Coronavirus Outbreak

The coronavirus outbreak has caused lots of panic worldwide as its spreading has been spotted in many countries and cities, some close by. The virus was first located in Wuhan and Hubei China where the death toll rose up to 564 people with fatality rates of 4.1% in Wuhan and 2.8% in Hubei. Due to the outbreak of the virus, China decided to slow the shipping of vital medical supplies to possibly stop the spread of the virus through shipments China ordered a lockdown quarantine that lasted about 3 weeks where visitors such as tourists or family visitors had to stay in China until further notice which most likely was infected and placed in hospitals. The virus originally was discovered to be only in animals such as camels and bats with no studies that it could be spread to people which alerts and confuses scientists as to why the virus has spread to humans. 

One of the first reported cases of a human in contact with the virus from another country was a 35-year-old man that returned to Washington from a family trip to Wuhan. On January 19 of 2020, the man was diagnosed with a temperature of 37.2% C, blood pressure of 134/87 and heartbeats that would beat 110 per minute. The 35-year-old man was suffering from these exaggerated fever symptoms. A day later after tests, he was confirmed to have 2019-nCoV (coronavirus = positive). 

The most controversial patient case was of Dr. Li Wenliang in Wuhan China, Dr. Li Wenliang had been seeing multiple people entering the hospital with exaggerated fever-like symptoms that were very repetitive that soon alerted him of a possible outbreak of a virus. Once studies and more reports in China had been out of people dying or becoming very ill the doctor alerted other doctors to wear protective gear to not possibly become infected. Dr. Li Wenliang soon caught the coronavirus and tried alerting the police but only gained a warning from public safety making him sign a letter that accused him of creating false comments and scaring people from china that “severely disturbed the social order.” There were 7 other people in China “spreading rumors” about a supposed virus outbreak that were also placed in the same situation as Dr. Li Wenliang. A few days later he was met with officials that forced him to sign a letter stating, “We solemnly warn you: If you keep being stubborn, with such impertinence, and continue this illegal activity, you will be brought to justice – is that understood?” as underneath in his handwriting was written: “Yes, I do.”

Dr. Li Wenliang then passed away on February 7 of 2020 due to the coronavirus, would the virus have spread to other countries if the government wouldn’t have tried to keep it a secret. What other things does the Chinese government hide from other countries?