All the access in China must be cut off

[Special Articles] Young-Bong Kim, dept. of biomedical science & engineering, Konkuk University

Professor Young-Bong Kim

2019n-CoV is a RNA virus belonging to beta corona, similar to SARS or MERS, and is a common infectious disease with high mortality due to the absence of vaccines and treatments.

 

The mortality rate of SARS and MERS was 10% and 30%, respectively.

 

This is due to the level of medical care, and because it has very high gene homology with SARS and the same cellular receptor uses ACE2, it can be regarded as a second SARS virus.

 

Viral disease, like a fire, early response is very important.

 

The first thing you need to do when it is fire is to scream.

 

That way, you should alert your surroundings so you don't miss an initial response.

 

It's better to stay a bit more fuzzy than a big accident.

 

Already, China failed to respond early, putting the entire region at risk, not just Hubei.

 

Soon there will be more than 100,000 official infections, and already they have grown exponentially, but the diagnostic system will not follow them, and statistics will be missing.

 

However, the death toll continues to rise, with exponential growth at some stages, and mortality is expected to be higher than now.

 

2019n-CoV is not a strong viruse when tested for virus inactivation.

 

The virus is exactly the same as the cold epidemic of RNA viruses with temperature- and humidity-sensitive envelopes.

 

The strength of the virus' propagation is important, but it's more affected by the environment.

 

In other words, SARS inactivation test results show that at 4 ℃, the phenomenon is relatively stable in pH 3 or chemical disinfectant (formaldehyde based), etc., and this phenomenon is maintained until at least the end of March.

 

Korea has experience of MERS in 2015, so the monitoring management system and the negative pressure isolation ward facility of the KCDC have been prepared.

 

There is no infection in the hospital and the initial response is still good.

 

This is also a reward for MERS.

 

However, as new inflows continue and the second and third epidemics increase, the domestic virus disease response system is bound to reach its limit.

 

Fortunately, even if it doesn't spread to serious pandemics, if the situation lasts until the end of March or April, people's fatigue and economic impact will be hard to say.

 

The current diagnosis system cannot completely diagnose the carriers, so if we do not block the entry of infected people from China, we can become like other parts of China, so more preventive measures are required.

 

It should be borne in mind that the last domestic MERS outbreak was caused by only one super infected person.

 

The winter is a pleasant environment for viruses.

 

No 2019n-CoV without a drug or vaccine can be prevented by justice and can only be solved by scientific protection.