Health authorities are advising that people returning from areas affected by the new coronavirus should self-isolate.
What is the difference between self-isolation and being put in quarantine?
Self-isolation is a sort of voluntary quarantine, where people have to make their own arrangements.
What are people who are self-isolating expected to do?
They are expected to stay at home, and certainly not go to work or college. It has been described by public health officials as taking the same measures you would if you had a heavy cold – although perhaps the better comparison would be the flu.
The key thing is not to go near other people, to avoid spreading the virus, which is transmitted via droplets from coughs and sneezes. It is thought you need to be relatively close to inhale those droplets – maybe within a metre or so. But the droplets can also land on surfaces and transfer to people’s hands – hence the advice to wash them frequently.
Can they go to the shops to get food?
At first, some officials suggested it would do no harm to go to the shops, assuming people keep their distance from others. But more recently they have been advising people to arrange food deliveries to their homes.
What about their family?
The virus is most likely to be transmitted at close quarters, to family members. Those people will be at risk in any circumstances if one of the family is infected.
If people are returning to family from an affected area, the others may want to keep their distance as much as they can – or self-isolate as well.
What is Covid-19 - the illness that started in Wuhan?
It is caused by a member of the coronavirus family that has never been encountered before. Like other coronaviruses, it has come from animals. Many of those initially infected either worked or frequently shopped in the Huanan seafood wholesale market in the centre of the Chinese city.
Have there been other coronaviruses?
Severe acute respiratory syndrome (Sars) and Middle Eastern respiratory syndrome (Mers) are both caused by coronaviruses that came from animals. In 2002, Sars spread virtually unchecked to 37 countries, causing global panic, infecting more than 8,000 people and killing more than 750. Mers appears to be less easily passed from human to human, but has greater lethality, killing 35% of about 2,500 people who have been infected.
What are the symptoms caused by the new coronavirus?
The virus can cause pneumonia. Those who have fallen ill are reported to suffer coughs, fever and breathing difficulties. In severe cases there can be organ failure. As this is viral pneumonia, antibiotics are of no use. The antiviral drugs we have against flu will not work. Recovery depends on the strength of the immune system. Many of those who have died were already in poor health.
Should I go to the doctor if I have a cough?
UK Chief Medical Officers are advising anyone who has travelled to the UK from mainland China, Thailand, Japan, Republic of Korea, Hong Kong, Taiwan, Singapore, Malaysia or Macau in the last 14 days and who is experiencing a cough or fever or shortness of breath to stay indoors and call NHS 111, even if symptoms are mild.
Is the virus being transmitted from one person to another?
China’s national health commission has confirmed human-to-human transmission, and there have been such transmissions elsewhere.
How many people have been affected?
As of 4 March, the global death toll was 3,190, while more than 93,000 people have been infected in more than 80 countries.
The death toll has passed 3,000 in China, where there have been over 80,000 cases. South Korea, the nation worst hit by the outbreak outside China, has had 5,328 cases. More than 44,000 people in China have recovered from Covid-19.
There have been 87 recorded cases and no fatalities to date in the UK. There are 53 confirmed cases in Australia, with two deaths.
Why is this worse than normal influenza, and how worried are the experts?
We don’t yet know how dangerous the new coronavirus is, and we won’t know until more data comes in. The mortality rate is around 2% at the centre of the outbreak, Hubei province, and less than that elsewhere. For comparison, seasonal flu typically has a mortality rate below 1% and is thought to cause about 400,000 deaths each year globally. Sars had a death rate of more than 10%.
Another key unknown is how contagious the coronavirus is. A crucial difference is that unlike flu, there is no vaccine for the new coronavirus, which means it is more difficult for vulnerable members of the population – elderly people or those with existing respiratory or immune problems – to protect themselves. Hand-washing and avoiding other people if you feel unwell are important. One sensible step is to get the flu vaccine, which will reduce the burden on health services if the outbreak turns into a wider epidemic.
Is the outbreak a pandemic?
A pandemic, in WHO terms, is “the worldwide spread of a disease”. Coronavirus cases have been confirmed outside China, but by no means in all 195 countries on the WHO’s list. It is also not spreading within those countries at the moment, except in a very few cases. By far the majority of cases are travellers who picked up the virus in China.
Should we panic?
No. The spread of the virus outside China is worrying but not an unexpected development. The WHO has declared the outbreak to be a public health emergency of international concern. The key issues are how transmissible this new coronavirus is between people, and what proportion become severely ill and end up in hospital. Often viruses that spread easily tend to have a milder impact. Generally, the coronavirus appears to be hitting older people hardest, with few cases in children.
What should they do if they feel unwell?
They should not go to a doctor’s surgery or medical facility, where they risk infecting other people, some of whom may be very vulnerable because they have health problems. They should stay home and call for advice. In the UK they should use the NHS 111 number.
What measures would be taken if someone does not follow the advice?
These are voluntary measures and they cannot be compelled. Authorities have imposed stricter quarantine conditions on people known to have been exposed to high-risk situations.
