Professor Gabriel Leung, chair of public health medicine in Hong Kong and pictured at the University of Hong Kong last month, made the comments on a visit to London
Daily Mail: Coronavirus could kill 45 MILLION people and infect SIXTY PER CENT of the global population if it cannot be controlled, top Hong Kong medical official warns
* Professer Gabriel Leung said authorities need to establish the spread of the virus
* A one per cent death rate could result in hundreds of thousands of deaths
* There are 43,000 cases worldwide so far, with more than 42,000 in China
* But if it reaches its potential, each infected person could give the virus to another 2.5, on average, sickening up to 60 percent of the world's population
* China's number of new daily cases has begun to level off, which may mean public health officials are gaining some handle on its spread
Coronavirus could kill 45 million people and infect more than 60 per cent of the global population if containment methods fail, a top Hong Kong medical official has warned.
Professor Gabriel Leung, chair of public health medicine in the city, also said that even if the death rate reaches just one per cent, the potential spread means it could still kill thousands of people.
With the global population currently at more than 7billion (7,577,130,400), that means that the virus has the potential to infect more than 4billion (4,546,278,240) if Professor Leung is correct and its spread continues to accelerate.
And if one per cent of those people die, that means there will be more than 45million deaths.
Read more ....
Update: Coronavirus 'could infect 60% of global population if unchecked' (The Guardian)
WNU Editor: I hope he is wrong, but it may happen if reports like this one are true .... Coronavirus could spread through the AIR even after a patient has left the room, Chinese official claims as the disease's death toll rises past 1,100 (Daily Mail).
Update: Older men seem to be more susceptible to this disease .... Men could be more vulnerable to coronavirus infection as research finds they made up 68% of early cases in outbreak epicenter of Wuhan (Daily Mail).
