Four European countries—Italy, Russia, Sweden, and the United Kingdom—reported their first novel coronavirus (2019-nCoV) cases today, as the unprecedented surge of illnesses continues in China and the outbreak grows outside of China, along with more reports of local transmission.
In another major development today, Gilead today announced that it is working with China on the launch of a trial to assess if its antiviral remdesivir can be used to treat 2019-nCoV infections.
Global cases today approached 10,000, including 213 deaths, all in China.
Virus extends reach in Europe
Italy's health ministry today announced two confirmed cases, both involving Chinese tourists. In a statement, officials said the two are hospitalized in Rome. The country's government also declared a health emergency, which it said came as a result of yesterday's declaration by the World Health Organization (WHO) that the global 2019-nCoV developments warrant a public health emergency of international concern.
Russia's government today announced its two first cases, in Chinese citizens whose illnesses were detected in different parts of the country, one in Trans-Baikal territory and the other in Tyumen region. Both are under isolation and monitoring.
Officials said border crossings are allowed for Chinese and Belarus citizens, but they will be quarantined. They also said they are looking into evacuating Russian citizens, 300 from Wuhan and 341 from Hubei province. If the citizens from those locations want to return to Russia, they will be quarantined for 14 days.
Sweden's Public Health Authority today said the country's first case involves a woman from Jonkoping County, located in the south of the country, whose symptoms began after she arrived from Wuhan on Jan 24. She contacted health authorities when she started feeling ill, and she is at Ryhov County Hospital.
The United Kingdom (UK) today announced that two members of the same family have tested positive for 2019-nCoV and are receiving specialist care. The UK's Chief Medical Officer Chris Whitty, CB, DSc, said in a statement that the National Health Service is extremely well prepared and health officials are working rapidly to identify contacts. "We have been preparing for UK cases of novel coronavirus, and we have robust infection control measures in place to respond immediately," he said.
The two people stayed at an apartment-hotel in York before they were taken to Royal Victoria Infirmary in Newcastle, the BBC reported.
China total approaches 10,000
Early today, China reported 1,982 new cases spanning 31 provinces, for an overall outbreak total of 9,692, according to an update from the China Center for Disease Control and Prevention (China CDC). Health officials reported 43 new deaths, all but one from hard-hit Hubei province.
Also, health officials reported that 157 more people have severe infections, raising that number to 1,527.
A medical tracking site that updates case totals as they are released by cities in provinces reflected a total of 9,811 cases and 213 deaths this afternoon. All fatal cases have been in China.
A total of 28 cases have been reported in Hong Kong (12), Macao (7), and Taiwan (9), China CDC said. In a separate statement today, Hong Kong's Centre for Health Protection (CHP) today reported one additional case, that of a 37-year-old man with an underlying illness who traveled by high-speed train to Wuhan on Jan 21 and arrived back in Hong Kong on Jan 23.
Plans for remdesivir trial in China
Gilead today announced that it's working with health officials in China to conduct a randomized controlled clinical trial of the experimental antiviral remdesivir for safely treating 2019-nCoV infections. In advance of that, it has expedited lab testing of the drug against 2019-nCoV samples.
In a statement, Merdad Parsey, MD, PhD, the company's chief medical officer, said the company is working with US and Chinese health officials, the WHO, and researchers and clinicians to contribute its antiviral expertise to help in the battle against the new virus.
Though the drug is not licensed or approved, Gilead has provided it for emergency use in a small number of 2019-nCoV patients, and a case report yesterday in the New England Journal of Medicine says it was used on the first US patient. Currently, there are no vaccines or treatments available that target the new virus.
In earlier studies, the drug showed in vitro and in vivo activity against other coronaviruses, including SARS (severe acute respiratory syndrome) virus and MERS-CoV (Middle East respiratory syndrome coronavirus).
Also, remdesivir was used on an emergency basis in the current Democratic Republic of the Congo Ebola outbreak and was one of four treatments that were part of clinical trials there. However, based on preliminary trial findings, health officials recommended steering patients to two of the other treatments, because findings suggested lower mortality compared with the control drug ZMapp.
More local spread outside China
Elsewhere, six previously affected countries reported more 2019-nCoV cases, including three that reported local spread: Germany, Japan, and Thailand.
Germany today reported three new 2019-nCoV infections, all part of a cluster of locally spread cases linked to a workplace in Bavaria state. Two are employees who had contact with one or more of the five coworkers who tested positive earlier in the week, Deutsche Welle reported today, citing a press release from the auto parts company the people worked for.
Also, Bavarian health officials today reported a sixth case, involving a child of an employee at the same company, Reuters reported.
Japan's health ministry today reported three more cases, one of which involves local spread, in a 20-year-old woman from Chiba prefecture who was a bus guide for Wuhan tourists, an event that was linked to an infection in the bus driver, the ministry said in a statement.
The country's other two cases were asymptomatic infections detected among a group of evacuees from Wuhan who returned to Japan yesterday, according to separate ministry statement. The patients are men in their 30s and 50s. Neither had been exposed to the outbreak market in Wuhan that was tied to the earliest outbreak cases or had any clear contact with pneumonia patients.
Thailand's public health ministry today reported five new cases, one of which involves local spread, according to a health ministry statement translated and posted by Avian Flu Diary (AFD), an infectious disease news blog. Four of the patients are from men from China who have a history of travel to Wuhan. The other is a Thai man who works as a taxi driver and had not been to China. Thailand now has 19 cases, the most of any country outside of China.
Travel-linked cases
In other developments, countries outside China that have already confirmed 2019-nCoV cases have reported new imported cases, including:
- Canada today announced its fourth case, in Toronto, according to a statement from Toronto Public Health.
- Singapore today reported 3 more cases, raising its total to 13, according to a health ministry statement. All involve a history of travel to Wuhan
- South Korea today reported one more case, in a citizen of the country who flew back from Wuhan on Jan 23, raising the country's total to seven, according to a statement from the Korean Centers for Disease Control (KCDC).
See also:
Jan 31 Italian health ministry statement
Jan 31 Russian government statement
Jan 31 Swedish Public Health Authority statement
Jan 31 UK statement
Jan 31 BBC report
Jan 31 China CDC update
Chinese medical community (DXY) 2019-nCoV tracking website
Jan 31 Hong Kong CHP statement
Jan 31 Gilead press release
Jan 31 N Engl J Med case report
Jan 31 Deutsche Welle story
Jan 31 Reuters story
Jan 31 Japanese health ministry statement on latest local spread case
Jan 31 Japanese health ministry statement on asymptomatic evacuees
Jan 31 AFD post
Jan 31 Toronto Public Health statement
Jan 31 Singapore health ministry statement
Jan 31 KCDC statement
