Boston:
Cat modeling entity AIR has said that so far, mortality associated with the 2019 novel coronavirus is observed particularly among people who are older than 60 years of age, with the mean value of 73 years of age.
Furthermore, the case fatality is more prevalent among people who have pre-existing conditions, including, but not limited to, diabetes, hypertension, or a history of cancer. The current case fatality ratio among reported cases is about 2.3%, but this value may change as the outbreak progresses.
There is no effective treatment for an infection yet; antibiotics do not affect viruses and the antiviral products available today do not affect this coronavirus. Since there is currently no effective vaccine or treatment available to contain the spread, officials in China implemented nonpharmaceutical containment measures, including travel restrictions to and from the epicenter of the outbreak at Wuhan and more than a dozen other cities in China.
These measures impact a combined population of more than 40 million people.Furthermore, other countries are putting extra screening and mandatory quarantine measures into effect for passengers who are traveling from China to prevent the importation of the coronavirus.
Coronaviruses are usually spread through coughing and by contact with infected persons or infected surfaces. Covering a cough and frequent hand washing are important preventive measures for this outbreak, similar to flu precautions. Symptomatic patients have a fever, cough, body aches and headaches and in severe cases can develop viral pneumonia.
Coronaviruses are a large family of respiratory viruses responsible for primarily upper-respiratory and gastrointestinal infections in a wide variety of animals (felines, mammals, birds, etc.). Several strains of coronavirus cause human disease, including Sudden Acute Respiratory Syndrome (SARS), Middle East Respiratory Syndrome (MERS), and a few others.
On December 31, 2019, 44 cases of pneumonia from an unknown cause were reported in China, possibly associated with one live-animal market in Wuhan, China. An epidemiological study to identify the origin of the pneumonia-like symptoms started at the same time. In the market identified, live animals—including—wild animals, were held in close contact with each other and with humans. Close contact between humans and animals could have caused the viral recombination and emergence of the novel coronavirus. Available evidence at that time suggested that the novel virus was a recombinant of a coronavirus with animal origin that emerged during November or December 2019.