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cdc.gov
I'd like to first begin, though, with just a reflection on some sad news that CDC received this morning. Dr. Urbani, who is the WHO physician investigating the outbreak in Hanoi, died of SARS that he acquired during his investigation. He was a very close colleague of ours and someone that we had worked closely with in both Hanoi and Thailand through the past several years, and we are very sad and our condolences certainly go to his family and his colleagues as well as our colleagues in the area who've been working with him over the past few weeks on this investigation.
The global epidemic continues to expand. Today, WHO is reporting 1,491 cases and 54 deaths, plus the 62 cases that we are reporting here in the United States.
As you know, the U.S. cases are constantly undergoing revision and updating as additional information about the patients is determined, so that number may change over time.
We continue to regard the new coronavirus as the leading hypothesis for the etiology of this condition. The evidence is mounting from a number of international laboratories, that this is indeed the case; but we are also exploring other potential viruses as are our collaborators, and we will keep you posted as we go forward on that part of the scientific investigation. A number of things are in progress, including sequencing of the whole virus genome, and we'll have more information on that, potentially next week or the week thereafter. |
