Foreign Affairs

Coronavirus Deaths Surpass 800, Killing More Patients Than SARS

Syringes are common tools used to inject opioids. By ZaldyImg - originally posted to Flickr as Syringe 5 With Drops, CC BY 2.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=8711582

Deaths from coronavirus in China hit 811 by Sunday, surpassing the number of patients who died from SARS, according to the Chinese National Health Commission.

Confirmed infections reached about 37,200 as governments worldwide are trying to stop further advancement of the outbreak. SARS, a similar contagious respiratory illness, killed 774 people between 2002 and 2003, The New York Times reported.

Symptoms of coronavirus include coughing, fever, tightness in the chest and shortness of breath, while SARS — or Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome — has additional symptoms more common in the flu. Health experts believe SARS and coronavirus both originated in China, according to the World Health Organization.

WHO is offering two online trainings to support the response to the #2019nCoV outbreak.
They are available on the open learning platform, https://t.co/RjHSBkVjlH

WHO Situation Report 9 February 2020 https://t.co/Fk47ErfAmu pic.twitter.com/2xvR3FgcvA

— World Health Organization (WHO) (@WHO) February 9, 2020

A 60-year-old American citizen living in Wuhan, China — the epicenter of coronavirus — died Thursday, according to the U.S. Embassy in Beijing.

“We at CDC offer our condolences to the family of the American citizen who lost his life to novel #coronavirus while in Wuhan, China,” wrote U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention director Robert Redfield. “We remain vigilant in our efforts to respond to #2019nCoV and continue working to prevent further spread and impact of the virus around the world.”

There are 12 confirmed cases of coronavirus in the United States, in addition to 14 American passengers on a quarantined cruise ship off the coast of Japan, NBC News reported.