The coronavirus outbreak could be even worse than it already appears — and could get dramatically worse over the next two weeks, according to a new study.
The startling conclusion published in Lancet was based on a study by University of Hong Kong scientists who found as many as 75,815 people in Wuhan had been infected with the coronavirus by Jan. 25, based on an assumption that each infected person could have passed the virus to 2.68 others. It also said the epidemic was doubling every 6.4 days.
If the virus was spreading at a similar level around the country, “we inferred that epidemics are already growing exponentially in multiple major cities of China with a lag time behind the Wuhan outbreak of about 1-2 weeks,” the scientists wrote.
There’s also been a revision in how the virus is spread, the Washington Post reported.
Medical advice over the past two weeks has emphasized the need to wear masks to stop transmission through respiratory droplets from the mouth and nose. But Chinese authorities are now saying that the virus can be passed from fecal matter, the Post reported.
In Shenzhen, on China’s southern border with Hong Kong, scientists at the Third People’s Hospital said the stool samples of infected people had tested positive for the virus, further suggesting that it could be transmitted through feces in addition to through respiratory droplets, the Post reported.
According to the Post, the number of coronavirus infections has continued to rise rapidly, passing the total infected by SARS, with confirmed cases increasing by almost 2,000 between Saturday and Sunday in China.
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