Episode 1029
2019–20 coronavirus outbreak
Wed, 2020-Feb-26 03:19 UTC
Length - 4:21
Direct Link
Welcome to popular Wiki of the Day where we read the summary of a popular Wikipedia page every day.
With 326,863 views on Tuesday, 25 February 2020 our article of the day is 2019–20 coronavirus outbreak.
An ongoing outbreak of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19), caused by the SARS-CoV-2 virus, started in December 2019. It was first identified in Wuhan, the capital of Hubei, China. As of 25 February 2020, around 80,995 cases have been confirmed, including in all provinces of China and forty other countries. Of these, 11,569 cases were classified as serious. There have been 2,763 deaths attributable to the disease, including 48 outside mainland China, surpassing that of the 2003 SARS outbreak. However, more than 27,000 people have since recovered. Infection is primarily through human-to-human transmission, via respiratory droplets that people exhale (such as cough or sneeze). It has an incubation period of between two and fourteen days. Symptoms include fever, coughing and breathing difficulties. Complications may include pneumonia and acute respiratory distress syndrome. There are no vaccines nor specific antiviral treatments, with efforts typically aiming at managing symptoms and supportive therapy. Hand washing, maintaining distance from people who are coughing, and avoiding touching one's face is recommended to prevent the disease. Anyone who is suspected of carrying the virus is advised to monitor their health for two weeks, wear a surgical mask, and seek medical advice by calling a doctor before visiting a clinic. A large response, both in China and globally, followed an increase in cases in mid-January 2020, bringing travel restrictions, quarantines, and curfews. Examples include the quarantine of the British cruise ship Diamond Princess in Japanese waters; the curfew of more than 780 million people in China; a voluntary curfew in Daegu, South Korea; and the curfew of a dozen towns with more than 50,000 people in the Lombardy and Veneto regions of Italy. The outbreak has been declared a Public Health Emergency of International Concern (PHEIC) by the World Health Organization (WHO). Airports and train stations have performed body temperature checks, issued health declarations, and posted information signs in an attempt to identify carriers of the virus. A number of countries have issued warnings against travel to Wuhan, Hubei, or China generally. The wider consequences of the outbreak include concerns about economic instability. Political fallout has included the firing of several local leaders of the Chinese Communist Party for their poor response to the outbreak. Outbreak-related incidents of xenophobia and racism against people of Chinese and East Asian descent have been reported in several countries. The spread of misinformation and disinformation about the virus, primarily online, has been described as an "infodemic" by the WHO.
This recording reflects the Wikipedia text as of 03:19 UTC on Wednesday, 26 February 2020.
For the full current version of the article, see 2019–20 coronavirus outbreak on Wikipedia.
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