Asian governments are stepping up precautionary measures to prevent an outbreak of a mysterious illness after Chinese health authorities reported 44 cases of a "viral pneumonia of unknown origin" amid concerns that the flu-like virus is linked to the highly contagious SARS virus that caused hundreds of deaths in Asia and elsewhere 17 years ago.

 

https://asia.nikkei.com/Politics/Asian-governments-on-alert-over-mysterious-virus-outbreak-in-China

"The outbreak prompted authorities in Hong Kong, Macao, Taiwan, South Korea, Singapore and Malaysia to take emergency measures."

I expect Thailand will wait till they have a few cases before anything starts to get done.

regards worgeordie

This is how it starts...

 

That sheds some light on a little mystery.  Took a  close Cambodian friend visiting here to the local  hospital today with high fever and cough among other things.  The second they heard the presenting symptoms they rushed her into an isolation room which puzzled me at the time, it's not flu season and the degree of precautions taken were unusual. They must have gotten a message to be on alert.

I guess i will be staying in the USa little longer until this plays out a bit. 

I traveled through S.E. Asia during that crisis,  in airports I saw groups of white coats with pyrometers reading temps off of random peoples heads and occasionally folks would be emphatically encouraged to accompany them, escorting I assume to some sort of triage in the airport. Had an almost zombie movie feel to it lol. IMO this world isn't going to experience a cataclysmic event through climate change, it's going to be a mutation of a virus related to a farm animal which will make night of the living dead seem like Disney world.

A total of 44 cases have been confirmed so far, 11 of which are considered "severe", officials said on Friday.

The outbreak has prompted Singapore and Hong Kong to bring in screening processes for travellers from the city.

It comes amid online fears the virus could be linked to Sars, or severe acute respiratory syndrome.

The potentially deadly, flu-like Sars virus killed more than 700 people around the world in 2002-03, after originating in China.

 

https://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-china-50984025

Is there already a fancy name for it?