Novel coronavirus (2019-nCoV) cases continue to grow across the world, according to the global health agencies, such as the World Health Organization and US Centers for Disease Control. Johns Hopkins University’s Center for Systems Science and Engineering even made a map that shows data of coronavirus cases all over the globe.
“We built this dashboard because we think it is important for the public to have an understanding of the outbreak situation as it unfolds with transparent data sources,” director of the Center for Systems Science and Engineering and a civil engineering profession at Johns Hopkins Lauren Gardner said, according to a report by CNN.
2019-nCoV belongs to the same family as the Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome (SARS), which killed hundreds of people back in 2003 and 2012, respectively, according to a report by 24 Oras. The virus broke out in China’s Wuhan City last year, and since then, the number of 2019-nCoV cases continued to rise across other countries.
“It’s too early now to say that it’s a very severe infection that causes death. We are in the early stages of trying to understand how severe this infection is and how many deaths it is likely to cause,” Dr. Rabindra Abeyasinghe said according to a GMA News Online report.
Aside from being concerned one person’s health, for pet owners, they are likely to think whether nCoV could affect pets such as dogs and cats. Does it?
“At present, there is no evidence that companion animals/pets such as dogs or cats can be infected with the new coronavirus,” the World Health Organization Regional Office for the Western Pacific posted on their Facebook page.
“However, it is always a good idea to wash your hands with soap and water after contact with pets. This protects you against various common bacteria such as E.coli and Salmonella that can pass between pets and humans,” they added.