Virus Outbreak: Virus may spread across EU, US in 30 days: ministerBy Sean Lin / Staff reporterIt is “very likely” that COVID-19 would spread across North America and Europe in 30 days, and the Central Epidemic Command Center (CECC) is doing all it can to prevent such a scenario from affecting the nation, Minister of Health and Welfare Chen Shih-chung (陳時中) told lawmakers yesterday. It is “very likely” that the epidemic would spread across North America and Europe in the next 30 days, said Chen, who heads the center. Minister of Health and Welfare Chen Shih-chung, left, and Premier Su Tseng-chang yesterday take part in a question-and-answer session at the Legislative Yuan in Taipei. Excluding the confirmed cases aboard the ship, Japan had about 300 cases, which is more serious than Taiwan, considering the difference in the two nations’ population sizes, but not more serious than Italy, Chen said. When the center issued a level 2 “alert” for Italy, it had 229 confirmed cases, but the nation has a population of about 60 million compared with Japan’s 120 million, he said.

Source: Taipei Times March 06, 2020 15:56 UTC