Q&A: Coronavirus outbreak and health policy implications

The outbreak of a novel coronavirus that began in December 2019 in Wuhan, China "is evolving and complex," said the head of the World Health Organization (WHO) after its emergency committee convened on Wednesday, January 22, and  decided that more information  was needed before the WHO declares whether or not the outbreak is a public health emergency of international concern. The new virus, known as 2019-nCoV, causes respiratory illness and continues to spread across China. Chinese health authorities, reports the Washington Post , announced that at least 17 people have now died as a result of infection and confirmed cases have been reported in Japan, Thailand, South Korea, Hong Kong, and Macao, with one travel-related case detected in the United States , in the State of Washington. The WHO decision was made as the city of Wuhan shut down all air and train traffic to try to contain the spread of the virus. With concern over and coverage of the situation rapidly developing, Karen Eggleston , APARC Deputy Director and the Asia Health Policy Program Director at the Shorenstein Asia-Pacific Research Center, offered her insights on the outbreak and its impact on both Asian and international healthcare systems. Q: Why has this outbreak raised so much concern in China and internationally, and how worried should people be about it? Infectious disease outbreaks can challenge any health system. Events such as SARS, Ebola, and MERS outbreaks, and even the devastating flu pandemic a century ago, remind us of the frightening power that infectious diseases with high-case fatality can have.