China’s Health Minister Ma Xiaowei announced that the Wuhan coronavirus “can spread it before they become symptomatic.”, meaning people are contagious during the virus’ incubation period. A highly unusual phenomenon and different to SARS-CoV! The incubation period of the new coronavirus “is anywhere from one to 14 days” officials believe. [1, 2]
CDC advisor Dr Schaffner said this “means the infection is much more contagious than we originally thought,” and “It’s much harder to contain a virus — to track down a patient’s contacts and quarantine them immediately — if the patient was spreading the disease for days or weeks before they even realized they had it.”
“Without symptoms, a person may not know they have the infection, but still be able to spread it.” The Super-spreader that China’s CDC debunked a couple of days ago is back!
The authorities are still not clear about the disease source, but have now banned the sale of wildlife in markets and restaurants.
Many people believe that it crossed to humans from snakes.