A 17-year-old boy with cerebral palsy from a rural village in China’s Hubei province has died because his relatives were unable to care for him after being quarantined as a result of the coronavirus outbreak, the state-run Beijing Youth Daily newspaper has reported.
Government officials from Hong’an County, 60 miles north of the provincial capital, Wuhan, where the outbreak first started, have launched an investigation into the death, said the report, which was picked up by other local media.
The boy, Yan Cheng, was found dead in his bed on Wednesday, six days after his father and his 11-year-old brother were taken from their home and quarantined at a facility 15 miles to the south. Both had developed a fever and were suspected of having the virus. Yan Cheng was left alone at home.
What is the virus causing illness in Wuhan?
It is a member of the coronavirus family that has never been encountered before. Like other coronaviruses, it has come from animals, or possibly seafood. New and troubling viruses usually originate in animal hosts. Ebola and flu are examples.
What other coronaviruses have there been?
Severe acute respiratory syndrome (Sars) and Middle Eastern respiratory syndrome (Mers) are both caused by coronaviruses that came from animals.
What are the symptoms of the Wuhan coronavirus?
The virus causes 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. If people are admitted to hospital, they may get support for their lungs and other organs as well as fluids. Recovery will depend on the strength of their immune system. Many of those who have died are known to have been already in poor health.
Is the virus being transmitted from one person to another?
Human to human transmission has been confirmed by China’s national health commission. As of January 30, the death toll in China stands at 170, with 7,711 confirmed cases of infections. In the past week, the number of confirmed infections has more than tripled and cases have been found in 13 provinces, as well as the municipalities of Beijing, Shanghai, Chongqing and Tianjin. The virus has also been confirmed outside China, in Hong Kong, Macau, Japan, Nepal, Singapore, South Korea, Taiwan, Thailand, the US, and Vietnam. There have not been any confirmed cases in the UK at present, with the more than 70 people tested for the virus all proving negative. The actual number to have contracted the virus could be far higher as people with mild symptoms may not have been detected. Modelling by WHO experts at Imperial College London suggests there could be as many as 100,000 cases, with uncertainty putting the margins between 30,000 and 200,000.
How worried are the experts?
There were fears that the coronavirus might spread more widely during the week-long lunar new year holidays, which start on 24 January, when millions of Chinese travel home to celebrate, but the festivities have largely been cancelled and Wuhan and other Chinese cities are in lockdown.
At what point should you go to the doctor if you have a cough, say?
Unless you have recently travelled to China or been in contact with someone infected with the virus, then you should treat any cough or cold symptoms as normal. The NHS advises that there is generally no need to visit a doctor for a cough unless it is persistent or you are having other symptoms such as chest pain, difficulty breathing or you feel very unwell.
Should we panic?
No. The spread of the virus outside China is worrying but not an unexpected development. It increases the likelihood that the World Health Organization will declare the outbreak to be a public health emergency of international concern on Thursday evening. The key concerns are how transmissible this new coronavirus is between people and what proportion become severely ill and end up in hospital.
Sarah Boseley Health editor and Hannah Devlin
Unable to get out of quarantine, his father posted messages asking for help on the social media platform Weibo. Village officials reportedly visited Yan but fed him only twice over the six-day period.
A group called Rice and Millet, founded by a former state-media journalist and focused on children with cerebral palsy and other illnesses, posted photos of the boy in a wheelchair and in bed on Wechat.
The group posted a statement on Wednesday saying that Yan’s aunt visited him after his other relatives were taken away but was not able to visit during his final three days because of her own ill health.
Cerebral palsy is a severe motor disability affecting movement, posture, muscle tone and speech that requires around-the-clock attention, though it does not affect mental ability. Yan is reported to have been mostly immobile and had difficulty speaking.
Calls by the Guardian to the Hong’an County government were referred to Huahe town. Phones at the government office there rang unanswered on Thursday.
The new virus has now infected more people in China than were made ill there during the 2002-03 outbreak of Sars, another type of coronavirus.
