‘YOU CAN'T BOARD UP A GERM'

There’s no cure for the deadly virus sweeping China and spreading panic across the world

- JANE VORSTER

WHOLE cities under lockdown, medics in masks and protective suits, and people dropping like flies as an unstoppable virus continues to spread, leaving death and chaos in its wake.

For years health experts have been warning it was just a matter of time before the world was hit by a global pandemic. And now, as a mysterious virus wreaks havoc in China, leaping continents at breakneck speed, many are wondering if that day has arrived.

One thing’s for sure: world health authorities are taking it seriously. After the first cases were reported in January, Chinese officials sprang into action. They cordoned off Wuhan, the epicentre of the outbreak, along with 12 other cities – effectively putting around 56 million people in quarantine.

And as the panic continues to spread in the world’s most populous country, other major cities such as Beijing and Shanghai have started to resemble ghost towns, with citizens staying off the streets to avoid the risk of exposure.

“It’s a public health experiment, the scale of which hasn’t been done before,” says Dr William Schaffner, an infectious disease expert at Vanderbilt University in the US. “Logistically, it’s stunning, and it was done so quickly.”

But sadly, not quickly enough.

With more than 80 deaths reported at the time of going to print, around 2 800 people infected and the virus recorded in 10 countries, it was abundantly clear they were fighting a losing battle.

“You can’t board up a germ,” says Lawrence O Gostin, a director of the World Health Organisation Collaborating Centre on National and Global Health Law. “It will get out. It always does.”

What is this new virus?