A shrimp seller in China's Wuhan city, the originating point of the coronavirus COVID-19 pandemic, has been identified as one of the first victims of the deadly virus, which has claimed over 30,000 lives around the world so far, according to media reports.
The 57-year-old female coronavirus 'patient zero', who made a full recovery in January after month-long treatment, said that China could have checked the spread of the disease had it acted sooner.
Wei Guixian, as identified by The Wall Street Journal, was selling shrimps at the Huanan Seafood Market on December 10 when she developed a cold. Believing she had the common flu, Wei went to a local clinic for treatment where she was given an injection, the Mirror UK reported. However, Wei continued to feel weak and visited Eleventh Hospital in Wuhan a day later.
The feeling of lethargy persisted and Wei visited one of the biggest medical facilities in the region -- Wuhan Union Hospital -- on December 16. At the Union Hospital, Wei was told her sickness was 'ruthless' and that many from Huanan Market had visited the hospital with matching symptoms.
At the end of December, Wei was quarantined when doctors related the emergence of the coronavirus with the seafood market, the Mirror quoted Chinese news outlet The Paper.
The article in The Paper concluded that the new coronavirus is likely to become the fifth endemic coronavirus in humans. "Coronaviruses clearly have the ability to cross species boundaries and adapt to new hosts, which allows us to more directly predict more coronaviruses in the future."
So humans need more research to help formulate public health policies to deal with the emergence of similar viruses.
'The Paper' quoted the findings from a review study by Professor Edward Holmes, School of Life and Environmental Sciences, School of Medical Sciences, University of Sydney, and Shanghai Public Health Clinical Center, Professor Zhang Yongzhen, School of Life Sciences, Fudan University published in the journal 'Cell'.
The so-called "live market" has been closed indefinitely following the coronavirus outbreak.
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