Chinese man catches deadly coronavirus after standing next to infected woman in a market for 15 seconds
A 56-year-old Chinese man, identified as 'Patient Five', contracted the deadly coronavirus within 15 seconds of being exposed to it when he only stood next to an infected woman. The 61-year-old woman who was a carrier of the deadly SARS-like infection is 'Patient Two'. Officials have confirmed that the man caught the virus after his brief encounter with the infected woman at a market in south-east China.
Local authority Jiangbei Health Commission revealed that neither patient had face masks. Given the quick transmission, health authorities are now tracking the locations where 'Patient Five' had been and who he was in contact with over the last two weeks since catching the virus at Shuangdongfang market on January 23. The man, understood to be from the coastal city of Ningbo, stood inside a booth with the infected woman at 7.47 am local time.
This suggests coronavirus is significantly more contagious than previously thought. Doctors in China claim the man who caught the virus in 15 seconds had no previous contact with animals and was not acquainted with any other confirmed carriers of the virus. After his encounter with the infected woman, he visited two more supermarkets and finally a restaurant before he was diagnosed on February 4. Jiangbei health officials said 19 individuals who had close contact with the patients – among 18 carriers in the city of Ningbo – have been quarantined.
As of February 8, the global death toll stands at 814, surpassing the total number of fatalities attributed to the outbreak of the SARS coronavirus in 2002 and 2003. SARS killed 774 people as it spread in 26 countries during the nine-month epidemic, according to the World Health Organization. The fatalities from the new coronavirus have occurred in approximately a month.
There are more than 37,000 people infected worldwide by the coronavirus of whom 6,196 are critical. On February 8, the first deaths of an American and a Japanese citizen were recorded in Wuhan, the epicenter of the outbreak. Almost all of the fatalities have occurred in mainland China, except for one in Hong Kong and one in the Philippines.