The cases of the 'mysterious virus' that caused an outbreak in the Chinese city of Wuhan would be many more than fifty identified so far, and would reach 1700. Scientists from Imperial College London say so, according to a calculation that takes into account the fact that three were 'exported' abroad. At the moment two cases of the infection, due to a coronavirus 'relative' of Sars, although much less lethal, have occurred in Thailand and one in Japan, all in people from the Chinese city which has 11 million inhabitants and an airport international
According to experts, the BBC reports, precisely the fact that the virus, which has so far made two deaths, has been 'exported', suggests that the starting point is much wider. A projection based on air traffic from Wuhan, explains Neil Ferguson, the main author of the study published for now only on the University website, leads precisely to 1700 cases. An outbreak of this crop, points out the expert, suggests a possibility of transmission from man to man, so far excluded by the WHO and the Chinese authorities. "There is no need to be alarmist - he says - but the hypothesis should be seriously considered".
At the moment, in addition to Thailand and Japan, Singapore and Hong Kong have also stepped up airport checks, and the US has also announced similar measures at the San Francisco, Los Angeles and New York airports. According to the European Center for Disease Control, the risk of exporting a case to Europe is 'low', although there are three airports that have direct flights to the city of Wuhan.
