The toll of the epidemic that broke out in China caused by a new virus is worsening.
The virus, called 2019-n-CoV, is part of the coronavirus strain such as MERS (Middle East Respiratory Syndrome), and SARS (Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome) which between 2002 and 2003 infected more than 8 thousand people and caused the death of 800 people worldwide.
But 2019-n-CoV is a new strain, not previously identified in humans.
The Chinese headquarters of the World Health Organization detected some cases of pneumonia of unknown nature in the city of Wuhan, in the Chinese province of Hubei, on December 31, 2019.
But the new coronavirus was only identified by the country's authorities on January 7th.
The international alarm was triggered after the spread of the news that the virus is transmissible from man to man: there is fear above all for the high spread of the virus, while the country is preparing to celebrate the traditional Chinese New Year with masses of people in transit from one area of the country to another.
The correspondent from Beijing, Gabriele Battaglia, has more.
