After an emergency meeting of the World Health Organization, it was decided that the spread of the coronavirus that originated in Wuhan, China has now earned the disease the status of a “global health emergency.”
Right now there are over 10,000 cases of the virus in China alone, with over 200 deaths. However, because a person could carry and transmit the virus for 14 days without showing any symptoms, people who have traveled in and out of China in the past month have now brought the virus to other countries.
According to the latest WHO report, there are 98 cases of the virus outside of China, in 18 different countries, including the United States, Germany, Japan, South Korea, Thailand, the United Kingdom, India, and many more.
Although the World Health Organization is saying there is no need to cut ties with China, several countries have taken measures to do so. Russia has closed down its border with China (as did North Korea), while the United States changed its original message, now saying US citizens should refrain from traveling to China at this time.
Many international companies like Google and Tesla have closed down their Chinese offices. In addition, the Chinese government has also closed down local businesses and public transportation to limit the spread of the virus. This keeps increasing the economic cost of the outbreak, and will likely result in a slump in all economic reports for January in China.
