The United States reported its first case of person-to-person transmission of a fast-spreading new coronavirus on Thursday, as a World Health Organization (WHO) panel met to reconsider whether the outbreak that has killed 170 people in China should be declared a global emergency.
The vast majority of the more than 8,100 cases detected globally, according to the latest official data, have been in China, where the virus originated in an illegal wildlife market in the city of Wuhan.
But more than 100 cases have emerged in other countries, from Japan to the United States, spurring cuts to travel, outbreaks of anti-China sentiment in some places and a surge in demand for protective face masks.
“There’s only so much we can do,” said an official at Kukje Pharma Co, a South Korean firm considering doubling or tripling shifts to cope with a rush of orders for “tens of millions” of masks.
Officials from the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said in a conference call that the flu-like virus was confirmed in a man in Illinois, bringing the total number of U.S. cases to six. The man’s wife, who was also infected, had previously travelled to China, but he had not.
Experts say cases of person-to-person transmission outside China are especially concerning because they suggest greater potential for the virus to spread further.
The total number of infections in a health crisis that is forecast to sharply dent China’s economy, the world’s second-largest, has already surpassed the total in the 2002-2003 Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome (SARS) epidemic.
The WHO held off twice last week from declaring a global emergency, but was meeting again in Geneva amid growing evidence of the coronavirus’ spread outside China. The outcome was expected to be announced around 1930 GMT.
Such a declaration would trigger tighter containment and information-sharing guidelines, but may disappoint Beijing, which had expressed confidence it can beat the “devil” virus.
It could also further spook markets, already shuddering at the ripple effects of damage to China’s economy.
The virus has spread “exponentially” since the Emergency Committee last met a week ago, and person-to-person spread has been confirmed in five countries in addition to China. But there has been no death reported outside China and neither has the virus emerged in Africa, a Western diplomat told Reuters, asked about the likelihood the panel would declare an emergency.
“It is not clear that the time is ripe yet,” the diplomat said. “It would be more worrying if cases had been detected in Africa where some countries might not have the capacity to detect and isolate cases.”
SARS also came from China, killing about 800 people and costing the global economy an estimated $33 billion.
Economists fear the impact could be bigger this time as China now accounts for a larger share of the world economy.
