AFP Forum

US - HEALTH - VIRUS
This handout illustration image obtained February 27, 2020 courtesy of the National Institutes of Health shows a transmission electron microscopic image that shows SARS-CoV-2—also known as 2019-nCoV, the virus that causes COVID-19, isolated from a patient in the US, emerging from the surface of cells cultured in the lab. President Donald Trump has played down fears of a major coronavirus outbreak in the United States, even as infections ricochet around the world, prompting a ban on pilgrims to Saudi Arabia. China is no longer the only breeding ground for the deadly virus as countries fret over possible contagion coming from other hotbeds of infection, including Iran, South Korea and Italy. There are now more daily cases being recorded outside China than inside the country, where the virus first emerged in December, according to the World Health Organization.

Handout / National Institutes of Health / AFP