As of Jan. 27, there are 2,886 confirmed cases and 81 deaths related to the respiratory infection originating in Wuhan, China.
Five updates:
1. Five coronavirus patients have been identified in the U.S., according to the CDC. The cases have been reported in Arizona, California (2), Illinois, and Washington, and it is "likely there will be more cases reported in the U.S. in the coming days and weeks." Cases are being treated at Everett, Wash.-based Providence Regional Medical Center and Hoffman Estates, Ill.-based Amita Health St. Alexius Medical Center, while the other hospital names have yet to be released, according to USA Today and ABC7.
2. Globally, 2,794 cases have been reported in China (2,825), Thailand (8), Hong Kong (8), Macau (6), the U.S. (5), Australia (5), Taiwan (5), Japan (4), Malaysia (4), South Korea (4), Singapore (4), France (3), Vietnam (2), Cambodia (1), Canada (1) and Nepal (1).
3. Containing the coronavirus may no longer be possible, some experts warn, according to STAT.
"The more we learn about it, the greater the possibility is that transmission will not be able to be controlled with public health measures," Allison McGeer, MD, a Toronto-based infectious disease specialist, told STAT.
4. China may be underreporting the number of coronavirus cases, Forbes reports, a claim the country has denied. A "whistleblower" nurse released a video claiming 90,000 people in China have been sickened by coronavirus, according to the New York Post. The anonymous nurse, dressed in a full-head face mask, does not say how this statistic was determined. Other videos show hospital hallways filled with dead bodies covered in sheets.
5. A Wuhan physician has died from coronavirus after treating outbreak patients, the Washington Examiner reports. Liang Wudong, 62, died Jan. 25 after he contracted the coronavirus and was admitted to the Wuhan Medical Treatment Center.