New York-area coronavirus outbreak originated primarily in Europe, not China: report
By
Dom Calicchio | Fox News
Two separate studies show that the
coronavirus outbreak in the
New York City area – by far the most deadly in the U.S. – originated from Europe, not
China, according to a report.
Researchers conducting one of the studies have detected seven separate lineages of viruses that have arrived in the New York City area and they expect to find more, The New York Times reported Wednesday.
The two studies are being conducted by the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai and the New York University School of Medicine.
Despite examining different examples of the outbreak, researchers from both teams reached largely the same conclusions about its origins, the Times reported.
“The majority is clearly European,” Dr. Harm van Bakel, a geneticist and co-author of the Icahn School’s study, told the newspaper.
Travelers likely carrying the virus had already been arriving in New York from Europe before Jan. 31, when President Trump limited entry by foreign nationals who’d been in China and March 11, when the president announced plans to block travelers from most parts of Europe, the Times reported.
On March 19,
the newspaper reported that travelers arriving from Europe – where outbreaks in Italy and Spain were severe – were being asked at New York’s John F. Kennedy International Airport only if they had been to China or Iran, not if they had visited the hardest-hit nations in Europe.
“People were just oblivious,” Dr. Adriana Heguy of the NYU research team told the Times.
Researchers need to track the history of the virus so they will be able to develop vaccines and modify them as the virus mutates into other forms,
the report said.
As of late Wednesday, the novel coronavirus, also known as COVID-19, had infected 1.5 million people worldwide and killed nearly 88,000 people.
In the U.S., the virus had infected more than 420,000 people and killed more than 14,300.
In New York City, the virus had infected nearly 82,000 people (more than 19 percent of all U.S. cases) and killed more than 6,200 (nearly 44 percent of all U.S. deaths).
Two separate studies show that the coronavirus outbreak in the New York City area – by far the most deadly in the US – originated from Europe, not China, according to a report. Researchers conducti…
nypost.com
Most Australian coronavirus cases coming from USA: Scott Morrison
By Nick Pearson
10:56am Mar 20, 2020
The
United States is the country of origin for most of the
coronavirus cases in Australia, the prime minister has said.
Speaking on
2GB this morning, Scott Morrison said now was the right time to close the nation's borders.
"We were able to slow the virus' start and spread in Australia through these early periods," Mr Morrison said.
"The country which has actually been responsible for a large amount of these (coronavirus cases) has actually been the United States.
"At the end of the day, that's a function of the number of people who travel between the US and Australia."
Eighty per cent of
coronavirus cases in Australia are people who have come in from overseas or have caught the disease directly from them.
Scott Morrison said most Australian coronavirus cases are connected to the United States. (AAP)
A failure to conduct adequate numbers of
coronavirus tests meant the United States appeared to have many more infections in recent weeks than had been announced.
The United States is the country of origin for most of the coronavirus cases in Australia, the prime minist...
www.9news.com.au