Not certain if this is MSM hype or china downplaying the seriousness of this new virus.

The reason so many nasty zoonotic viruses originate in south east china is the climate, dietary habits, and humans living in close proximity with animals in less than sanitary conditions.

And all cultures are equal ... right

Fears Mount as Cases of China’s Viral Pneumonia Surge Exponentially
By Eva Fu
January 22, 2020 Updated: January 23, 2020

It started with a light cough. He burped constantly, and complained of shortness of breath.

Family members thought it was no big deal. The doctor said he seemed to have heart problems and suggested him to stay in the hospital. He appeared healthy except for a minor infection in one lung area.

Two weeks later, he was dead, with both lungs infected and organ failure. His doctors at the Wuhan Jinyintan Hospital determined the cause of death as “unknown pneumonia.”

It was days before Chinese health authorities identified the cause of the new viral pneumonia as 2019-nCoV, a coronavirus that first emerged in December in the commercial city of Wuhan, his home city.

As of press time, the virus has since sickened more than 540 people across China and around the world, with confirmed cases in South Korea, Macau, Hong Kong, Taiwan, Thailand, and the United States.

Much remains unclear about the virus that has sparked fear around the world and cast a cloud over the upcoming Lunar New Year festivities, a major traditional holiday when millions of Chinese travel to their hometowns or go on vacations abroad. Experts say the mass movement of people could accelerate the disease’s spread.

The virus has already spread across the country to 17 provinces and regions.

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Traits of the Virus

Health experts have been comparing the Wuhan virus with SARS (severe acute respiratory syndrome) and MERS (Middle East respiratory syndrome), all belonging to a family of viruses known as coronaviruses.

Some suspect that the new disease originated from bats, which also carried the first SARS and MERS pathogens, but questions remain as to how far the new coronavirus has changed from its original form.

Coronaviruses are known for their adaptability and can change very quickly, according to Michael Lai, a molecular biologist with the Taiwanese institute Academia Sinica.

“The virus can more easily replicate across humans,” which could make it more contagious, Lai said. “The virus in a patient will continue to evolve … it can easily stay in the community for a very long time,” he said, calling on Chinese authorities to learn from the SARS experience.

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In a sign of the severity of the outbreak, Wuhan officials on Jan. 22 announced it was quarantining the city and shutting down public transportation, including the subway, ferries, and airports, to prevent the disease’s further spread.

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https://www.theepochtimes.com/fears-moun...4b31a-238431765

Per CNN evidence indicates that the virus may have spread from snakes to bats to humans.

Snakes could be the source of the Wuhan coronavirus outbreak

(CNN)Snakes -- the Chinese krait and the Chinese cobra -- may be the original source of the newly discovered coronavirus that has triggered an outbreak of a deadly infectious respiratory illness in China this winter.

The many-banded krait (Bungarus multicinctus), also known as the Taiwanese krait or the Chinese krait, is a highly venomous species of elapid snake found in much of central and southern China and Southeast Asia

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From bats to snakes
The researchers used an analysis of the protein codes favored by the new coronavirus and compared it to the protein codes from coronaviruses found in different animal hosts, like birds, snakes, marmots, hedgehogs, manis, bats and humans. Surprisingly, they found that the protein codes in the 2019-nCoV are most similar to those used in snakes.
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Snakes often hunt for bats in wild. Reports indicate that snakes were sold in the local seafood market in Wuhan, raising the possibility that the 2019-nCoV might have jumped from the host species -- bats -- to snakes and then to humans at the beginning of this coronavirus outbreak. However, how the virus could adapt to both the cold-blooded and warm-blooded hosts remains a mystery.

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https://www.cnn.com/2020/01/22/health/sn...tner/index.html

UPDATE:

China locking down cities with 18 million to stop virus
By KEN MORITSUGU and YANAN WANG29 minutes ago

BEIJING (AP) — Chinese authorities Thursday moved to lock down three cities with a combined population of more than 18 million in an unprecedented effort to contain the deadly new virus that has sickened hundreds of people and spread to other parts of the world during the busy Lunar New Year travel period.

The open-ended lockdowns are unmatched in size, embracing more people than New York City, Los Angeles and Chicago put together.

The train station and airport in Wuhan, the epicenter of the outbreak, were shut down, and ferry, subway and bus service was halted. Normally bustling streets, shopping malls, restaurants and other public spaces in the city of 11 million were eerily quiet. Police checked all incoming vehicles but did not close off the roads.

Authorities announced similar measures would take effect Friday in the nearby cities of Huanggang and Ezhou. In Huanggang, theaters, internet cafes and other entertainment centers were also ordered closed.

In the capital, Beijing, officials canceled “major events” indefinitely, including traditional temple fairs that are a staple of holiday celebrations, in order to “execute epidemic prevention and control.” The Forbidden City, the palace complex in Beijing that is now a museum, announced it will close indefinitely on Saturday.

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https://apnews.com/ed98662865c3c2eafc1733c827111ab2

UPDATE:

Here's an overview of current status, including a video that purports to be from Wuhan:

Possible Coronavirus Case Under Investigation In Texas, Los Angeles
by Tyler Durden
Thu, 01/23/2020 - 15:13

Summary:

Quote: Cincinnatus wrote in post #5

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Probably a good idea to quarantine Wuhan, for public relations purposes if not else, but this genie may be out of the bottle

Quote: algernonpj wrote in post #4

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(Mainland China: 639 Taiwan: 1 Macau: 2 Hong Kong: 2 Vietnam: 2 Thailand: 3 Singapore: 1 Japan: 1 South Korea: 1 US: 1).

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The exact danger is yet known, but the situation is worrisome.

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MORE UPDATES:

Video shows dead bodies in halls of Chinese hospital…
Posted by Kane on January 24, 2020 11:31 am

Zitat

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Grasshopper

What the lady nurse said in the clip : “No one here is managing us, so no one knows what to do” This is very telling about what happens in a Communist controlled country. They are programmed not to think outside the box, they’re are told to keep their comments and thoughts to themselves. Not to take away from the seriousness of this virus, but to illustrate the difference between free thinking minds, and communist controlled minds. The whole country is in dire straits because they’ve all been program not to think unless someone tells them to do something.

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I would add this applies to any statist, centrally controlled country.

The CDC's latest recommendations. Note it can take two week after exposure to become symptomatic.

https://www.cdc.gov/coronavirus/2019-nCo...l-criteria.html

China Confirms Wuhan Virus Infections in over 90% of Provinces
John Hayward
24 Jan 2020

Chinese state media confirmed on Friday that the coronavirus, spreading from the city of Wuhan, has now infected 29 of China’s 31 provinces, a concession critics will likely take as confirmation that the Chinese government has not been honest about how rapidly the disease is spreading.

Increasingly draconian measures taken abruptly to combat the virus, such as effectively quarantining Wuhan and several other cities, convey the impression of a crisis that is much more serious than Beijing wanted to admit.

Chinese Communist Party (CCP) media claim there have only been 895 confirmed cases of infection and 26 deaths, but these sources now admit the infection has spread across the mainland, and some of the reported deaths have occurred far beyond the Wuhan epicenter of the epidemic.

Furthermore, the South China Morning Post (SCMP) on Friday quoted sources who said the Chinese government is still dramatically under-reporting the number of doctors and nurses who have contracted the virus while treating patients.

As of Friday, Beijing officially stopped treating the Wuhan virus like a minor problem it had well in hand, as the SCMP reported:

Zitat

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In response to the rapidly growing number of infections, China had shut down outbound transport from 13 cities and counties in Hubei by Friday morning, according to China National Radio.

Health officials have warned on nationwide broadcasts that people should avoid traditional family reunions and other public gatherings during the Lunar New Year period that starts on Saturday.

[…]

Confirmed cases of the new coronavirus have been found in several Asian countries, as well as the United States. New infections were confirmed on Friday in South Korea and Japan, while Singapore and Vietnam declared their first cases on Thursday. Other places outside mainland China reporting individuals carrying the virus were Thailand, Taiwan, Hong Kong and Macau.

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Chinese citizens living in the outbreak area describe a health care system completely overwhelmed by coronavirus cases, with hospitals so overcrowded that patients are sent home and told to wait days for treatment.

“There’s not enough staff at the local Center for Disease Control and Prevention. They can’t test all the patients. Some people have begun to panic and want to do the tests immediately, but that’s impossible,” a doctor in Wuhan said, advising patients with mild symptoms to isolate themselves and self-medicate to relieve the burden on treatment centers and minimize the risk of spreading infections by visiting crowded hospitals.

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https://www.breitbart.com/national-secur...ions-provinces/

The Latest:

I haven't seen what the questimated mortality rate is. From ZeroHedge there is a chart in which WHO guestimates the infectious rate is greater than the flu but less than small pox.



From:
China Suddenly Increases Death Toll By Over 60% As Virus Jumps To Europe
by Tyler Durden
Fri, 01/24/2020 - 17:19

Summary

Here's a glimpse of new virus-related developments that occurred overnight.

Zitat

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China has deployed biochemical troops to Wuhan pic.twitter.com/Z2g3gySJFD

— Jack Posobiec🇺🇸 (@JackPosobiec) January 24, 2020

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China has deployed biochemical troops to Wuhan.

Direct link to video…

https://www.citizenfreepress.com/breakin...hemical-troops/

Since it is now believed that it can take two week for symptoms to show up, and asymptomatic people can transmit the virus I wonder if those evacuated to the US will be quarantined until they can be cleared, i.e. determined not to be carrying the virus or for two weeks.

I found this interesting update:


Tencent may have accidentally leaked real data on Wuhan virus deaths
Tencent briefly lists 154,023 infections and 24,589 deaths from Wuhan coronavirus
By Keoni Everington, Taiwan News, Staff Writer
2020/02/05 18:59

Bild entfernt (keine Rechte)


TAIPEI (Taiwan News) — As many experts question the veracity of China's statistics for the Wuhan coronavirus outbreak, Tencent over the weekend seems to have inadvertently released what is potentially the actual number of infections and deaths, which were astronomically higher than official figures.

On late Saturday evening (Feb. 1), Tencent, on its webpage titled "Epidemic Situation Tracker", showed confirmed cases of novel coronavirus (2019nCoV) in China as standing at 154,023, 10 times the official figure at the time. It listed the number of suspected cases as 79,808, four times the official figure.

The number of cured cases was only 269, well below the official number that day of 300. Most ominously, the death toll listed was 24,589, vastly higher than the 300 officially listed that day.

Moments later, Tencent updated the numbers to reflect the government's "official" numbers that day. Netizens noticed that Tencent has on at least three occasions posted extremely high numbers, only to quickly lower them to government-approved statistics.

Bild entfernt (keine Rechte)

Netizens also noticed that each time the screen with the large numbers appears, it shows a comparison with the previous day's data which demonstrates a "reasonable" incremental increase, much like comparisons of official numbers. This has led some netizens to speculate that Tencent has two sets of data, the real data and "processed" data.

Some are speculating that a coding problem could be causing the real "internal" data to accidentally appear. Others believe that someone behind the scenes is trying to leak the real numbers.

However, the "internal" data held by Beijing may not reflect the true extent of the epidemic. According to multiple sources in Wuhan, many coronavirus patients are unable to receive treatment and die outside of hospitals.

A severe shortage of test kits also leads to a lower number of diagnosed cases of infection and death. In addition, there have been many reports of doctors being ordered to list other forms of death instead of coronavirus to keep the death toll artificially low.

https://www.taiwannews.com.tw/en/news/3871594


Whether accurate or not, this data seems to indicate a much higher spread and death toll in China, than other areas. Since the virus has been identified in patient's feces this could give substance to the speculation that the fecal route of spread could be responsible. China has very poor sanitation as compared to the U.S.