The rapid spread of a new coronavirus in China is alarming health experts. The SARS virus killed about 10% of all infected individuals, while the MERS outbreak in 2012 had a fatality rate of around 35%. Experts have said that it is more easily transmitted than the SARS virus. At least 490 people have died in China, one person has died in Hong Kong and one person has died in the Philippines. Workers labour at the construction site of the new Leishenshan Hospital, a makeshift hospital for treating patients of the new coronavirus, in Wuhan, Hubei province, China.

Source: New Strait Times February 05, 2020 15:45 UTC