Tension over the evolving situation with 2019-nCoV escalated on the global stage in recent days, as countries around the world implemented heightened measures to contain the epidemic, while experts began for the first time to publicly sound the alarm that the new coronavirus might go pandemic. The world faces uncertainty over which of two outcomes
With nine days now having passed since the initial Wuhan lockdown went into full effect, we’ve arrived at the earliest date that any positive results from that drastic measure could be reflected in the case numbers. Any changes in the actual growth rate of the epidemic due to quarantines, travel restrictions, and the like will
A group of bioinformaticians at two prestigious universities in Delhi, India, published a preprint scientific manuscript on the bioRxiv preprint server Friday has led many to speculate wildly that 2019-nCoV may have been deliberately engineered using HIV protein sequences. The paper, entitled “Uncanny similarity of unique inserts in the 2019-nCoV spike protein to HIV-1 gp120
Liu Zheng Zheng, of the Harvard Business Review China, based in Beijing, contributed to this report. The 2019-nCoV situation deteriorated on multiple fronts in the first half of this week. Key developments: The Chinese health ministry confirmed on Wednesday via state TV that 2019-nCoV is spreading in Beijing and other cities, with many cases observed
Despite the urgent demands on their time in this volatile situation, we’ve managed to score email interviews with three academic epidemiologists, getting the inside scoop from experts on how to interpret ongoing coronavirus news and know what’s really going on. We spoke with: Dr. Neil Ferguson of Imperial College in London and the WHO Collaborating
A collection of key developments in the fight against the Wuhan coronavirus (nCoV-2019), updated throughout the week for those who just want the signal and not the noise. If there’s something you think we should include, sound off in the comments thread attached to each week’s post. Wednesday, January 29, 2020 The Chinese health ministry
I’m a Harvard Business Review China journalist based in Beijing, and I grew up in this city. In 2003, I survived the outbreak of SARS while preparing for my college-entrance examination. Many people’s lives were permanently changed because of SARS, including my own. I certainly didn’t expect that, 17 years later, I would witness another
The tone of coverage in the Western press turned darker on Sunday, as the news of shorter latent/incubation periods and asymptomatic transmission we reported yesterday hit larger publications. The possibility that the 2019-nCoV strain may become endemic rather than being suppressed was discussed for close to the first time in the biotechnology news website Stat
Liu Zheng Zheng of the Harvard Business Review China, based in Beijing, contributed to this report Judging by the forums and private Facebook groups we follow, the most terrifying feature of the Wuhan coronavirus outbreak so far has been the Chinese government’s aggressive response — whole cities and tens of millions on sudden lockdown in
Our deep dive into the epidemiological models for the Wuhan coronavirus outbreak has brought to light a serious and important mismatch between the public messaging by the World Health Organization and US public health authorities, and the models they’re using internally to make projections about the course of the disease. The incubation period and latent
With the Wuhan coronavirus epidemic still spreading throughout China and to an increasing number of countries around the world, epidemiologists are racing against time to simulate the progress of the disease’s spread. These simulations will not only yield more accurate predictions of future events, but they’ll give helpful guidance to public health authorities on how
Since we published our initial overview of the Wuhan Coronavirus epidemic, there have been a number of new developments, many of them concerning. Key developments: We’ve learned that the virus originated in bats, has transmitted from human to human in Vietnam, and that the CDC is evaluating dozens of potential cases in the United States.
Recent widespread rumors that the Wuhan coronavirus is an escaped bioweapon are irresponsible alarmism unsupported by the underlying facts. While blowback from bioweapon development leading to disease outbreaks is a staple of plague fiction, from 1971’s The Andromeda Strain, to 1995’s Outbreak, to the recent Planet of the Apes films, it’s extremely unlikely that is
Liu Zheng Zheng of the Harvard Business Review China, based in Beijing, contributed to this report Last updated: 01-27-2020 at 3:00 pm ET A previously undiscovered respiratory virus originating in Wuhan, Hubei province, China has given rise to a rapidly growing, headline-grabbing viral epidemic that’s now spreading across the world as we all watch the
Mastersmith Daniel Winkler is showing off a prototype of an upcoming survival knife that’s a twist on the old “hollow-handled Rambo knife” idea from the 80’s. Instead of a hollow tube for a handle, with the knife blade screwed onto it — a weak design that we recommend everyone stay far away from — Winkler
