China has been struck with yet another deadly virus amid the world’s battle against the novel coronavirus epidemic.
According to the reports, some 4,500 chickens died from a “highly pathogenic” strain of bird flu caused by the H5N1 virus.
The outbreak, which poses a whole new set of worries not only for people in China but worldwide, has origins at an animal farm in Shaoyang city, Hunan, which is located south from Wuhan, the epicenter of the novel coronavirus outbreak.
While the virus isn’t likely to be transmitted to humans unless they are directly exposed to the contaminated environment or infected birds, it comes with a fatality rate of sixty percent in cases when it manages to infect human individuals.
According to Reuters, Chinese officials have ordered the culling of birds at the farm and nearby areas, whereas nearly 18,000 poultry were killed in an attempt to stop the virus from spreading.
The worrying news follows shortly after the World Health Organization has officially declared the deadly novel coronavirus outbreak a global health emergency following over 8,200 confirmed cases and more than 200 deaths worldwide.
According to the WHO, the “extraordinary event” represents a “public health emergency of international concern.”
The highest level of emergency was issued by the United Nations after the first case of person-to-person transmission outside China took place in Chicago where a sickly woman infected her husband.
“The main reason for this declaration is not for what is happening in China but because of what is happening in other countries,” WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus announced.
“Our greatest concern is for the potential for the virus to spread to countries with weaker health systems, which are ill-prepared to deal with it.”
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Replaced!