Coronavirus explained: not as deadly as Sars or Mers but easily spread by air travel

Experts urge travellers in Asia to wash their hands thoroughly for 20 seconds and avoid markets – but face masks offer limited protection

Visitors wear protective face masks at the Arab Health conference at Dubai World Trade Centre. Pawan Singh / The National

Mohammed Al Ghamdi from Saudi Diagnostics wears a face mask at the Arab Health conference at Dubai World Trade Centre in Dubai. Pawan Singh / The National

Doctors say the masks offer limited protection and the public are at little risk. Pawan Singh / The National

Tourists wear face masks on Sunset Beach near the Burj Al Arab hotel on Wednesday, hours after the country declared its first case. Antonie Robertson / The National

Masks were selling out in stores in Dubai and Abu Dhabi on Wednesday. Doctors say they offer limited protection and urged the public not to panic over a single reported case. Antonie Robertson / The National

The masks were popular with Chinese tourists even before the Wuhan outbreak and are commonly seen being worn in airports. Antonie Robertson / The National

A tour group, some of whom covered their faces, take photos next to the Burj Al Arab in Dubai on Wednesday. Antonie Robertson / The National

A medical worker checks the body temperature of a driver at a checkpoint outside the city of Yueyang, Hunan province, near the border with Hubei province, which is in lockdown. Reuters

A woman wearing a face mask passes a health notice warning passengers arriving at London's Heathrow Airport about the virus. AFP

Tokyo quarantine officers wearing full protective gear approach a charted flight, believed to be carrying Japanese citizens repatriated from Wuhan, at Haneda airport in Tokyo. EPA

A Kenyan health worker screens a passenger wearing face mask after they arrived from China, at Jomo Kenyatta International Airport in Nairobi. EPA

Medical personnel take temperature tests of passengers on board a plane at the airport in Zhoushan City, Zhejiang province, China. EPA

Passengers are seen on a thermal screen upon their arrival at the Tribhuvan International Airport after Nepal confirmed the first case of coronavirus in the country. Reuters

An airport official checks the temperature of a passenger upon his arrival at the Bacha Khan International Airport in Peshawar. AFP

An airport official checks the temperature of a passenger upon his arrival at the Bacha Khan International Airport in Peshawar. AFP

Disinfection workers wearing masks spray antiseptic solution at Incheon International Airport in Incheon, South Korea. Getty Images

As new cases of the novel coronavirus in China are reported and the death toll mounts, health authorities have warned anyone travelling in the affected area to be extra careful.

So far, there have been more than 100 deaths and thousands of confirmed infections from the coronavirus, which emerged in the city of Wuhan in early December, plus many more suspected infections.

With the virus being easily transmitted from person to person, experts said that China may struggle to contain the outbreak.

It can take up to two weeks for the emergence of symptoms, such as fever, shortness of breath or a cough, and even during this “incubation period” people can be infectious. Each person with the virus is thought to be infecting about two others on average.

Air travel is speeding the virus's spread, with cases confirmed in at least nine countries other than China, among them Australia, Japan, Singapore and the United States.

The key advice from health authorities and governments, including those in the United States and the United Kingdom, is simply not to visit China's Hubei province, of which Wuhan is the capital.

Is it ok to travel to China outside of the infected areas?

Professor John Oxford, emeritus professor of virology at the University of London and co-author of the textbook Human Virology, said that it was "perfectly OK" to go to China outside of the infected areas. However, he said all travellers to the country should exercise caution to ensure that they remain safe.

“Don't go into live animal markets anywhere, keep away from accident and emergency departments and keep your hygiene levels up by sensible precautions,” he said.

Outside the affected area the risk to travellers is not thought to be significant.

Anyone who does visit Hubei province should, according to the US Centre for Disease Control and Prevention, be extra careful.

Key measures include good hand hygiene. The CDC suggests that people wash their hands for at least 20 seconds with soap and water or, if these are unavailable, with an alcohol-based steriliser.

Do face masks help to prevent infection?

Experts say that face masks offer limited protection and that it is generally impractical for people to wear the kind of larger respirator masks that could offer genuine benefits.

Other precautions recommended by the CDC include avoiding contact with sick people and with live or dead animals, animal markets and uncooked meat and other animal products. This is because the new virus is thought to have originated in animals.

“Preliminary information suggests that older adults and people with underlying health conditions may be at increased risk of severe disease from this virus,” the CDC said in a briefing document.

Those already in Hubei province are advised to leave, but Wuhan's international airport is closed, bus and train links are suspended and officials are refusing to allow most people to leave the affected area.

What is a coronavirus? 

Coronaviruses derive their name from their appearance under the microscope: they are enveloped by a protein structure said to resemble a crown.

Four coronaviruses commonly infect people and these usually lead to mild respiratory infections, such as the common cold.

Aside from the four common forms, which have technical names, another type was responsible for the Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome (Sars) outbreak in 2002 and 2003. There were more than 8,000 cases of Sars, which also originated in China, but none for more than 15 years.

Sars was much more virulent than the new coronavirus appears to be, since it killed 774 people or almost 10 per cent of those infected.

Prof Oxford said he thought it was unlikely that the new coronavirus would turn out to be a bigger problem than Sars.

“I think it could reach that [level], but not more,” he said. “With all this attention and quarantine, and we have the experience of Sars so we know the public health measures – quarantine, social distance, handwashing – that should knock it on the head.”

Another coronavirus is responsible for Middle East Respiratory Syndrome (Mers), which emerged in Saudi Arabia eight years ago and has killed about 35 per cent of the nearly 2,500 patients known to have been infected, with the UAE among the affected countries.

Most Mers infections are due to person-to-person spread, especially in hospitals, although camels are thought to harbour the virus.

Despite concern over the new coronavirus, officials have said that the risks should be kept in perspective compared to those from other diseases, particularly influenza.

While the number of deaths that influenza causes can change significantly from year to year, in the winter two years ago a particularly severe outbreak killed an estimated 80,000 people in the United States alone, according to the CDC.

As with the new coronavirus, particular groups are more vulnerable, including the elderly and others with a weakened immune system.