Covid January 2020

January 2020

1 January

• Taiwan is already implementing health precautions: arrivals on direct flights from Wuhan are being screened for flu-like symptoms on the tarmac in Taipei before they can disembark.

4 January (44 cases)

• WHO announced it would work across its 3 levels – country office, regional office and HQ – to track the situation and share details as they emerged.
• China has reported to WHO a cluster of #pneumonia cases —with no deaths— in Wuhan, Hubei Province. Investigations are underway to identify the cause of this illness.
• Singapore and Hong Kong will be monitoring arrivals from the city at their borders.
• In Wuhan, eight people accused of spreading “rumours” about the disease are summoned to the Public Security Bureau. Another who will be reprimanded is a Wuhan ophthalmologist, Li Wenliang, for showing a group of his medical school alumni an analysis of the virus he believed was Sars.
  • Phrases such as “unknown Wuhan pneumonia” and “Wuhan seafood market” are already censored on YY, a popular live-streaming platform.

5 January (59 cases)

• WHO published its risk assessment and advice and reported on the status of patients and the public health response by national authorities to the cluster of pneumonia cases in Wuhan.

9 January (59 cases)

• ECDC Rapid Risk Assessment (RRA) on COVID19
  • "Considering there is no indication of human-to-human transmission and no cases detected outside of China, the likelihood of introduction to the EU is considered to be low, but cannot be excluded."

10 January (59 cases)

• WHO issues its first guidance on the novel coronavirus
  • Developed with reference to other coronaviruses, such as SARS and MERS, WHO issued a tool for countries to check their ability to detect and respond to a novel coronavirus.
  • This information is to help with identifying main gaps, assessing risks and planning for additional investigations, response and control actions.
• Li Wenliang, the ophthalmologist in Wuhan who blew the whistle on this outbreak, starts to show symptoms.

12 January (59 cases)

• WHO News Item:
  • China shares the genetic sequence of the novel coronavirus, which will be very important for other countries as they develop specific diagnostic kits.
  • Whole genome sequences for the novel #coronavirus (2019-nCoV) from the Chinese authorities were shared with WHO and have also been submitted by Chinese authorities to the GISAID platform so that they can be accessed by public health authorities, laboratories and researchers. <blockquote class="twitter-tweet"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">Whole genome sequences for the novel <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/coronavirus?src=hash&ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#coronavirus</a> (2019-nCoV) from the Chinese🇨🇳 authorities were shared with WHO and have also been submitted by Chinese authorities to the GISAID platform so that they can be accessed by public health authorities, laboratories and researchers. <a href="https://t.co/wmtGfI4dWl">pic.twitter.com/wmtGfI4dWl</a></p>— World Health Organization (WHO) (@WHO) <a href="https://twitter.com/WHO/status/1216124597952745472?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">January 11, 2020</a></blockquote> <script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>

13 January (60 cases)

• Officials confirmed a case of the novel coronavirus in Thailand. It was not unexpected that cases of the novel coronavirus would emerge outside of China and reinforces why WHO calls for active monitoring and preparedness in other countries.
• On 13 January 2020, the #Thailand’s Ministry of Public Health @pr_moph reported the first imported case of lab-confirmed novel #coronavirus (2019-nCoV) from #Wuhan, #China https://t.co/Wr6VZTnCj2

18 January (83 cases)

• ECDC informs countries
  • 300 000 Passengers/month EU <--> China
  • Novel coronavirus circulates in China
  • 2 cases ex China in Thailand; 1 in Japan
  • Returning travelers with fever should consult a physician & inform of China visit
• WHO
• Case def, lab guidance, case management

21 January (392 cases)

• WHO Joint Mission to China
  • The delegation observed and discussed active surveillance processes, temperature screening at Wuhan Tianhe airport, laboratory facilities, infection prevention and control measures at Zhongnan hospital and its associated fever clinics, and the deployment of a test kit to detect the virus.
  • The delegation also discussed public communication efforts and China's plan to expand the case definition for the novel coronavirus, which will build a clearer picture of the spectrum of severity of the virus.
  • At the end of the visit, the Chinese Government released the primers and probes used in the test kit for the novel coronavirus to help other countries detect it. Chinese experts also shared a range of protocols that will be used in developing international guidelines, including case definitions, clinical management protocols and infection control.

22 January (534 cases)

• ECDC RRA COVID19 (#1)
  • the potential impact of 2019-nCoV outbreaks is high;
  • further global spread is likely;
  • there is currently a moderate likelihood of infection for EU/EEA travelers visiting Wuhan;
  • there is a high likelihood of case importation into countries with the greatest volume of people traveling to and from Wuhan (i.e. countries in Asia);
  • there is a moderate likelihood of detecting cases imported into EU/EEA countries;
  • adherence to appropriate infection prevention and control practices, particularly in healthcare settings in EU/EEA countries with direct links to Wuhan, means that the likelihood of a case reported in the EU resulting in secondary cases within the EU/EEA is low.

23 January (631 cases)

• On 22-23 February, the WHO Director-General convened the Emergency Committee to consider the outbreak of the novel coronavirus in China, with cases also reported in the Republic of Korea, Japan, Thailand and Singapore.
• Several Committee members considered it still too early to declare a Public Health Emergency of International Concern (PHEIC), given its restrictive and binary nature. Among other recommendations, the Committee advised that it be recalled in approximately 10 days

25 January (1,350 cases)

• ECDC informs countries
  • Wuhan outbreak evolves rapidly
  • Cases in 9 other countries outside China
  • Person to Person spread likely
• WHO
  • Launch of a free online introductory course on the novel coronavirus

26 January (2,023 cases)

• ECDC RRA COVID19 (#2)
  • the potential impact of 2019-nCoV outbreaks is high;
  • further global spread is likely;
  • there is currently a moderate likelihood of infection for EU/EEA citizens residing in or visiting Wuhan, Hubei province, China;
  • there is a high likelihood of further case importation into countries with the greatest volume of people who have travelled from Wuhan, Hubei Province (i.e. countries in Asia);
  • there is a moderate likelihood of further case importation into EU/EEA countries;
  • adherence to appropriate infection prevention and control practices, particularly in healthcare settings in EU/EEA countries with direct links to Hubei, means that the likelihood of a case detected in the EU resulting in secondary cases within the EU/EEA is low;
  • the impact of the late detection of an imported case in an EU/EEA country without the application of appropriate infection prevention and control measures would be high, therefore in such a scenario the risk of secondary transmission in the community setting is estimated to be very high

27 January

• RKI discusses the use of masks in their daily 2019-nCoV crisismeeting
  • It is argued that facial masks for asymptomatic persons in community settings is not useful, based on the fact that there is no evidence that this contributes to lowering infection risks
  • In the same meeting, they conclude that it is useful to use masks for care-givers in close contact with 2019-nCoV cases. This seems to suggest that masks contribute to lowering infection risk. This dichotomy in thinking is not further elaborated.

30 January (7,823 cases)

• WHO declares: 2019-nCoV = PHEIC
  • Temporary recommendations under IHR
  • Acknowledging that cases have been reported in five WHO regions in one month, the Committee noted that early detection, isolating and treating cases, contact tracing and social distancing measures – in line with the level of risk – can all work to interrupt virus spread.

31 January (9,826 cases)

• ECDC RRA COVID19 (#3)
  • the potential impact of 2019-nCoV outbreaks is high;
  • the likelihood of infection for EU/EEA citizens residing in or visiting Hubei province is estimated to be high;
  • the likelihood of infection for EU/EEA citizens in other Chinese provinces is moderate and will increase;
  • there is a moderate-to-high likelihood of additional imported cases in the EU/EEA;
  • the likelihood of observing further limited human-to-human transmission within the EU/EEA is estimated as very low to low if cases are detected early and appropriate infection prevention and control (IPC) practices are implemented, particularly in healthcare settings in EU/EEA countries;
  • assuming that cases in the EU/EEA are detected in a timely manner and that rigorous IPC measures are applied, the likelihood of sustained human-to-human transmission within the EU/EEA is currently very low to low;
  • the late detection of an imported case in an EU/EEA country without the application of appropriate infection prevention and control measures would result in the high likelihood of human-to-human transmission, therefore in such a scenario, the risk of secondary transmission in the community setting is estimated to be high.

• The RKI coordination team discussed this ECDC RRA, and acknowledges the importance of early detection and rigorous IPC measures.