RPT: REVIEW - Europe Prepares To Counter Epidemic, But Coronavirus Cases Still Very Rare On Continent

BRUSSELS (UrduPoint News / Sputnik - 29th January, 2020) The World Health Organization (WHO) is taking the new type of coronavirus, that originated in China's Wuhan last December and already killed more than 100 people, very seriously, as the treatment for virus infections does not exist, and only symptoms caused by these viruses can be mitigated by doctors.

The world has seen a number of epidemics in recent history, namely the Ebola outbreak in West Africa from 2013 to 2016, the middle East respiratory syndrome (MERS) outbreak in 2012 and severe acute respiratory syndrome (SARS) outbreak from 2002 to 2004.

The novel coronavirus, which is lethal to roughly three or four percent of the people infected, is less deadly than SARS, which killed those infected in every 10th case. Nonetheless, the new virus proved to be progressing faster than its predecessor via human-to-human contacts.

EPIDEMIC STARTS TO SPREAD ABROAD

According to the latest data, the number of confirmed coronavirus cases in China now stood at 4,633, while at least 106 people have already died from the virus. Despite the efforts by the Chinese authorities to contain the virus and restrict travel for locals in the affected region, the coronavirus continues to rapidly spread across the country.

Elsewhere, cases have already been reported in Macau, Hong Kong, Taiwan, Thailand, Singapore, Japan, Australia, the United States, Malaysia, South Korea, France, Vietnam, Cambodia, Canada, Germany, Nepal and Sri Lanka.

France registered three cases, namely two in Paris and one in the southwestern city of Bordeaux. All three people are in good health and their life is not threatened.

The only case in Germany was registered in the southern state of Bavaria and involved a man who did not travel to China, but was in contact with his Chinese colleague who recently returned from the virus-affected region. At least 40 other Germans who were in contact with the Chinese person who brought the decease to the country were also quarantined.

A similar situation occurred in Japan, where a local bus driver who had contacts with Chinese tourists was infected with coronavirus, country's health authorities said on Tuesday.

France is the first country to organize the evacuation of its citizens caught up in the quarantined province of Hubei, where the city of Wuhan is located. Approximately 1,000 French people are located in the area and most of them are working at a Peugeot factory. French citizens are set to be returned back home on Wednesday and will be quarantined for two weeks.

Around 30 Belgians will also be also returned home alongside the French, while the US is taking the same measures for its citizens.

WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus visited China amid the outbreak and said that WHO's recommendation to the governments around the world was to abstain from repatriating their citizens as it would send wrong signals and escalate the situation.

"We should keep calm and avoid panic," Ghebreyesus said on Tuesday.

LABORATORIES ARE WORKING FAST TO DEVELOP A VACCINE

The genetic material of novel coronavirus and SARS have 60 to 70 percent similarity and several specialized laboratories are working non-stop to develop a vaccine. China's Center for the Control and Prevention of Diseases (CDC) is working on it together with a handful of specialized laboratories.

On Sunday, Chinese scientists have announced that they have managed to isolate the strain of the virus in the first crucial step in the vaccine's development.

Belgium's KU Leuven's Rega Institute is one of the laboratories that is currently occupied with the development of the vaccine for the new coronavirus. Rega Institue took a vaccine developed against yellow fever as a base for its research.

"Our initial work material is chicken eggs, quickly inactivated at high temperatures. We are now developing a vaccine with culture correctors that we can massively produce later in pharmaceutical production units. We have the largest producer of vaccines in the world located a few kilometers from here, named GSK, and we work in close cooperation with them," Johan Neyts, one of the leading researchers and professor of virology, told Sputnik.

Neyts also said that the vaccine was insensitive to heat and was still active even after seven days of exposure to the heat of 50 degrees Celsius.

"This is a major step forward, essential for developing countries. The vaccines must indeed be brought to all corners of the countryside, to distant villages, often with mopeds and in boxes," the virologist said.

Neyts recalled earlier successes in introducing new genetic material into the genetic code of yellow fever, which lead to the development of vaccines from Ebola and rabies.

"We think that with the same DNA technology we can develop a double vaccine against both yellow fever and the coronavirus. Since yellow fever does not occur in Asia, a Japanese variant is used. In the next phase, the vaccine is tested on animals. In six to eight weeks, we want to check whether the vaccine can trigger an immune defense in mice that is strong enough to prevent infection.

To see if they produce antibodies, we need about a month," the professor said.

The vaccine from the few specialized laboratories would be transferred to pharmaceutical laboratories, which could then produce it in large quantities, according to Neyts.

HOSPITALS AND HEALTH AUTHORITIES PREPARE FOR CORONAVIRUS

The French media criticized measures taken by the country's Health Ministry against the coronavirus, namely the fact that passengers who arrived from China were not properly checked for the virus at Paris's Charles De Gaulle airport as they just received bilingual Chinese-French leaflets telling them to call a special number, in case if they get fever in the next 14 days.

Since then, the authorities started to screen all passengers arriving from China in the airports of Paris and Lyon. Passengers returning from China or persons who have been in contact with people coming from China were barred from taking the public transport or going straight into emergency departments of hospitals, in order to avoid the risk of spreading the virus.

All over Europe, people started to worry about the virus. Furthermore, Europeans started to ask their pharmacists if wearing a face mask was a good idea or if there were drugs that could cure coronavirus.

"Yes, we have more and more requests [for face masks], for a week now, customers are asking us for a mask, thinking that it will protect them, as they have seen photos from China and Asia on tv, showing everybody wearing such masks," Thierry de Muelenaere, a Belgian pharmacist in the small central municipality called La Hulpe, told Sputnik.

Muelenaere added that wearing these types of masks does not protect people from catching the disease.

"We also have more advanced masks ... which protects both ways [from catching and spreading the virus]. It is more expensive of course but protects both ways. For the moment, there is no rush, but we think that if and when the disease will hit Belgium with several cases, people will rush to pharmacies. So we have increased our stock of both types of masks," the pharmacist said.

Muelenaere also said that a vaccine is not yet developed, and pharmacies only have medications that would help against the symptoms of the coronavirus, such as fever or diarrhea.

ORIGINS OF THE CORONAVIRUS AND ITS MUTATIONS

Coronavirus epidemics are associated with respiratory symptoms. The SARS outbreak in 2003 infected more than 8,000 people around the world and killed more than 700. SARS had a zoonotic origin �a bat virus was transferred to humans. The new coronavirus in China is thought to have the same origins.

The MERS epidemic saw more than 2,400 cases, mostly in Saudi Arabia, while the fatality rate was approximately 35 percent, according to the WHO.

"The new coronavirus originating in Wuhan, China is less dangerous [only 3 to 4 percent fatality rate] than former strains, but it spreads faster and the danger is always to see the virus mutating into a more virulent strain. Because of the association with severe respiratory illness and the potential of outbreaks of new strains with a high transmission and fatality rate, there is an urgent need for inhibitors of the coronavirus replication," Dr. Y. Letroye, a lung specialist from Brussels, told Sputnik.

Letroye added that a vaccine is not yet developed but leading lab specialists were working in cooperation in order to reach this goal.

"I know a European coordination team is in Beijing now to jointly decide on possible measures to be taken to counter a possible outbreak of viral pneumonia," Letroye said.

EXTRA PRECAUTIONS IN EUROPEAN CITIES AND CRISIS FOR INTERNATIONAL COMPANIES

Faced with the risk of an epidemic, the Chinese New Year festivities have been canceled in many European cities, including Paris, Bordeaux, Berlin, Milan and Rome. The fear of propagation in Europe is very real but the authorities are trying to calm the situation.

"The Wuhan virus is threatening public safety and has the potential to damage organizations significantly, even those who do not have operations in China. The situation is unfolding rapidly and unpredictably. It is a crisis not only for general public safety purposes, but it is also a crisis for every company in those countries where cases of the virus have been detected. This is going to continue until the rate of infections starts to show a sustained decrease," Caroline Sapriel, Managing director of the consulting firm CS&A, told Sputnik.

Sapriel also listed measures that organizations could take in the wake of coronavirus' threat � engaging crisis teams and crisis management processes, understanding how the crisis is impacting the stakeholders, communicating in an open and transparent way on a regular basis, planning for the worst case scenario, including allowing employees to work from home or suspending certain activities in high-risk areas.

"The safety of people comes first," she concluded.