Province sets up special website dedicated to China's coronavirus outbreak

New Brunswick's Department of Health has set up a specialpage to inform residents about China's coronavirus outbreak.

With cases continuing to rise, thevirus has killed 41people and sickened hundreds.

The New Brunswick website offers insight about the virus and how it's been identified.

"The current situation is evolving," the website says. "More information is expected to emerge in the coming days and weeks."

No cases of the virus have been confirmed in Canada. The federal Public Health Agency has assessed the public health risk associated with the coronavirus, or 2019-nCoV, in Wuhan, China, and considers it low for Canadaand Canadian travellers.

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The coronavirus family includes the common cold as well as viruses that cause more serious illnesses, such as the SARS outbreak that spread from China to more than a dozen countries in 2002-03 and killed about 800 people, and Middle Eastern respiratory syndrome, or MERS, which is thought to have originated from camels.

In an email to colleagues within the department, Chief Medical Officer of Health Jennifer Russell said the Government of Canada, provinces and territories, have "multiple systems in place to identify, prevent and control the spread of serious infectious diseases into and within Canada."

She said additional border screening measures are also being implement at major international airports.

"We continue to actively monitor and prepare for this evolving situation and engage with federal and other provincial public health authorities," she said in the email.

Not considered a global outbreak

On Dec. 31, a "cluster" of cases of pneumonia was reported in Wuhan, China. But the cause has been confirmed as a new coronavirus that has not previously been identified in humans, which is known as the2019 Novel Coronavirus or 2019-nCoV.

Meanwhile,France confirmed Fridaytwo cases of the deadly virusthe first in Europe.

U.S. health officials announced earlier in the daythata woman from Chicago who travelled to China is the second U.S. case.

• WHO says it's not declaring new virus a global emergency but it may become one

The vast majority of cases have been in and around Wuhan or people with connections to the city, but scattered cases have occurred beyond the mainland. South Korea and Japan both confirmed their second cases Friday, and cases have been detected in Hong Kong, Macao, Taiwan, the United States, Thailand, Singapore and Vietnam.

The World Health Organization (WHO)decided against declaring the outbreak a global emergency for now. The declaration can increase resources to fight a threat but its potential to cause economic damage makes the decision politically fraught.

Cases of the virus are likely to continue to rise in China, butit is too soon to evaluate its severity, WHO officials said Friday.

What are the symptoms?

The initial symptoms of 2019-nCoVare mainly fever, with a few reports of people having difficulty breathing, and chest X-rays showing signs of pneumonia in both lungs.

According to the World Health Organization, signs of infection can include respiratory complaints, fever, cough, shortness of breath and breathing difficulties. In more severe cases, infection can cause pneumonia, severe acute respiratory syndrome, kidney failure and even death.

The only way to confirm 2019-nCoV is with a lab test.

According to the U.S.Centers for Disease Control (CDC), symptoms of 2019-nCoV may appear in as few as twodays or as long as 14 days after exposure.