While the Covid-19 coronavirus outbreak continues to slow in China, the spread is stalling elsewhere in the world. A new focus of infection has been confirmed in South Korea where the authorities deplore hundreds of cases. In Italy nearly 50,000 inhabitants of the north of the country are in a situation of semi-confinement.
As the Hong Kong daily South China Morning Post indicated on February 22, 2020, the latest assessment of the Covid-19 epidemic reports nearly 78,000 cases confirmed for 2,462 deaths . The number of patients recovered from the disease has passed the 20,000 mark. According to France Info, while the epidemic seems rather under control in China with a decrease in new daily infections, the number of cases is increasing elsewhere in the world.
In recent days, all eyes have been on South Korea. Relatively spared since the start of the epidemic, the country has a new focus at the origin of a dazzling contamination! In Daegu, a city of about 2.5 million people, a 61-year-old lady started having a fever on February 10 but twice refused to be tested for coronavirus.
Member of the Shincheonji Church of Jesus, a sect with more than 200,000 followers in the country, it infected dozens of people after attending several masses. Today, South Korea has more than 430 cases (including 142 new cases listed this Saturday) and has thus become the most affected country after China and Japan.
Japan has yet to confirm new cases but the Yokohama liner case is getting all the attention. More than 600 cases have been confirmed on board out of a total of more than 3,500 passengers. Today, this country has 751 cases for 3 deaths . Let us quote other countries having seen their balance sheet increase:Iran with 28 cases for 5 deaths and Italy (34 cases for 2 deaths) where 11 cities have established a semi-confinement with the closure of schools, bars , supermarkets and other gathering places for a week. Residents were asked to stay at home.
On February 21, the Chinese authorities published a press release mentioning the upcoming development of a vaccine. Research is progressing and a vaccine will be approved for testing by the end of April. Vice Minister of Science and Technology Xu Nanping took the opportunity to say that in the meantime, plasma therapy has been shown to be effective on severe cases of Covid-19.
This announcement comes a few days after that concerning the association of the French pharmaceutical laboratory Sanofi with the United States. Specifically, it is an agency of the US Department of Health, namely the Biomedical Advanced Research and Development Authority (BARDA). However, there is talk of a wait that should last more than a year before we get to an operational vaccine.
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