We've finally diagnosed our first novel coronavirus patient! And she's not even running a fever. As follows the pattern of other countries, the first patient is from the primarily affected Wuhan region. Unfortunately, she first arrived in the country on the 21st and managed to visit Cebu and Dumaguete via two different airlines before she had herself checked because of a cough. That's quite a possible infection vector to investigate in case of other cases.
It took quite a while to determine the patient has the virus because all initial confirmatory tests required sending the samples to a lab in Australia. Test kits are now available in the country as of like yesterday, so I assume future diagnoses should be quicker. Then we'll get a more realistic picture of the virus in the country - assuming we figure out who to test.
Speaking in Plague, Inc. terms, it looks like the virus is highly infectious with limited lethality - at least when compared to past coronavirus strains like SARS. But as the virus evolves, anything can happen and it'll potentially mutate new features as it travels from host to host.
We all need to do our best to remain calm of course and continue to approach this situation rationally. The same precautions for avoiding catching a common cold from other people, for the most part, applies to how to best avoid contracting the coronavirus. For now, we stay prudent while waiting for more updates. Imagine the little blue planes flying around the world trying to figure out some sort of a cure or vaccine.
Comments
Post a Comment