Wuhan virus, seven isolated cities in China. WHO: it is not a global emergency

• Wuhan, markets stormed by residents stranded within the quarantined city
• Wuhan: "Stay away from here." Images from the epicenter city of the Chinese virus epidemic
• Wuhan virus, suspected case in Bari. In China, first death outside the epicenter

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The World Health Organization (WHO) has announced that the viral disease that has infected hundreds of people in China is not yet a "global health emergency". The decision comes after two independent experts evaluated the available information on the new coronavirus and its spread for two days.

Online the evolution of outbreaks on the Iss website
A new section dedicated to coronaviruses is online on the Epicenter site of the Higher Institute of Health dedicated to epidemiology. "Pending more precise recommendations from the World Health Organization - explains the director of infectious diseases Gianni Rezza in a comment - our country has already implemented prevention and control initiatives on
passengers arriving from the affected areas. Although the situation is not such as to generate a general alarm, it is nevertheless necessary to be particularly cautious and follow the evolution of outbreaks with particular attention. To this end, we hope to provide our contribution also by informing the population with scientific objectivity, since correct information is part of an appropriate prevention strategy "

26 victims in China, five cities in quarantine
Meanwhile, cases of coronavirus pneumonia ascertained in China have exceeded 600, including 95 serious. There are now 25 deaths. The Chinese National Health Commission reports. The virus has affected 25 Chinese provinces. And after Wuhan, four other cities in Hubei province have been placed in quarantine, with the stop to public transport: Huanggang, Ezhou, Chibi, and Xiantao. The first death outside the epidemic of the epidemic was recorded.

In Fiumicino, security corridors for passengers from Wuhan
202 travelers from the Chinese city of Wuhan, the epicenter of the coronavirus, passed through a dedicated "sanitary canal", away from the transit areas of the other arriving passengers. The procedures laid down by the authorities after the spread of the infection were applied to them for the first time. Special scanners checked the body temperature of the passengers of the China Southern Airlines direct flight Cz 645, which landed at 4.50 at Fiumicino airport. The airline flies to the airport three times a week.

"All passengers are fine"
"The health checks prepared by the Ministry of Health at Fiumicino airport on the 202 passengers and the crew who arrived in Rome this morning on the flight from Wuhan all gave a negative result. They are all doing well". This was reported this morning in the Roman airport Carlo Racani, health director of Aeroporti di Roma.

Beijing and Macau cancel New Years celebrations
To curb the spread of the new coronavirus, the city of Beijing canceled the Chinese New Year celebrations. Macau also canceled all New Year's holidays, after a second case of coronavirus was found, a 66-year-old man who arrived Wednesday from Wuhan, the outbreak of the epidemic. The semi-autonomous region of Macau, the only area in China where gambling is allowed, attracts millions of tourists from mainland China every year.

Beijing also suspends school and university exams
The Chinese Ministry of Education has sent a circular to suspend mass exams and rallies in schools and universities for as long as the epidemic lasts. At the moment, students are home for the winter holidays and many will not be returning to school until the end of February. But the circular requires school authorities to evaluate the health situation before organizing the resumption of lessons. Schools and universities in the most affected areas will also need to work to raise awareness of the risks of infection.

Seven isolated Chinese cities

Meanwhile, a seventh city near the epicenter of the virus epidemic in China has stopped public transport and closed an access bridge over the river as the country intensifies its efforts to contain the coronavirus. The city of Huangshi in the province of Hubei has announced that the transport routes and a ferry terminal have closed at 2 GMT, 3 in Italy. After Wuhan , four other cities in China's internal province of Hubei had been placed in substantial quarantine to prevent the spread of the infection. The authorities of the city of Huanggang , not far from Wuhan, have called for the stop of public transport and the closure of the meeting places. The central market of the city closed until date to be established. Similar speech for the cities of Ezhou , 1.1 million inhabitants, where the authorities decided this morning to "temporarily" block train traffic, and Chibi , which has half a million inhabitants and is located about 120 kilometers south of Wuhan .

The new provision concerns Xiantao . Located 100 kilometers southwest of Wuhan, the provincial capital, Xiantao has one million inhabitants. As in other cities, public transport has been suspended and markets with live animals, playgrounds for children and places of entertainment have been closed.

The virus passed to humans via snakes
The 2019-nCoV Chinese virus came to humans from snakes: these would be the animals in which the virus, transmitted by bats, would recombine and then pass on to humans. This is indicated by the genetic analysis published in the Journal of Medical Virology by Wei Ji, Wei Wang, Xiaofang Zhao, Junjie Zai, and Xingguang Li, from the universities of Beijing and Guangxi. The research was conducted on samples of the virus from different locations in China and from different host species. As has happened in the past with avian influenza viruses and Sars, this time too the index is aimed at live animal markets very common in China, where wild animals are sold alongside animals raised on farms and fish, like snakes and bats.

"The results of our evolutionary analysis suggest for the first time that the snake is the most likely wild animal reservoir of the 2019-nCoV virus," the researchers write. Genetic analyzes thus add a fundamental piece to the mosaic of the genetic composition of the 2019-nCoV virus, in which up to now only the sequence of the part of virus inherited from bats was clearly recognizable and identified from the beginning as belonging to the coronavirus family, the same that includes the Sars virus, which appeared in 2002, and the Mers virus of 2015; the mystery of where the other half of the virus came from remained to be solved.

Now it is clear that the 2019-nCoV virus is a mix of a coronavirus from bats and one that arrives from snakes and that it would pass on to humans, adapting to the new host and acquiring the ability to transmit from man to man . By genetically recombining in snakes, therefore, the new virus made the so-called 'species jump', acquiring new receptors that allow it to bind to the cells of the human respiratory system.

Fear and prevention measures in Wuhan, the city of the virus
A sense of anguish pervades Wuhan, a metropolis of China effectively isolated in an attempt to contain the spread of the virus. The authorities have suspended air and rail connections from the city, as well as buses, subways and ferries. The eleven million inhabitants have been told not to leave the city, while among fears of famine, there are those who speak of "the end of the world".

First case of contagion in Singapore
First case of coronavirus also in Singapore. This was reported by local media, which cite the Minister of Health, according to Bloomberg reports. The case, according to Straits Time, concerns a 66-year-old man from Wuhan, the epicenter of the epidemic, who arrived in Singapore on January 20 last year. The 37-year-old son is treated as a suspect in the hospital while his traveling companions are in quarantine. Another 53-year-old woman, also from China, tested positive for the preliminary tests, still awaiting confirmation.

First patient healed
Headache, dizziness and lack of strength. with these symptoms, the first patient who recovered from the new coronavirus initially went to the hospital. The 23-year-old man, known by the surname Huang, later discovered that he was infected with the new coronavirus strain as a result of not being able to recover from the symptoms, which resembled those of a cold, After three days of treatment in a local hospital. To tell its story the Chinese newspaper Pear, taken from others including the Daily Mail. "I recovered faster because I am young. I am only 23 years old" explained the man in an interview. Mr. Huang lives in Wuhan, where the virus originated, and works in Hankou railway station. "I have had fevers repeatedly - he said to pear - from December 28 to January 2 and I was treated in quarantine. The doctors did not expose a single inch of skin and were firmly covered".

Suspicious case in Brazil, prudent government
The coronavirus alert is also triggered in Brazil: yesterday a woman with respiratory problems from China was hospitalized in Belo Horizonte and the authorities of the State of Minas Gerais cataloged him among the suspected cases, despite the federal government having in the meantime excluded the existence of the problem. "No suspected cases of indeterminate pneumonia in Brazil related to the China event have been identified," said the Ministry of Health.

4 suspected cases in Scotland, they are Chinese citizens. Test in progress
Four suspected coronavirus cases in Scotland. Sky News reported that 4 Chinese citizens are now being tested. The four people have all arrived in the United Kingdom these days with a flight from Wuhan, which has three-weekly air connections with London, as confirmed by the PA agency. They were hospitalized on the basis of suspected symptoms and respiratory problems. Tests to see if they were indeed affected by the Chinese virus or not are now underway in Edinburgh for three of the cases, according to reports from the director of the infectious disease institute of the University of the Scottish city, and in Glasgow for the fourth person. At the moment the infection is not confirmed.

Second suspect case in the US
A second suspected case of contagion of the new Chinese virus is under observation in the United States. In Brazos County, northwest of Houston, a patient who traveled to Wuhan was targeted by doctors. The first case on American soil emerged in Seattle.

French Health Ministry: no cases in France
French health minister Agnes Buzyn said tonight that "no suspicious cases" have been reported in France at the moment. "Two cases have been examined - said the minister speaking with journalists - but they turned out to be negative".