Patient Zero Of Coronavirus Outbreak Identified
The originating point of the coronavirus pandemic has been identified to be a 57-year-old female shrimp seller in China’s Wuhan city. She was one of the first 27 victims of Covid-19 which killed more than 30,000 lives till now.
Wei Guixian, the ‘patient zero’ recovered from the disease in January after one-month-long treatment. She believes that the Chinese authorities could have controlled the spread of the disease had they acted sooner.
The Wall Street Journal identified that Wei Guixian developed a cold when she was selling shrimps at the Huanan Seafood Market on December 10.
Wei went to a local clinic for treatment believing that she had just common flu and was given an injection at the clinic. She was unaware then that she could be the first patient of the coronavirus outbreak that was about to claim thousands of lives.
A day later, Wei visited Eleventh Hospital in Wuhan as she continued to feel weak. Seeing no progress in the condition she visited the Wuhan Union Hospital on December 16.
At the hospital, Wei was told that she is suffering from a dangerous disease and many from the Huanan Market had visited the
hospital with the same symptoms. Wei was quarantined at the end of December when doctors figured out the relationship of the disease with the seafood market.Wei believes that she contracted the disease from a public toilet at the market shared with meat sellers and others. Many vendors who were trading next to her were also diagnosed with the disease.
The Chinese news outlet, The Paper wrote that the novel coronavirus SARS-CoV-2 is likely to become the fifth endemic coronavirus in humans. More coronaviruses could emerge in the future as this new one clearly has the ability to cross species boundaries and adapt to new hosts. More research is required to help health authorities to deal with the emergence of new viruses.
This new review study published in the journal ‘Cell” was conducted by Professor Edward Holmes from the University of Sydney and Professor Zhang Yongzhen from Fudan University.
Following the outbreak, the live market at Wuhan has been closed indefinitely.
Although Wei is identified as the ‘patient zero’, she might not be the first patient of the coronavirus outbreak in China. According to the Lancet medical journal, the first person was diagnosed with Covid-19 on December 1.
According to the reports to date, the US has the highest number of infections with 143,055 confirmed cases and Italy has the highest death toll with 10,779 deaths. Spain is in the second-highest position with 6,803 deaths till now.
Countries like Germany, France, Iran, and UK are also badly hit by the coronavirus pandemic which has spread to more than 180 countries across the globe.
Patient Zero Of Coronavirus Identified
