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  • the World Health Organization have been locked in this emergency meeting along afternoon, and they're expected to make their announcement shortly that announcement.

  • Whether this will be an international public emergency similar to Ebola or swine flu.

  • Now, just behind me, a plane landed about an hour ago directly for me.

  • You want that 11 air our flight that landed here.

  • And that's one of three flights that made every week to London's Heathrow that authorities say that flight would have gone through in France measures.

  • What does that mean?

  • The announcement would have been made on the plane about the situation about Corona virus.

  • The aircraft would have been isolated when it landed, and also a health team would have gone to meet the aircraft.

  • Now there's been no confirmed cases off Corona virus in the UK, and that's the situation that the measures that the authorities here have put in place.

  • The Department of Health, Public Health, England.

  • But the measures in China have been much stricter.

  • When you arrive from the epicenter of the Corona virus outbreak, this is what waits you.

  • Passengers landing from Wuhan into Beijing are greeted by massed officials in biohazard suits.

  • The monitors screening for early signs off the virus.

  • This is a country on high alert.

  • You end up rule may be our unless for essential reasons, we suggest that people outside of Wu Han don't go to Wu Han on Wu Han residents don't leave Wu Han.

  • This will reduce the movement and reduce the transmission, but one of the biggest festivals in the Chinese calendar.

  • Coming up the Lunar New Year, it might be difficult to keep a city of over 11 million people on lock down.

  • There were now more than 500 confirmed cases of Corona virus.

  • The vast sporting city of Wuhan in her by province, is where the virus was first detected.

  • The outbreak has already hit Hong Kong and several cities in China, including the capital, Beijing and Shanghai.

  • Further cases have also been confirmed in Thailand, Japan and South Korea.

  • Outside of Asia, the virus has now reached the U.

  • S.

  • To with a confirmed case near Seattle.

  • The World Health Organization has only declared a global health emergency five times, including for Ebola and swine Flu screenings are already happening at airports around the world, heat sensors checking for a fever and medical workers on standby.

  • And at London's Heathrow, where three flights a week come directly from Wuhan.

  • Health officials say enhance monitoring will take place with what they say is a rapidly evolving situation.

  • Risk of the current time to UK is law.

  • This is a problem that's essentially focused within China.

  • Efforts are being made thio eradicate or stamp out the Casey's that are occurring in China.

  • And if that's done effectively than then, we shouldn't see any cases in the U.

  • K.

  • Back in Wuhan, the seafood market where the virus is thought to have started, it's still closed.

  • Health workers are on the front line, dealing with a mysterious virus they still don't know much about.

  • So do you, as she family are worried about our work here, and they get even more worried when they see the news every day.

  • I always tell them it's okay is we're well protected.

  • But I'm just saying that to give them peace of mind were actually afraid and worried.

  • But as long as we're on duty, our own sense of mission will support us to do the job out on the streets.

  • Workers of busy disinfecting in an attempt to contain a virus that's already spread far beyond the city.

  • Well, joining me now is dr and go See Iran do who's a bio security experts and part of the global health programme at Chatham House.

  • How worried should we be in Britain?

  • Well, in Britain, I think that we should be concerned but not overly worried.

  • It's we should be concerned because this is a novel virus.

  • We don't have that much information about it, but we know that it falls into the Corona virus family.

  • So, like SARS are the Middle Eastern respiratory syndrome MERS.

  • We know that this type of virus could have the potential to, in effect, of a lot of people.

  • So it's something to be, um, concerned about, but not overly worried.

  • The health minister said that the fatality rate is currently thought to be 2%.

  • So where does that place it in different pneumonias and different viruses, I think is actually too early to really know what the case fatality rate is.

  • The role that could be because the case fatality rate is not just the number of people who die in the people that we say our cases right now some of the cases where we'll cover some of the cases will still die, so we actually don't have enough information to calculate the case fatality rate.

  • So we can't say how deadly this virus is.

  • I mean, at the moment, the W.

  • H.

  • O.

  • Is saying that even though there is human to human transmission, we're not sure how long that transmission could be sustained.

  • So if it's sustained for a longer period of time within one person, meaning that one person can infect multiple people quite easily, that's something to be worried about.

  • And then we'll have to increase precautionary measures.

  • And how long does it take to develop medical or immune responses to something like this?

  • Ah, deeming interventions like Okay, so we're actually as a global community quite equipped to take precautionary measures.

  • For example, in China was just reported, there's already been quarantine measures.

  • There's some countries within the region that are also quarantining certain passengers that have high fevers are presenting with some of the symptoms of that the novel Corona virus are causing.

  • So as a global community, I think we are quite equipped.

  • China is a bit difficult, especially right now, because of the Lunar New Year.

  • So I think that the amount of influx of people means that we have to be even more vigilant.

  • But people will recall in in previous outbreaks off scary viruses.

  • You know, we've had lots of concern about the supply of medicines like Tamiflu or whatever it might be.

  • I mean, all their drugs available that would help patients who contract this.

  • We actually don't know at the moment, right?

  • It's it's a new virus.

  • It's something that we've never seen before, so we're not sure if there's a specific medicine.

  • That kidney can help anti virals because it's a virus.

  • Anti virals should be affected, but we're not quite sure which one at the moment.

  • Right now.

  • The WTO's just suggesting are recommending that we take hygienic measures.

  • Isn't washing our hands wearing masks?

  • I mean, in China, they were in quite a few mask.

  • Yeah, I mean, do you think the idea off just telling patients who are coming off a plane look of your feeling ill?

  • Then go and see somebody is enough.

  • I mean, you know what isn't the normal reaction of people to go?

  • I don't want to get caught up in that kind of bureaucracy.

  • I don't be quarantined for six months.

  • I'm probably fine.

  • I've just come off a long haul flight.

  • That's all you're saying is You know what people are people like.

  • It's comply with advice That says, If you're feeling a bit ill, hand yourself in.

  • Well, I think that it depends on the person, but I think if we continue to communicate wrist effectively, so if the media, the health authorities, are in alignment with really communicating what we know and what we do not know that I would think that the public would make the choice to protect themselves and protect their loved ones as well.

  • Because when there's an infectious disease out there that someone can contract, it's not just about used about your family's about your co workers.

the World Health Organization have been locked in this emergency meeting along afternoon, and they're expected to make their announcement shortly that announcement.

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