It was only a little while ago when news about the deadly coronavirus broke out. First identified in Wuhan, Hubei, China, more than 89,000 cases of the virus have been confirmed, of which 8,000 were classified as serious. Cases have now also begun to surge across Western Europe with more than 60 countries now affected. While there is a global panic ensuing, researchers in the UK have been able to estimate the death rate caused by the disease.
As per Britain's Health Secretary, Matt Hancock, the UK government's assessment about the mortality rate was "2 per cent, or likely, lower". So, they've assessed that about 9 in 1000 people could die from coronavirus so that amounts to about 1 percent of people dying due to the virus. However, they were also able to find that there are a number of multiple other factors that could lead to your chances of dying from the virus.
These factors include your age, gender, general health and the health system you're in. In a country like China where the disease was first recognised, experts estimate that of the percentage of people diagnosed with the disease nearly 3.4% are at the risk of dying. Whereas outside of China, this number drops to 1.6%.
Although the coronavirus is deadly by itself, it still isn't as fatal as previous outbreaks like the Sars (Severe acute respiratory syndrome) outbreak or the Mers (Middle East respiratory syndrome). So, that there is still a relief. While the Sars outbreak had a mortality rate of 9.6%, the Mers outbreak has a mortality rate of 34.4%.
Doctors have also found that although a lot of people developed mild symptoms of the disease, it was mostly people over the age of 70 and those with pre-existing health conditions like heart disease, cancer, high blood pressure issues etc were most likely to pass away. "People with chronic medical conditions of the lung or the heart also need to be closely monitored," said an expert.
The experts have also warned that although you may have an impeccable immune system it would be better to practise as much caution as possible. "Anyone could transmit the infection to you," the expert added. "So smile, don't shake hands, keep a good distance away from other people."
The WHO also laid down some guidelines that could help one practise precaution against the disease. These include regularly washing your hands, avoiding touching your eyes, nose and mouth often and maintaining a distance of at least one meter from people when they sneeze. Stay tuned for more updates.
