The contagious coronavirus that causes severe lung diseases has also appeared in Europe: the first three cases have been identified in France. All three individuals have been hospitalized. French Minister Agnès Buzyn (Health) expects that more people in France have since been infected. According to her, it is impossible to close the borders.
One of the patients (48) recently visited Wuhan, where the virus was first discovered. Two of the three patients are family members. One of the patients, a 48-year-old man of Chinese descent, is hospitalized in a hospital in Bordeaux. A French medical service reports that the man traveled in China and returned via the Netherlands. The latter is denied by Dutch authorities. It is possible the man flew back through Schiphol Airport.
On Thursday, the World Health Organization (WHO) said it is still too early to declare the virus an international emergency. However, the WHO is closely monitoring the virus. Worldwide, more than eight hundred people have been infected and 25 have died. The condition of more than 95 people is also considered serious.
Doctors are making comparisons with the earlier Asian respiratory disease SARS that appeared in China in 2002. According to some experts, there is a real chance the coronavirus could evolve into a SARS-like situation. As with SARS, it is mostly older people who may die from this disease. The mortality rate will be much lower among younger people.
The coronavirus was first discovered in the Chinese megacity Wuhan. Infections have also been reported in other cities in China, Thailand, Japan, Taiwan, South Korea, Saudi Arabia, Vietnam, Singapore, and the United States. These mainly involve people who have visited China.
Chinese media reported on Thursday that all outgoing passenger traffic and public transport in Wuhan have been suspended. Car, train, and air traffic in Wuhan have been halted. Several Chinese cities have been cut off from the world to prevent the spread of the coronavirus. Four hundred fifty military medical personnel have been sent to Wuhan to keep the outbreak under control. Many of these individuals have experience combating SARS or Ebola.
The arrival of the coronavirus is the third major infectious threat currently looming for health authorities in Europe. African swine fever has been observed in wild boars mainly in Eastern and Central Europe for some time, and there are concerns it may spread to pig and livestock farming.
Last week, a wild boar infected with African swine fever was discovered in western Poland, just 12 kilometers from the German border. Should the virus also appear in Germany, it would be a disaster for the German pig farming industry. Export markets outside Europe would very likely reject German pork. The same applies to the large-scale Belgian and Dutch pig industries.
Germany is in talks with Poland to stop the animal disease. For example, work is underway to build a fence to prevent infected boars from crossing the border. The issue is also on the agenda for a meeting of the European Ministers of Agriculture in Brussels this coming Monday.
Furthermore, bird flu has been observed on a large scale among migratory birds in Eastern Europe for several weeks. Due to the current winter migration of birds to the West, an outbreak is also feared in Western Europe. In that case, all chickens and poultry in cages must remain indoors.