According to the best public health epidemiologist in Hong Kong, the coronavirus epidemic can affect two-thirds of the world's population if not kept under control.
He was quoted as saying by the head of the World Health Organization (WHO) that young coronavirus patients who have never been to China are simply the tip of the iceberg. Professor Gabriel Leung, head of Public Health Medicine at Hong Kong University, said it was important to discover the size and shape of this iceberg. Most experts say every infected person transmits the virus to 2.5 other people. This translates into infection of 60-80% of the population
"60% of the world's population is an extremely large number," Leung told The Guardian, en route to a meeting at the WHO's Geneva offices.
Even if the mortality rate is only 1%, which Leung thinks is possible, the death toll would reach scary values.
At the WHO expert meeting, he will argue that the priority should be to unravel the spread of the epidemic. Second, it must be studied in the measures taken by China have been effective to implement other countries.
Leung is one of the world's best-known experts on coronavirus epidemics and has played an important role during the outbreak of Sars in 2002-2003.
Adapted from The Guardian
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