Heightened precautions are being taken in China and elsewhere as governments strive to control the outbreak of a novel coronavirus that threatens to grow during the Lunar New Year travel rush. Authorities had previously said there was no evidence of human-to-human transmission. But now doctors are alerting authorities that individuals with a lot of symptoms of the virus could be “super-spreaders” and infect many people around them.
Dr Jennifer Ashton, ABC News Chief Health and Medical Editor warned: “We still are learning literally by the hour about how this particular virus is behaving.
“The concern is a phenomenon known as a super-spreader which refers to one individual who is particularly sick with a lot of symptoms of the virus, who can then more readily transmit the virus to others.”
Anxieties around the disease have intensified after Chinese government expert Zhong Nanshan revealed on state television that the virus can be spread between humans.
So far, four people have died, and more than 200 others have been infected.
READ MORE: Coronavirus: ‘Action needed!’ as WHO ponders international threat
The new type of coronavirus appears to have originated in the central city of Wuhan, which has reported 198 cases, including all of the fatalities. Others who have been diagnosed in Beijing, Shanghai and southern Guangdong province had also visited Wuhan.
Internationally, four cases of coronavirus have been confirmed among Chinese travellers in South Korea, Japan and Thailand.
Concerned about a global outbreak similar to Sars (severe acute respiratory syndrome), a different coronavirus that spread from China to more than a dozen countries in 2002-2003, numerous nations have adopted screening measures for travellers arriving from China, especially those from Wuhan.
Australia’s chief medical officer Brendan Murphy said his country will be increasing airport screening.
The first cases identified late last month were among people connected to the Huanan Seafood Wholesale Market in Wuhan. The first patients were suspected to have contracted the virus from animals, but human-to-human transmission was confirmed late on Monday.
Mr Zhong, a government expert who helped expose the scale of Sars, told Chinese state broadcaster CCTV that two people in Guangdong province caught the virus from family members.
Fifteen medical workers have also tested positive for the virus, the Wuhan Municipal Health Commission announced. Previously, the commission said no-one who came into close contact with patients, including health professionals, were infected.
Chinese President Xi Jinping instructed government departments to promptly release information on the virus and deepen international cooperation.