The deadly coronavirus outbreak in China could reach Britain because borders are too ‘porous’ to keep the infection out, experts have said.
According to WHO: “Coronaviruses (CoV) are a large family of viruses that cause illness ranging from the common cold to more severe diseases such as Middle East Respiratory Syndrome (MERS-CoV) and severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome (SARS-CoV).
“A novel coronavirus (nCoV) is a new strain that has not been previously identified in humans.”
The spread of coronaviruses is what is known as zoonotic, meaning they are transmitted between animals and people.
Investigations into SARS-CoV found it was transmitted from civet cats to humans and MERS-CoV from dromedary camels to humans.
Several known coronaviruses are circulating in animals which have not yet infected humans.
This current case of coronavirus has been confirmed as spreading from human to human.
Zhong Nanshan, a respiratory expert and head of the national health commission team investigating the outbreak, confirmed the virus can be passed by human-to-human transmission.
Speaking to state news agency Xinhua, Zhong said: “It took only two weeks to identify the novel coronavirus.
“Currently, it can be said it is affirmative that there is the phenomenon of human-to-human transmission.”
