In Wuhan:
Social media videos appear to show patients overcrowd hospitals in Wuhan -- a city under partial lockdown -- due to the Wuhan coronavirus outbreak. CNN's David Culver reports.
edition.cnn.com
Hong Kong (CNN)Authorities in China have imposed indefinite travel restrictions on tens of millions of people across ten cities in an unprecedented effort to contain the spread of a deadly new coronavirus, as hospitals at the epicenter of the outbreak struggle to handle a surge in new patients.
The virus, which was first discovered in the city of Wuhan in December, has spread to every province in China, except the remote autonomous regions of Qinghai, Inner Mongolia and Tibet, with the number of infections rising to 846 worldwide.
Third generation spread
On Thursday, David Heymann, the chairman of a WHO committee gathering data on the outbreak, said the virus spreads more easily from person to person than previously thought. "We are now seeing second and third generation spread," Heymann said.
Coronaviruses are transmitted by animals and people, and the Wuhan strain has been linked to a market in the city that was selling seafood and live animals, including wild species.
Third generation means that someone who became infected after handling animals at the market spreads the virus to someone else, who then spreads it to a third person. The announcement marks a development in the progress of the spread of the virus.
It initially appeared to spread only by very close contact that would typically occur within a family -- such as hugging, kissing, or sharing eating utensils -- but now evidence is accruing that shows more distant contact could spread the virus, such as if a sick person were to sneeze or cough near someone else's face.
Fifteen more people have been confirmed dead in Hubei province from a deadly new coronavirus, according to the provincial health authority, raising the death toll to 41 in mainland China.
edition.cnn.com
