Map shows how coronavirus compares with previous disease outbreaks
The spread of the coronavirus can be compared with other deadly disease outbreaks in a new map.
The interactive tool tracks the history of the new virus, which has killed more than 1,100 people and infected 44,000.
It compares it to other recent outbreaks, including severe acute respiratory syndrome (Sars) in 2003 (also caused by a coronavirus), swine flu in 2009 and the Ebola outbreak in 2014, and enables users to view the situation around the world on any given day of the coronavirus pandemic.
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The red circles show the number of coronavirus cases and deaths around the globe.
A user can then click on icons for other previous outbreaks that will bring up blue, purple and green circles to show how they compare.
The makers of the map, created by the Vaccine Centre and London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine, said they hoped it would “provide more context to the daily headlines and a fresh perspective on key turning points in the disease’s history”.
The coronavirus can be transmitted via droplets when an infected person breathes out, coughs or sneezes, and can also spread via contaminated surfaces such as door handles.
Experts have said it is more easily transmitted than the Sars virus.
The incubation period is believed to be up to 14 days.
People may be able to infect others before symptoms appear.
It took the new coronavirus 48 days to infect its first 1,000 people. In comparison, Sars took 130 days to infect the same number.
The world’s worst epidemic of Ebola began in Guinea in December 2013 and swept through Liberia and Sierra Leone, killing more than 11,300 people by 2016.
The swine flu pandemic of 2009 killed an estimated 284,500 people, about 15 times the number confirmed by laboratory tests at the time.
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As of Tuesday evening, a total of 1,358 people have been tested for coronavirus in the UK, 1,350 of whom were confirmed negative and eight positive, the Department of Health said.
Boris Johnson has praised the response of the NHS and said anyone concerned should “simply follow their advice”.
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Speaking in Birmingham on Tuesday, the prime minister said: “We are a great country, we have got a fantastic NHS, we have got fantastic doctors and advice, and they should simply take the advice of the NHS.
“People have every reason to be confident and calm about all that kind of thing… all the coronavirus, and any threats from disease.”
The World Health Organisation (WHO) has said the new strain of coronavirus is to be called Covid-19.
Dr Tedros Ghebreyesus, director-general of the WHO, described the outbreak as “a very grave threat for the rest of the world”.