© ReutersA shopper pushes a cart inside a supermarket on February 11 following an outbreak of the new coronavirus in the Chinese city of Wuhan in Hubei Province.
The total number of confirmed cases of the illness in mainland China stands at 44,643. However, the number of new cases -- 2,015 -- has declined for a second day.
The World Health Organization (WHO) has named the disease caused by the virus as COVID-19. Twenty-five countries as of February 12 have confirmed cases, including one death -- in the Philippines. A U.S. citizen died in China.
Including China, more than 45,100 people worldwide have been infected with the virus.
At a conference in Geneva on combating the virus on February 11, WHO chief Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyes urged countries to work together against the "grave threat" posed by the outbreak.
He said viruses have "more powerful consequences than any terrorist action."
China, where 99 percent of the illnesses are, remains in a state of "emergency,"Tedros said at the conference, adding that the virus also "holds a very grave threat for the rest of the world."
COVID-19 is believed to be highly contagious and the case of a British man who transmitted the virus to at least 11 other people has raised fears of a new phase of it spreading abroad.
The biggest case of contagion outside China is aboard the Diamond Princess cruise ship quarantined off Japan, where 175 people have tested positive, including two Ukrainians and a quarantine officer. The ship originally had 3,700 passengers and crew on board. It is expected to remain in quarantine until February 19.
The mortality rate for the illness remains at around 2 percent.
Due to the outbreak, 22 airlines have cancelled all flights to China and 15 airlines have suspended some flights or routes to the country.
Comment: The cornavirus story has the same whiff that the MERS-CoV, and H1N1 stories had. Dire warnings from the WHO due to early high death rates, mass panics threatening, though no deadly pandemic ever really materialized. Barring some unforeseen development, COVID-19 looks to be playing out the same way. What is different is China taking the opportunity to crack down further on civil liberties, in the name of protecting the public.
In the meantime Big Pharma will make out like a bandit.