Epidemiological Update: Novel coronavirus (2019-nCoV) (5 February 2020)

Abstract

On 31 December 2019, Wuhan Municipality in Hubei Province, China reported a cluster of pneumonia cases with unknown etiology. By the 9th of January 2020, the Chinese Center for Disease Control and Prevention identified a novel coronavirus (2019-nCoV) as the causative agent of this outbreak. On 30 January 2020, with more than 9,700 confirmed cases in China and 106 confirmed cases in 19 other countries, the World Health Organization (WHO) Director General declared the outbreak a public health emergency of international concern (PHEIC), accepting the advices of the International Health Regulations (IHR) Emergency Committee. Between 31 December 2019 and 4 February 2020, a total of 20,630 laboratory-confirmed cases of 2019-nCoV cases have been reported in 24 countries, though majority of the cases continue to be reported from China (99%). A total of 425 deaths have been reported of which only 1 was reported from outside China – in the Philippines. Infections with 2019-nCoV, are being reported from a growing number of international destinations since the last Epidemiological update, most of them associated with travel from Wuhan, China. As of 4 February, 23 countries reported a total 159 confirmed cases of which 24 cases did not have travel history to China: Malaysia (1), Viet Nam (2), Japan (3), Germany (8), United States of America (2), United Kingdom (1), Thailand (1), France (1), Spain (1), and Republic of Korea (4) but are close contacts of confirmed case of 2019-nCoV or Chinese tourists of Wuhan.