Readers: No need to panic amid virus outbreak
Emanreus (Hong Kong, China)
The WHO has only used the rare label of an international public health emergency a handful of times, including during the H1N1 - or swine flu - pandemic of 2009 and the Ebola epidemic that devastated parts of West Africa from 2014 to 2016.
The virus appears to be a never-before-seen strain of coronavirus and until to this day, no one can tell where the 2019-nCoV originated from.
However, experts have developed a rapid nucleic test kit for the (2019-nCoV) virus in the city of Wuxi, East China's Jiangsu Province.
The kit has high sensitivity and is easy to use and transport, according to the bureau. It will be vital for the prevention and control of the epidemic.
The kit was the joint work of experts from the National Institute for Viral Disease Control and Prevention and a Wuxi-based high-tech company. The company received a notice to develop the kit on Jan. 20.
The kit is undergoing mass production. The company said it can produce kits for 4,000 people a day, and the city government is helping the company expand production.
The first batch of kits is already in use at the front lines in Hubei province.
