Data further supports Akouoss use of AAVAnc80 technology delivered via intracochlear administration to potentially improve hearing

Akouos, a precision genetic medicine company developing gene therapies to potentially improve and preserve hearing, announced today that data from its inner ear gene therapy platform will be presented during the 43rd Annual Midwinter Meeting of the Association for Research in Otolaryngology (ARO), being held January 25 to January 29, 2020 in San Jose, CA.

"Akouos continues to advance our platform for inner ear disorders, and we are excited to share our progress with the scientific community," said Greg Robinson, Ph.D., chief scientific officer of Akouos. "The data presented at ARO further substantiates Akouoss use of AAVAnc80 vector technology and its potential to address many forms of hearing loss."

SYMPOSIUM

Title: The Adeno-associated Viral Anc80 (AAVAnc80) Vector - Precision Genetic Medicines to Address Hearing LossPresenter: Michelle Valero, Ph.D., Director, Anatomy & Physiology, AkouosSession: Symposium 11Date and Time: Saturday, January 25, 3 p.m. (PST)

POSTER PRESENTATIONS

Title: The Adeno-associated Viral Anc80 Vector Efficiently Transduces Inner Ear Cells in Olive Baboons (Papio anubis)Day and Time: Monday, January 27, 1 p.m. (PST)

Title: The Adeno-associated Viral Anc80 Vector Efficiently Transduces Inner Ear Cells in Cynomolgus Macaques (Macaca fascicularis)Day and Time: Monday, January 27, 1 p.m. (PST)

Title: Dual Adeno-associated Viral Anc80 Vector Efficiently Transduces Inner Ear Cells in Non-human PrimatesDay and Time: Monday, January 27, 1 p.m. (PST)

About Akouos

Akouos is a precision genetic medicine company dedicated to developing gene therapies with the potential to improve and preserve hearing. Leveraging its adeno-associated viral (AAV) vector-based gene therapy platform, Akouos is focused on developing precision therapies for forms of sensorineural hearing loss. Headquartered in Boston, the Company was founded in 2016 by world leaders in the fields of neurotology, genetics, inner ear drug delivery, and AAV gene therapy. Akouos has strategic partnerships with Massachusetts Eye and Ear and Lonza, Inc. For more information, please visit http://www.akouos.com.

About AAVAnc Technology

Ancestral AAV (AAVAnc) technology was developed in the laboratory of Luk Vandenberghe, Ph.D., Director of the Grousbeck Gene Therapy Center at Harvard Medical School. AAVAnc technology uses computational and evolutionary methods to predict novel conformations of the adeno-associated viral particle. AAVAnc80, one of 40,000 AAVAnc vectors, has demonstrated preliminary safety and effective gene delivery in both mice and non-human primates in numerous preclinical studies.

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Akouos Announces New Data at the Association for Research in Otolaryngology Midwinter Meeting - Yahoo Finance

As infectious disease specialists and epidemiologists race to contain the outbreak of the novel coronavirus centered on Wuhan, China, theyre getting backup thats been possible only since the explosion in genetic technologies: a deep-dive into the DNA of the virus known as 2019-nCoV.

Analyses of the viral genome are already providing clues to the origins of the outbreak and even possible ways to treat the infection, a need that is becoming more urgent by the day: Early on Saturday in China, health officials reported 15 new fatalities in a single day, bringing the death toll to 41. There are now nearly 1,100 confirmed cases there.

Reading the DNA also allows researchers to monitor how 2019-nCoV is changing and provides a roadmap for developing a diagnostic test and a vaccine.

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The genetics can tell us the true timing of the first cases and whether they occurred earlier than officials realized, said molecular biologist Kristian Andersen of Scripps Research, an expert on viral genomes. It can also tell us how the outbreak started from a single event of a virus jumping from an infected animal to a person or from a lot of animals being infected. And the genetics can tell us whats sustaining the outbreak new introductions from animals or human-to-human transmission.

Scientists in China sequenced the viruss genome and made it available on Jan. 10, just a month after the Dec. 8 report of the first case of pneumonia from an unknown virus in Wuhan. In contrast, after the SARS outbreak began in late 2002, it took scientists much longer to sequence that coronavirus. It peaked in February 2003 and the complete genome of 29,727 nucleotides wasnt sequenced until that April.

Since the sequencing of the first 2019-nCoV sample, from an early patient, scientists have completed nearly two dozen more, said Andrew Rambaut of the University of Edinburgh, an expert on viral evolution. That pace is unprecedented and completely unbelievable, said Andersen, who worked on sequencing the Ebola genome during the 2014 outbreak. Its just insane.

The genome of the Wuhan virus is 29,903 bases long, one of many clues that have led scientists to believe it is very similar to SARS.

By comparing the two dozen genomes, scientists can address the when did this start question. The 24 available samples, including from Thailand and Shenzhen as well as Wuhan, show very limited genetic variation, Rambaut concluded on an online discussion forum where virologists have been sharing data and analyses. This is indicative of a relatively recent common ancestor for all these viruses.

Given whats known about the pace at which viral genomes mutate, if nCoV had been circulating in humans since significantly before the first case was reported on Dec. 8, the 24 genomes would differ more. Applying ballpark rates of viral evolution, Rambaut estimates that the Adam (or Eve) virus from which all others are descended first appeared no earlier than Oct. 30, 2019, and no later than Nov. 29.

The progenitor virus itself was almost certainly one that circulates harmlessly in bats (as SARS does) but has an intermediate reservoir in one or more animals that come into contact with people, Andersen said. Presumably, that reservoir is one of the species of animals at the Wuhan market thought to be ground zero for the outbreak. The ancestor of 2019-nCoV existed in that species for some unknown time, never infecting people, until by chance a single virus acquired a mutation that made it capable of jumping into and infecting humans.

The genome sequences suggest that was a one-time-only jump. The genomes [from the 24 samples] are very uniform, Andersen said. If there had been multiple introductions, including from many different animals, there would be more genomic diversity. This was a single introduction.

That means that whats sustaining the spread is human-to-human transmission (suggesting that closing Wuhans animal market is very much an after-the-horse-has-fled-the-barn reaction).

Unfortunately, genetic analysis cant identify what animal species the coronavirus jumped from into humans. But an analysis by a team from the Wuhan Institute of Virology, posted to the preprint server bioRxiv, determined that the genome of this coronavirus (the seventh known to infect humans) is 96% identical to that of a bat coronavirus, suggesting that species is the original source. (Writing in the New England Journal of Medicine on Friday, another team of scientists in China reported that the new coronavirus is 86.9% identical to the bat SARS-like coronavirus.)

Virologists differ on whether its possible to read out viral properties from just the genome sequence, such as whether the microbe is spread by coughing, sneezing, touching,or merely breathing. But the analysis by the Wuhan Institute team found that it enters human cells using the same doorway that SARS did. Called angiotensin converting enzyme 2 (ACE2), the door is a receptor to which a spike protein on the viruss surface first attaches and then enables the virus to fuse with the host cell.

If ACE2 is druggable, blocking it could conceivably treat 2019-nCoV. It should be expected and worth to test if ACE2 targeting drugs can be used for nCoV-2019 patients, the scientists wrote.

The genome sequences have more to give. They will be crucially important for development of diagnostics [and] vaccines, said biologist Richard Ebright of Rutgers University.

For instance, the genome-editing technology CRISPR is the basis for Cambridge, Mass.-based startup Sherlock Biosciences diagnostics, which promise to slash how long it takes to make a definitive identification. In the U.S, thats now done only by sending samples to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, which uses a technology invented in the 1980s, polymerase chain reaction or PCR, to identify the presence of coronavirus.

Our vision is that our [CRISPR-based] SHERLOCK and INSPECTR platforms are tailor-made for outbreaks like coronavirus, said Sherlock CEO Rahul Dhanda, who declined to discuss specific plans related to coronavirus.

And as scientists keep adding 2019-nCoV genome sequences to their collection, they could get an early glimpse of whether the virus is mutating in a way that could make it more dangerous or more transmissible. You need continuous sequencing, Andersen said.

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DNA sleuths read the coronavirus genome, tracing its origins - STAT

Coronaviruses, one of a variety ofviruses that cause colds, have been making people cough and sneeze seeminglyforever. But occasionally, a new version infects people and causes seriousillness and deaths.

That is happening now with the coronavirus that has killed at least 26 people and sickened at least 900 since it emerged in central China in December. The World Health Organization is monitoring the viruss spread to see whether it will turn into a global public health emergency (SN: 1/23/20).

Among the ill are two people in theUnited States who contracted the virus during travels in China. A Chicago womanin her 60s is the second U.S. case of the new coronavirus, the Centers forDisease Control and Prevention confirmed January 24 in a news conference.

Officials are currently monitoring 63people across 22 states for signs of the pneumonia-like disease, includingfever, cough and other respiratory symptoms. Of those people, 11 have testednegative for the virus. Two, including the newest case and anotherpatient in Seattle, tested positive, the CDC reported (SN: 1/21/20).

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France reported two cases on January 24as well, the first in Europe.

Much still remains unknown about the new coronavirus (SN: 1/10/20), which for now is being called 2019 novel coronavirus, or 2019-nCoV. Lessons learned from previous coronavirus outbreaks, including severe acute respiratory syndrome, or SARS, and Middle East respiratory syndrome, or MERS, may help health officials head off some of the more serious consequences from this virus outbreak.

Coronaviruses are round and surroundedby a halo of spiky proteins, giving them a resemblance to a crown or the sunswispy corona.

Four major categories, or genera, ofcoronavirus exist. Theyre known by the Greek letters alpha, beta, delta andgamma. Only alpha and beta coronaviruses are known to infect people. Theseviruses spread through the air, and just four types (known as 229E, NL63, OC43and HKU1) are responsible for about 10 to 30 percent of colds around the world.

What makes a virus a coronavirus is onlyloosely enshrined in its DNA. The coronavirus designation is less about thegenetics and more about the way it appears under a microscope, says Brent C.Satterfield, cofounder and chief scientific officer of Co-Diagnostics, acompany based in Salt Lake City and Gujarat, India, that is developingmolecular tests for diagnosing coronavirus infections.

Coronaviruses genetic makeup iscomposed of RNA, a single-stranded chemical cousin of DNA. Viruses in thefamily often arent very similar on the genetic level, with some types havingmore differences between them than humans have from elephants, Satterfieldsays.

The new viruss proteins are between 70and 99 percent identical to their counterparts in the SARS virus, says KarlaSatchell, a microbiologist and immunologist at Northwestern University FeinbergSchool of Medicine in Chicago.

Usually coronavirus illnesses are fairly mild, affecting just the upper airway. But the new virus, as well as both SARS and MERS, are different.

Those three types of betacoronavirusescan latch onto proteins studding the outside of lung cells, and penetrate muchdeeper into the airway than cold-causing coronaviruses, says Anthony Fauci,director of the U.S. National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases inBethesda, M.D. The 2019 version is a disease that causes more lung diseasethan sniffles, Fauci says.

Damage to the lungs can make the virusesdeadly. In 2003 and 2004, SARS killed nearly 10 percent of the 8,096 people in29 countries who fell ill. A total of 774 people died, according to the WorldHealth Organization.

MERS is even more deadly, claiming about30 percent of people it infects. Unlike SARS, outbreaks of that virus are stillsimmering, Fauci says. Since 2012, MERS has caused 2,494 confirmed cases in 27countries and killed 858 people.

MERS can spread from person to person,and some superspreaders have passed the virus on to many others. Mostfamously, 186 people contracted MERS after one businessman unwittingly broughtthe virus to South Korea in 2015 and spread it to others. Another superspreaderwho caught MERS from that man passedthe virus to 82 people over just two days while being treated in a hospitalemergency room (SN: 7/8/16).

Right now, 2019-nCoV appears to be less virulent, with about a 4 percent mortality rate. But that number is still a moving target as more cases are diagnosed, Fauci says. As of January 23, the new coronavirus had infected more than 581 people, with about a quarter of those becoming seriously ill, according to the WHO. By January 24, the number of reported infections had risen to at least 900.

An analysis of the illness in the first41 patients diagnosed with 2019-nCoV from Wuhan, China suggests that the virusacts similarly to SARS and MERS. Like the other two, 2019-nCoV causespneumonia. But unlike those viruses, the new one rarelyproduces runny noses or intestinal symptoms, researchers report January 24in the Lancet. Most of the peopleaffected in that first group were healthy, with fewer than a third havingchronic medical conditions that could make them more vulnerable to infection.

Coronaviruses are zoonotic, meaning theyoriginate in animals and sometimes leap to humans. The first 2019-nCoV infectionsdetected in December were in patients who had visited the Huanan seafood marketin Wuhan. The market was closed January 1, but health officials have yet todetermine from which type of animal the virus jumped to humans.

Bats are often thought of as a source ofcoronaviruses, but in most cases they dont pass the virus directly on tohumans. SARS probably first jumped from bats into raccoon dogs or palm civetsbefore making the leap to humans. All the pieces necessary to re-create SARSare circulatingamong bats, though that virus has not been seen since 2004 (SN: 11/30/17).

MERS, meanwhile, wentfrom bats to camels before leaping to humans (SN: 2/25/14). A paper published January 22 in the Journal of Medical Virology suggeststhat the new coronavirus has components from bat coronaviruses, but that snakes may havepassed the virus to humans. But many virologists areskeptical that snakes are behind the outbreak (SN: 1/24/20).

It depends on the coronavirus, butneither SARS or MERS have been able to sustain human-to-human transmission theway influenza viruses can, Fauci says. Thats because the viruses havent fullyadapted to infect humans, and maybe they never will, he says.

Still, this is a family of viruses thatwas formerly just the common cold, he says. But now, in the last 18 years,weve had three examples of it jumping species and causing serious disease inhumans. He and colleagues wrote an article publishedJanuary 23 in JAMA to illustrate whatthey see as the growing threat from coronaviruses.

In Wuhan, the new coronavirus has beenable to transmit down a chain of up to four people, health officials said. Fivemembers of a family from Shenzhen, China caught the virus when they visitedinfected relatives in Wuhan, researchers report January 24 in the Lancet. Travelers have also carried thevirus from China to at least seven other countries, including the UnitedStates. No human-to-human transmission has yet been reported outside of China,the WHO said. All of the deaths have also been in that country.

Epidemiologists are franticallycalculating how infectious the new virus is, says Maimuna Majumder, acomputational epidemiologist at Boston Childrens Hospital and Harvard MedicalSchool.

The number that describes how manypeople a newly infected person is likely to pass a virus to is called R0,pronounced Rnaught (SN: 5/28/19). SARS, forinstance, had an R0 between two and five, meaning that in a fullysusceptible population an infected person could potentially spread the virus totwo to five others. (Highly contagious measles, in comparison, has a R0from 12 to 18.)

Estimates for the infectivity of the newvirus range from the WHOs estimate of 1.4 to 2.5 to a much bigger 3.6 to 4.0calculation from Jonathan Read of Lancaster University in England andcolleagues. Reads group estimates that only about5.1 percent of cases in Wuhan have been identified. The researchersreported the preliminary results January 24 at medRxiv.org.

Thats probably not because the Chinesegovernment is covering up how bad the outbreak is, Majumder says. Many peoplemay have had only mild symptoms or none at all. Those people probably wouldntgo to the doctor and get tested for the virus.

Majumder and Harvard colleague KennethMandl used a different method to calculate R0 for the new virus,estimating based on cases reported as of January 22 that its transmissibilityfalls from2.0 to 3.3. Their results were posted to SSRN on January 23.

Meanwhile, Christian Althaus and JulienRiou, both of the University of Bern in Switzerland, posted data to Githubsupporting their calculation that the new viruss infectivity is between 1.4 and 3.8. Each of thosecalculations was arrived at using different methods. While they are slightlydifferent, they overlap, and Majumder says shes reassured that the numbers aresimilar.

Similar infectivity to SARS doesnt meanthe new virus will spread like that one did.

Having SARS in [our] history can helpinform some these decisions that were going to make now. Back then, we wereless prepared than we are now, Majumder says.

For now, all doctors can do is treatsymptoms of the new disease. Researchers have also developed some experimentaltreatments based on SARS and MERS, including antibodies that may help combatthe infections, Fauci says.

Getting samples of the new virus mayallow researchers to develop monoclonal antibodies in the lab. Or scientistsmay be able to take immune B cells from people who already have recovered fromthe virus to produce antibodies to help other infected people.

Some antiviral medications have shown promise in treating MERS, and are being tested for their effectiveness against 2019-nCoV. Experimental vaccines, Facui wrote in JAMA, including some based on RNA, are also in the works.

Erin Garcia de Jesus contributed to reporting of this story.

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How the new coronavirus stacks up against SARS and MERS - Science News

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A never-before-seen virus detected in the Chinese city of Wuhan has claimed more than 50 lives and infected almost 2,000 Chinese citizens with a pneumonia-like illness, according to China's National Health Commission. The virus was first reported to the World Health Organization (WHO) on Dec. 31 and has been under investigation since. Chinese scientists have linked the disease to a family of viruses known as coronaviruses, which include the deadly SARS and Middle East respiratory syndrome (MERS).

On Friday, French authorities confirmed three cases inside the country, the first known cases in Europe. The same day, Australia announced its first confirmed case, and the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) announced a second case in the United States, this time in Chicago. There are now more than 60 patients under investigation for possible infection in over 20 US states, according toDr. Nancy Messonnier of the CDC. On Saturday, the State Department told employees at the US consulate in Wuhan to leave the city.

Scientists have yet to fully understand the destructive potential of the new virus, known as 2019-nCoV. Researchers and investigators are just beginning to figure out where it originated, how it's transmitted and how far it has spread.

As of Saturday, case numbers had skyrocketed to more than 1,900 in China and abroad. Chinese authorities also confirmed that health workers have been infected with the virus, suggesting that human-to-human transmission is possible.

Authorities are taking steps to guard against the spread of 2019-nCoV. On Thursday, a special WHO committee decided it was still too earlyto declare a public health emergency on a global level. On Saturday, though, Hong Kong declared a citywide emergency, its highest warning level, canceling all official Chinese New Year celebrations and extending school breaks for the holiday until Feb. 17. Also on Saturday, China said that starting Monday it would clamp down on travel for some of its citizens heading abroad, including suspending tour groups and temporarily halting the sale of flight and hotel packages.

The situation is rapidly evolving. We've collated everything we know about the mystery virus, what's next for researchers and some of the steps you can take to reduce your risk.

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Coronaviruses belong to a family known as Coronaviridae, and under an electron microscope they look like spiked rings. They're named for these spikes, which form a halo around their viral envelope.

Coronaviruses contain a strand of RNA in their envelope and can't reproduce without getting inside living cells and hijacking their machinery. The spikes on the viral envelope help them bind to cells, which gives them a way in. It's like blasting the door open with C4. Once inside, they turn the cell into a virus factory, using its molecular conveyor belt to produce more viruses, which are then shipped out. The virus progeny infect other cells and the cycle starts anew.

Typically, these types of viruses are found in animals ranging from livestock to household pets to wildlife such as bats. When they make the jump to humans, they can cause fever, respiratory illness and inflammation in the lungs. In immunocompromised individuals, such as the elderly or those with HIV-AIDS, such viruses can cause severe respiratory illness.

Extremely pathogenic coronaviruses were behind SARS (severe acute respiratory syndrome) and MERS and were easily transmitted from human to human. SARS, which showed up in the early 2000s, infected more than 8,000 people and resulted in nearly 800 deaths. MERS, which appeared in the early 2010s, infected almost 2,500 people and led to more than 850 deaths.

The virus appears to have originated in the Huanan Seafood Wholesale Market in Wuhan, a Chinese city about 650 miles south of Beijing that has a population of more than 11 million people. The market sells fish, as well as a panoply of meat from other animals, including bats and snakes. The Wuhan market was shut down Jan. 1.

Markets have been implicated in the origin and spread of viral diseases in past epidemics, and a large majority of the people so far confirmed to have come down with this coronavirus had been to the Huanan Seafood marketplace in recent weeks. The market seems like an integral piece of the puzzle, but researchers will need to conduct a range of experiments and tests to confirm the virus' origin.

"Testing of animals in the Wuhan area, including sampling from the markets, will provide more information," said Raina MacIntyre, a head of the biosecurity research program at the University of New South Wales' Kirby Institute.

On Wednesday, areport in the Journal of Medical Virology by a team of Chinese researchers suggested snakes were the most probable wildlife animal reservoir for 2019-nCoV. The work examined the genetic code of the virus and compared it with that of two types of snakes, the many-banded krait and the Chinese cobra. The research demonstrated that the snakes' genetic code displayed a high level of similarity with the virus.

Shortly after, two preprint studies refuted these claims, suggesting 2019-nCoV likely originated in bats.

"We haven't seen evidence ample enough to suggest a snake reservoir for Wuhan coronavirus (2019-nCoV)," said Peter Daszak, president of nonprofit EcoHealth Alliance, which researches the links between human and animal health.

"This work is really interesting, but when we compare the genetic sequence of this new virus with all other known coronaviruses, all of its closest relatives have origins in mammals, specifically bats. Therefore, without further details on testing of animals in the markets, it looks like we are no closer to knowing this virus' natural reservoir."

On Thursday, a group of Chinese scientists uploaded a paper to pre-print website biorXiV studied the viral genetic code and compared it to the previous SARS coronavirus and other bat coronaviruses. They discovered the genetic similarities run deep: The virus shares 80% of its genes with the previous SARS virus and 96% of its genes with bat coronaviruses. Importantly, the study also demonstrated the virus can get into and hijack cells the same way SARS did.

All good science builds off previous discoveries -- and there is still a lot to learn about the basic biology of 2019-nCoV before we have a good grasp of exactly which animal vector is responsible for transmission.

Authorities have confirmed more than 1,900 cases as of Saturday. The bulk are in China, with a total of 10 cases reported in Taiwan, Hong Kong and Macau. Internationally, a handful of cases have been confirmed in Thailand, Japan, South Korea and the US, where aman in his 30s in Washington state and a woman in her 60s in Illinoiswere confirmed to have the disease. Further spread was confirmed Friday, with Australia announcing four cases and France announcing three. Canadian authorities announced its first 'presumptive' case on Saturday, a male in his 50s who had traveled through Wuhan.

Here's the breakdown as it stands:

You can track the spread of the virus with this handy online tool, which is collating data from a number of sources including the CDC, WHO and Chinese health professionals. (Note: There may be differences in our reports and the tracking tool)

National authorities in China continue to monitor more than 1,300 residents who visited the Wuhan market or have had prolonged contact with those presenting symptoms of the disease.

The death toll stands at 42.

Thefirst reported death in Hubei province was a 61-year-old manwho'd frequented the Wuhan market and had chronic liver disease and abdominal tumors.The second was a 69-year-old manwho went to a hospital with severe damage to multiple organs.

The virus has taken two lives outside the Hubei epicenter -- one person in Hebei province, more than 600 miles north of Wuhan, and another in Heilongjiang province, which is more than 1,500 miles from Wuhan and near the Russian border.

A study,published by the Imperial College London on Jan. 17, estimates the total number of 2019-nCoV cases could be much higher than reported, reaching over 1,700 cases. The work, led by Neil Ferguson, calculated how far the virus is likely to spread based on its incubation period and the amount of travel in and out of Wuhan since it was first detected.

A pedestrian in the city of Wuhan, China. The virus appears to have originated in Wuhan's Huanan Seafood Wholesale Market.

In short, science.

The Chinese Center for Disease Control and Prevention dispatched a team of scientists to Wuhan to gather information about the new disease and perform testing in patients, hoping to isolate the virus. Their work, published in the New England Journal of Medicine on Jan. 24, examined samples from three patients. Using an electron microscope, which can see in nanometers, and studying the genetic code, the team were able to visualize and genetically identify the novel coronavirus for the first time.

Understanding the genetic code helps researchers in two ways: It allows them to create tests that can identify the virus from patient samples, and it gives them potential insight into creating treatments or vaccines.

This is one of the major questions researchers are working hard to answer. Though the first infections were potentially the result of animal-to-human transmission, it's likely that human-to-human transmission has followed.

On Monday, the University of Minnesota's Center for Infectious Disease Research and Policy reported thathealth workers in China had been infected with the virus. During the SARS epidemic this was a notable turning point, as health workers moving between countries spread the disease.

Chinese authorities have since confirmed that health workers have been infected with the virus, suggesting human-to-human transmission.

"The major concern is hospital outbreaks, which were seen with SARS and MERS coronaviruses," MacIntyre said. "Meticulous triage and infection control is needed to prevent these outbreaks and protect health workers."

In Wuhan, authorities are rushing to build a thousand-bed hospital to treat coronavirus patients as the province struggles with hospital bed shortages. It's aiming to open the facility on Feb. 3, giving construction workers 10 days to get it ready.

China hasshut down Wuhanto reduce the spread of the virus, canceling transportation leaving the city starting at 10 a.m. Thursday. The travel restrictions wereextended to four other cities (Huanggang, Ezhou, Chibi and Zhijiang) later that day, and constraints were announced in eight more cities on Friday -- impacting more than 35 million people.

The restrictions come during a busy travel period for China, when citizens typically travel for the Lunar New Year. Major public events Chinese capital Beijing have been canceled, and both Beijing's Forbidden City and Shanghai's Disneyland said they'd close from Saturday. All of the restrictions and closures will last indefinitely.

An electron microscopy image of the coronavirus that causes SARS.

Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, the director-general of the World Health Organization, convened an emergency committee on Wednesday to determine whether this new virus constitutes a public health emergency.

"There was an excellent discussion during the committee today, but it was also clear that to proceed, we need more information," Ghebreyesus said during a press conferenceWednesday. A full replay of the press conference is below.

The emergency committee reconvened Thursday to continue to discuss the outbreak. On Thursday, the committee decided that it was still too early to declare a public health emergency.

"If WHO declares a public health emergency of international concern, it enables WHO greater powers for disease control using the International Health Regulations," MacIntyre said.

In the fall, anemergency committee met regarding the ebola virus epidemic in the Democratic Republic of the Congo. The meeting outlined key strategies and commitments to strengthen and protect against the spread of the disease.

The new coronavirus causes symptoms similar to those of previously identified disease-causing coronaviruses. In currently identified patients, there seems to be a spectrum of illness: A large number experience mild pneumonia-like symptoms, while others have a much more severe response.

On Jan. 24, prestigious medical journal The Lancet published an extensive analysis of the clinical features of the disease.

According to the report, patients present with:

Less common symptoms of coronavirus include:

As the disease progresses, patients also come down with pneumonia, which inflames the lungs and causes them to fill with fluid. This can be detected by an X-ray and was present in all 41 cases studied.

Coronaviruses are notoriously hardy organisms. They're effective at hiding from the human immune system, and we haven't developed any reliable treatments or vaccines that can eradicate them. In most cases, health officials attempt to deal with the symptoms.

"There is no recognized therapeutic against coronaviruses," Mike Ryan, executive director of the WHO Health Emergencies Programme, said during the Emergency Committee press conference Wednesday. "The primary objective in an outbreak related to a coronavirus is to give adequate support of care to patients, particularly in terms of respiratory support and multi-organ support."

That doesn't mean vaccines are an impossibility, however. Chinese scientists were able to sequence the virus' genetic code incredibly quickly, giving scientists a chance to study it and look for ways to combat the disease. According to CNN, researchers at the US National Institutes of Health are already working on a vaccine, though it could be a year or more away from release.

Notably, SARS, which infected around 8,000 people and killed around 800, seemed to run its course and then mostly disappear. It wasn't a vaccine that turned the tide on the disease but rather effective communication between nations and a range of tools that helped track the disease and its spread.

"We learnt that epidemics can be controlled without drugs or vaccines, using enhanced surveillance, case isolation, contact tracking, PPE and infection control measures," MacIntyre said.

With confirmed cases now seen in the US, Thailand, Japan, South Korea and potentially Australia, it's possible that 2019-nCoV could be spreading much further afield. The WHO recommends a range of measures to protect yourself from contracting the disease, based on good hand hygiene and good respiratory hygiene -- in much the same way you'd reduce the risk of contracting the flu.

Meanwhile, the US State Department has issued a travel advisory, urging people to "exercise increased caution in China." Awarning from the CDC advises people to "avoid nonessential travel."

A Twitter thread, developed by the WHO, is below.

This story was originally published Jan. 19 and is updated frequently as new information becomes available.

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Coronavirus death toll rises to 56, cases approach 2,000: Everything we know - CNET