 'very high'.