On December 31, the Wuhan Municipal Health Commission issued an urgent notice stating that hospitals in the area were treating a series of cases of viral pneumonia of unknown cause.
Specifically, statistics show that in less than a month, a total of 27 cases of pneumonia have been recorded in Wuhan city, Hubei province, central China.
Most of the reported cases had visited a seafood market in the central city of Wuhan. Doctors have not yet identified the virus responsible, but initial tests suggest the cases are not spreading from person to person.
However, the patients have been isolated and closely monitored. The Wuhan Municipal Health Commission said that of the infected, seven are in critical condition, 18 are in stable condition and two are improving.
Seafood market believed to be the cause of 27 cases of pneumonia
The outbreak of 27 cases of pneumonia is likely related to Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome (SARS). Many medical experts in Wuhan said that the cause could be viral pneumonia and not SARS as suspected. State broadcaster CCTV reported on December 31 that a team of experts from the National Health Commission had been sent to Wuhan to conduct inspection and verification work related to the above issue.
In late 2002, Chinese officials also covered up the first recorded cases of SARS in southern China until the outbreak caused a rising death toll and forced the government to announce the outbreak and apologize to the media. In that outbreak, China recorded 349 deaths on the mainland and 299 in Hong Kong.
More information
SARS is a severe form of acute respiratory syndrome (SARS). According to the World Health Organization (WHO), SARS was first reported in November 2002 in Guangdong Province, China.
On March 26, 2003, China officially announced the outbreak. In just a short time, the disease spread to 32 countries with more than 8,000 infected people and 775 deaths worldwide.
