Published 12:25 IST, February 14th 2020
Singapore: Health authorities search for 'patient zero' who spread coronavirus globally
The health authorities are searching 'patient zero' as they believe the person carried coronavirus into the meeting in Singapore which then spread globally.
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The global health authorities are reportedly scrambling to find 'patient zero' as they believe that the person carried coronavirus into a sales meeting in a luxury Singapore hotel which then spread to five countries from South Korea to Spain and has also infected over a dozen people. According to international media reports, the experts said that finding the 'patient zero' is very critical for tracing all those potentially exposed to infection and containing the outbreak.
It is believed that someone seated in the mundane meeting or in the vicinity of the hotel almost took coronavirus global. According to reports, it was after a week after the meeting that the first case surfaced in Malaysia. The meeting reportedly included the company's leadership team and global sales staff.
Two South Korean delegates also reportedly fell sick after sharing a buffet meal with the Malaysian, who also passed reportedly passed the infection to his sister and mother-in-law. Three of the firm's Singapore attendees were also tested positive. Furthermore, a British delegate also fell sick and another linked case then emerged in Spain.
Dale Fisher, chair of the Global Outbreak Alert and Response Network coordinated by the World Health Organisation reportedly even compared the Singapore incident to another sp-called 'super spreading' incident at a Hong Kong hotel in 2003 where a sick Chinese doctor reportedly spread Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome around the world. However, the WHO said that its 'way too early' to tell if its a super-spreading event, although the organisation has opened an investigation into the Singapore incident.
Death toll nears 1,500
The outbreak which took place in Wuhan in January has now killed thousands of people. The death toll for the virus in China has also reportedly jumped to nearly 1,500 with another 121 new fatalities reportedly mostly from the worst affected Hubei province. The total number of confirmed cases across China are now more than 60,000.
The World Health Organisation has reportedly said that China's Coronavirus outbreak is a 'very grave threat for the rest of the world' and should also be viewed by other nations as 'public enemy number 1'. The virus was officially named 'COVID-19' at the conference in Geneva held by WHO, where the body's chief further said that countries had a chance of stopping its global spread. Earlier this month, WHO also declared the Coronavirus as a 'global public health emergency'.
12:25 IST, February 14th 2020