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Mar 5, 2020
Coronavirus: Researchers identify two coronavirus strains as China cases dwindle
SHANGHAI
(Reuters) - Scientists in China studying the outbreak of disease caused
by the new coronavirus say they have found that two main strains of the
virus are circulating in humans and causing infections.
A
man wearing a face mask rides a kick scooter through an intersection in
Wuhan, the epicentre of the novel coronavirus outbreak, Hubei province,
China March 3, 2020. REUTERS/Stringer
The
researchers, from Peking University’s School of Life Sciences and the
Institut Pasteur of Shanghai under the Chinese Academy of Sciences,
cautioned that their study looked only at a limited range of data, and
said follow-up studies of larger data sets were needed to better
understand the virus’s evolution.
The preliminary study found
that a more aggressive strain of the new coronavirus associated with the
outbreak in Wuhan accounted for about 70% of analyzed cases, while 30%
were linked to a less aggressive type.
The prevalence of the more aggressive virus type decreased after early January 2020, they said.
“These
findings strongly support an urgent need for further immediate,
comprehensive studies that combine genomic data, epidemiological data,
and chart records of the clinical symptoms of patients with coronavirus
disease 2019 (COVID-19),” they wrote in a study published on Tuesday in
the National Science Review, the journal of the Chinese Academy of
Sciences.
Experts not directly involved in the study said its
findings were interesting, but cautioned against drawing firm
conclusions from such preliminary research.
“It’s difficult to
confirm studies like this without a direct side-by-side comparison of
pathogenicity and spread in, ideally, an animal model, or at least a
greatly extended epidemiological study,” said Stephen Griffin, a
professor and expert in infection and immunity at Britain’s Leeds
University.
Also on Wednesday, one of China’s top medical
associations said that the median incubation period of the coronavirus
is five to seven days and the maximum 14 days.
The remarks by Du
Bin, chairman of the critical care medical branch of the Chinese
Medical Association, mark the most conclusive assessment of the virus’
incubation period by a government-affiliated medical organization to
date.
The revelations came amid a fall in new coronavirus cases
following crippling restrictions imposed on the world’s second largest
economy to stop its spread, including transport suspensions and the
extension of the Lunar New Year holiday.
NEW CASES DOWN
Mainland
China had 119 new confirmed cases of coronavirus on Tuesday, the
National Health Commission said, down from 125 the previous day, in a
broad trend that has seen numbers of new cases fall from the middle of
February.
The total number of cases on the mainland has now
reached 80,270. The number of deaths rose by 38 to bring the total toll
for mainland China to 2,981 by March 3.
All but one new death occurred in Hubei province, the epicenter of the outbreak.
With
the number of new daily infections overseas now exceeding new cases in
China, Chinese officials have begun to seek ways to control the spread
of the virus outside of China and guard against future outbreaks.
Authorities
have asked overseas Chinese hoping to return home to reconsider their
travel plans, while cities across the country have set up quarantine
rules for those entering from high-risk places.
An infected person is known to have arrived in China from Iran, one of the virus’ new hotspots, last week.
China
is encouraging domestic producers of medical protective equipment to
export protective suits to meet overseas demand as the virus spreads,
Cao Xuejun, an official with China’s Ministry of Industry and
Information Technology said in a press briefing in Beijing on Wednesday.
China’s health authorities are also studying setting up
emergency reserves for medical resources and protective materials, Mao
Qunan, an official at China’s National Health Commission said at the
same briefing.
Reporting by David Stanway, Sophie Yu, Muyu
Xu, Se Young Lee, Engen Tham,Josh Horwitz, Andrew Galbraith and Kate
Kelland; Editing by Shri Navaratnam, Mike Collett-White and Andrew
Cawthorne
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