HOW CORONAVIRUS SPREAD FROM WUHAN CITY TO THE REST OF THE WORLD

Wuhan mayor at the onset of coronavirus said he did not have the authority to publicize this epidemic until mid-January 2020. Coronavirus disease at the time began spreading. One of the casualties is Dr. Li Wenliang, a 34-year-old doctor who was the first to sound an alarm on coronavirus.

LUNAR NEW YEAR HOLIDAY TRAVELING

China Lunar New Year holiday in JANUARY increased the pace of spread going by reports by Wuhan Mayor. Mayor Zhou Xianwang said over 5,000,000 people left the city before the government imposed travel restrictions before the Chinese New Year. People who were unfamiliar with the Chinese way of life had trouble to understand the immense travel that occurs during the Lunar New Year. It is a one month period that sees around 3 billion people moving to their home towns or traveling for vacations.

Infections disease researchers conclude that it is highly probable that coronavirus spread beyond Wuhan as well as other quarantined areas before officials could implement the plan. The researchers are from the University of Texas, Austin, Hong Kong, China, and France institutions. UT Austin’s Texas Advanced Computing Center’s comprehensive travel data concludes the 128 Chinese cities have a greater risk of 50% of infection because someone exposed to virus went there before the quarantine. An estimate is that 11,213 cases of coronavirus were in Wuhan before quarantine began on January 22, 2020. The rate is 10 times higher than reported cases.

A paper by the research institutions shows that the chance of at least one person carrying the virus to another city is 99%. These carriers have traveled from Wuhan city to Beijing, Shanghai, and Shenzhen before the quarantine in Wuhan. It is a reason for the expansion of quarantine to include other cities with a population of 60 million. The first fatality in Beijing died on January 27, 2020.

IGNORANCE OF SYMPTOMS

Before experiencing severe symptoms, some people did not see the need to cancel their travel plans. They believed they had mild infections like a common cold, and they were well enough to travel or were reluctant to pay a fee of up to $400 to change flights. The previous cases of coronavirus caused similar illnesses to a common cold hence the reason for the first assumption by patients. The lack of knowledge by some people that they have symptoms of human Coronaviruses is a reason that they travel without concern o for risk of infecting others. The virus can be contagious for up to 14 days incubation period even when a patient does not display symptoms.