Opinion: Coronavirus is a deadly test we must pass

With the coronavirus being declared a Public Health Emergency of International Concern (PHEIC) Dr Jennifer Rohn (UCL Medicine) writes for the Guardian on lessons that must be learned from the Sars outbreak in 2003. Merely a month after a mysterious respiratory illness arose in Wuhan, China, the world is already in the grip of a global outbreak. Now designated a "public health emergency of international concern" by the World Health Organization, and probably not far off earning the more sinister name "pandemic", the 2019-nCov coronavirus outbreak has already surpassed its cousin Sars in terms of the number of cases confirmed. Although it has a lower fatality rate than Sars, it's too early to tell whether 2019-nCov will be remembered as something much more frightening. So have we learned the lessons of 2003? Are we now in a better position to tackle and ultimately contain this virus' The answer is both yes and no. Yes, because the Chinese response was relatively swift, open and helpful, compared with 17 years before. The viral DNA signature was determined and published in record time, as were case reports about the illness.