RIO DE JANEIRO, BRAZIL – The Ministry of Health announced on Friday, January 31st, that the number of suspected coronavirus cases in Brazil has risen to 12. Over the past 48 hours, there was an increase of six new cases under investigation, while three other suspected cases were entirely ruled out.
The suspected cases are spread over five states: Ceará (one), Paraná (one), Rio Grande do Sul (two), Santa Catarina (one) and São Paulo (seven). The suspected cases in Rio de Janeiro and Minas Gerais, which were listed in the last report, have been ruled out by health authorities. The balance reported at a press conference was closed at 12 noon yesterday.
Worldwide, there are over 9,900 people infected with the coronavirus, and 99 percent of confirmed cases are found in China. Of the total number of cases of the disease, 1,300 are considered severe. The number of deaths is already over 200 in China alone. According to the China Centre for Disease Control, the coronavirus has already been detected in 26 countries.
Yesterday, January 31st, the World Health Organization (WHO) declared a state of global health emergency due to the spread of the coronavirus.
History
Coronaviruses have been known since the mid-1960s and have been associated with other international alert events in recent years. In 2002, a variant generated an outbreak of severe acute respiratory syndrome (SARS) that also started in China and affected over 8,000 people. In 2012, a new coronavirus called MERS caused a respiratory syndrome in the Middle East.
The current transmission was identified on January 7th. The WHO office in China was looking for answers to cases of a hitherto unknown etiology pneumonia affecting residents in the city of Wuhan. On January 11th, a seafood market was identified as the source of the transmission.
The area was closed by the Chinese government.
Source: Agência Brasil