There’s a new beast in town and it has caught the world off guard. A new strain of Coronavirus, called the Novel Coronavirus (2019-nCoV), broke out in Wuhan, China in December 2019. Since then it has spread like fire as authorities struggle to contain it. According to the Johns Hopkins virus dashboard, on a global scale some 24,607 people have been infected by this so far (the figure may be higher as many countries are still trying to track people and test them). Maximum of these cases are in China.
What’s scary about the Coronavirus is that its mortality rate is high – the death toll in China itself now stands at 563 (and rising). The virus has been further reported to be spreading globally, reaching 20 places outside China, and been declared as a public health emergency of international concern by the World Health Organisation (WHO).