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In the two weeks since the first patient in the U.S. was diagnosed with the new coronavirus, public health officials have announced an additional 10 cases in five states, including two cases of transmission between spouses.
At least 361 people have died and 17,205 have been sickened by the novel coronavirus, according to the latest figures from China’s National Health Commission. The World Health Organization (WHO) said Monday that outside of China there are 151 confirmed cases of the coronavirus in 23 countries, including the first ex-China death, in the Philippines.
The case count for the virus has now surpassed that of severe acute respiratory syndrome (SARS), which had infected 8,098 people during the 2002 and 2003 outbreak. About 770 had died. There were 8 reported SARS infections in the U.S.
Last week marked a historic week. U.S. officials implemented the first mandatory quarantine in 50 years, of 195 U.S. citizens recently returned from Wuhan, China, the city that first identified the virus, for two weeks. Starting Sunday night, all travelers returning from China have to go through one of seven designated U.S. airports. All citizens returning from Hubei Province, where Wuhan is located, have to undergo mandatory quarantine for 14 days. The U.S. is also no longer allowing foreign nationals, excluding permanent residents and immediate family members of U.S. citizens, to enter the U.S. in a bid to limit spread of the virus — a policy that a number of other nations such as Singapore have also implemented.
On Jan. 30, the WHO designated the outbreak a public health emergency of international concern (PHEIC) after deciding Jan. 23 not to do so. Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, WHO director-general, said in remarks on Monday that the “PHEIC-or-no-PHEIC system is too blunt an instrument for dealing with complex emergencies. We have a green light, a red light, and nothing in between. We need a yellow light, maybe other mechanisms, but the yes-no binary is not really suitable for emergencies.”
Looking ahead, for the WHO to declare the outbreak a pandemic, there needs to be sustained transmission between humans on at least two continents. The last time the WHO declared a pandemic was in 2009, for the H1N1 flu virus, which is also referred to as swine flu. “Sustained transmission is when the virus is transmitting beyond just clusters of cases in people who are contacts,” Lisa Schnirring, a news editor for Center for Infectious Disease Research and Policy News, said in an email. “Right now, that type of transmission is just happening in China.”
Health care stocks rally again, on treatment plans: Shares of Gilead Sciences Inc. GILD, +3.96% rallied 5% in premarket trading on Monday after the drugmaker said last week that it is working with Chinese authorities to test its investigational antiviral remdesivir as a treatment for people with the virus. The drugmaker plans to conduct a randomized, controlled trial in China as part of those plans, saying that remdesivir has shown “in vitro and in vivo activity in animal models against the viral pathogens” Middle East respiratory syndrome (MERS) and SARS, both of which are also coronaviruses. However, shares of NanoViricides Inc. NNVC, -31.25%, a preclinical company that has also said it is working on a coronavirus treatment, tumbled 32% in premarket trading after rocketing 99.5% the past three days amid a coronavirus rally for some vaccine and drug makers.
SARS benefited Ryanair. Will this coronavirus? Ryanair Holdings PLC RY4C, +5.87% CEO Michael O’Leary told investors Monday that European travelers tended to travel locally after outbreaks of SARS in 2003 and avian bird flu in 2009. “It was mildly good for the short-haul business here in Europe,” he said, according to a FactSet transcript of the call. “More people were likely to holiday in Europe rather than traveling long-haul to Asia, etc. And we would think that will play out again. But we should be wary on the short-term impact.”
Lufthansa Group said it was extending the travel ban, on flights to and from Beijing and Shanghai on its Lufthansa, SWISS and Austrian Airlines flights, to Feb. 29. The ban was previously until Feb. 9.
“The safety of the passengers and employees is a top priority for the Lufthansa Group,” the company said in a statement. “The Lufthansa Group will continuously monitory the situation of the coronavirus and is in contact with the responsible authorities.”
Read more about the coronavirus:
Coronavirus will ‘shake markets out of their buy-the-dip’ mentality, says El-Erian
Coronavirus spreads damage to Wall Street. Could the U.S. economy be next?
As coronavirus infections exceed 17,000, here’s why it spread so rapidly
