This is a bad time for China.

26 deaths so far from the novel Corona virus and at least 830 infected and an unprecedented quarantine.

Wuhan and central China and nearby cities in lock down, not a soul to be seen except here, like an art installation.

The Dance of the Diggers, purportedly a building site for hospital, the authorities say will be ready in six days.

The new strain not previously identified in humans, is causing alarm, though the World Health Organization says it's too early to declare an international public health emergency at the beginning off any outbreak, you would focus more on a severe cases and you will have more of those on then.

Maybe we're missing some mild cases because people will just be a little bit sick today.

The Lancet medical Journal published preliminary data from Wu Han saying the virus appears to cause similar symptoms to SARS.

Also, a Corona virus which killed 800 infected 8000 and 2002 tree the similar symptoms of fever, dry cough and shortness of breath, but not on this is what makes it different.

A runny nose, sneezing, sore throat or diarrhea.

The source of the initial infection of this Corona virus is still not known, but the working theory is that it's from animals sold on the Wu Han fish market.

The virus has then transferred to humans and then between people breathed in and damaging the respiratory system.

With no treatment, the most important health message is wash your hands.

I've studied the early stages of a lot of pandemics in history, the classic one being the 1918 Spanish flu on Sometimes they do begin with with mild illnesses or not very serious illnesses.

But that could all change if the buyer suddenly mutates and finds a way to transmit more efficiently.

S So that's That's the big unknown.

A second Lancet paper reports on a family of 76 of whom tested positive.

None had visited the market, but one had been to visit a young child and Wu Han hospital.

The authors say the vigilant control measures are warranted at this early stage, but they also say this is a snapshot of one family, and they still don't know how efficiently the virus spreads.

Cases have now been confirmed in Japan South Korea, Singapore, Thailand, the U.

S.

And Vietnam.

But 14 suspected infections in the UK have a LL Bean negative.

Although officials are now trying to trace a CZ many as 2000 visitors who have arrived here from Wu Han today, the Cobra Emergency Committee met for an update on While the risk here remains low, public health hub is being set up at Heathrow.

I think we should definitely see this is a marathon, not a sprint on.

We need to have our entire response based on that principle back in China.

This is the morning after a party that never happened in the Forbidden City in Beijing.

They've taken down the lanterns to celebrate the Lunar New Year.

This is a country battling against a new virus.

Well, Kathy has been speaking to Richard Hatch is the CEO off the Coalition for Epidemic Preparedness Innovations in Devil's, and she asked him to explain more about this virus and its characteristics.

Well, I'm quite concerned.

I think most global public health leaders are very concerned.

We've watched this virus submerged.

The epidemic has grown rapidly.

It's spread internationally rapidly.

We've seen a number of deaths.

The virus belongs to a class of virus called Corona viruses.

And we have prior experience with Corona viruses with SARS about 15 years ago and more recently with a disease called MERS Middle Eastern Respiratory Syndrome.

Both of those viruses have high rates of mortality.

SARS was about 10%.

We don't know what the mortality rate for this virus is, but we know it can cause very severe illness and death.

How likely is it that the virus may mutate to become more dangerous or less dangerous?

I have in 20 years of working on epidemic preparedness.

I I can't say that I've been more concerned than I am about the current virus.

This is a virus that has a a wide spectrum of illness from very mild to very severe or even fatal.

And the problem is that people who have very mild illness in the middle of flu season flu and cold season may not even realize that they have this virus and they may continue to move around.

They may continue to interact with people and actually spread the infection to other people who may be more vulnerable to severe illness or death.

Have authorities around the world acted aggressively enough in your view, because flights were coming into Britain, for example, from Luhan area as recently as Wednesday.

I think it should.

You have.

Should authorities around well have acted more aggressively.

I think authorities around the world are taking this outbreak extremely seriously.

The problem with travel restrictions in particular.

When you have a virus that has an incubation period of several days or a week, people will be traveling before they get sick, so it will be impossible to keep the virus out even by doing intensive screening.

It borders and travel restrictions aren't really going to slow the global spread of the virus.

And in so doing things that impose huge social costs in what's going to be a futile effort to stop the spread of the virus, you know, it's just a disproportionate response.

I know the details are still sketchy, but where is it most likely that this virus would have come from originally?

What we do know about this outbreak is that it does seem to have been associating with transmission early transmission in a wet market in China where live animals were sold and it's undoubted that the virus jumped from some live animal species into humans.

Just tell us about the kind of vaccines that are being developed and how different they are from vaccines for other illnesses.

What's the sort of new technology being used?

The first set of investments.

We actually have three different kinds of vaccines.

Two of them are what we call into play a guessing based vaccines.

The one is based on messenger or in a bar in a.

The second is a D N a based vaccine, and the third vaccine is is basically contains a protein from the virus.

And it exposes that protein in a way that the immune system can see it and respond to it very effectively.

I think the other the other important thing.

What we can use right now or what are called non pharmaceutical interventions.

And they can also be things that the Chinese air now using, which include, you know, preventing mass gatherings, potentially closing schools, potentially even introducing travel restrictions.

I'm very concerned that that's all I can say.

I think it's moving very rapidly.

I think it's going to be a real challenge to contain it in in one sense, if there is a silver lining.

It is that the outbreak first occurred in China, which, which can do extraordinary things, is a country and introduce really extraordinary interventions.

And they they're responding very aggressively and very responsibly at this point.

Richard hatch it.

Thank you very much.

Thank you.

Pleasure.

Well, joining me now from nauseam share is Professor Steve Sang, who's the director off the China Institute at the London University School of Oriental and African Studies.

Looking down cities that are home to tens of millions of people sounds extraordinarily difficult.

I mean, how will how easy will China find it to enforce this well, they will be able to enforce the main transport links light railing or elling.

But they're no in that closing all the rows and therefore people are still Ables to travel is the poor who require public transport who cannot travel the better off us to Abel's to travel and get out of Wuhan and spread the disease If there happens to be carriers, what do you think the impact of this will be on those cities?

Not least of economically?

I mean, people have been looking back to the economic cost of SARS and saying it was extraordinarily high.

Shutting down millions of people's homes and businesses will have a considerable impact and will have a considerable impact.

We are looking at the start off deed Luna, the Chinese New Year holiday season.

So in the short term, most families in China will have very well stocked refrigerators, so they will have food for the next week or so.

But you have feelings are not being re opened.

At the end off the festive, seasoned Wuhan will run out off food and other essential supplies.

Restaurants would not have wished to serve their customers, and a lot of other problems will come with the cut off the communication lines.

I suspect that they may well have to re thing that when that point is being reached, do you think people will remain compliant or will they resist?

Well, at the moment, people in China are much more focused on the Chinese New Year festivals.

Is the people again?

We're talking about tens of millions, potentially who in fact, have the Chinese New Year holiday being canceled.

It's a bit like canceling Christmas for people in this country, and they're unlikely to be very disappointed with what is happening at disgruntled.

But the way to challenge the authority in China is very, very difficult.

So I think they have at the moment no, a lot of choices.

Not quite a lot has been made about how much China has been sharing scientifically in terms of information and how it compares toe the past.

Can the international community trust that China is sharing everything well?

The Chinese government is handling this with a much more open opposed and they did with the SAS crisis in 2002.

To do doesn't in three.

On the previous occasions, they basically covered it up until they could not do so.