Seven types of coronavirus have been found to infect humans, one of which is the so-called new coronavirus.

Question 1 What kind of virus is "coronavirus"?
So far, seven types of coronavirus have been found to infect humans, one of which is the so-called new coronavirus (SARS-CoVd2), which has been a problem since December last year. Of these, four viruses account for 10 to 15% (35% during the epidemic period) of common cold causes, and many are mild. The remaining two viruses are Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome (SARS), which occurred in 2002, and Middle East Respiratory Syndrome (MERS), which has occurred since 2012. The coronavirus infects all animals, but rarely infects other types of animals. It is also known to lose infectivity by alcohol disinfection (70%)

Question 2: Is it true that the new coronavirus is derived from bats?
In recent years, two types of coronaviruses, which are thought to be of animal origin, have been infecting humans and have become epidemic. It is "Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome (SARS)" which occurred in 2002 and "Middle East Respiratory Syndrome (MERS)" which has occurred since 2012. No definitive evidence has been found that the new coronavirus is of animal origin, but its genetic sequence is close to that of a bat-derived SARS-like coronavirus, which may have contributed to the origin of the new coronavirus. Is considered.
(Reference) National Institute of Infectious Diseases, Virological Society of Japan

Japanes

Q3. The basic policy for new coronavirus infection control (February 25, 1980) has been announced. What is the purpose?
The government has taken various measures to prevent or delay invasion of the new coronavirus in the country, including the shoreline countermeasures ( in the figure).
Coming here, sporadic cases of patients with unknown transmission routes have occurred sporadically in multiple areas in Japan, and small clusters of patients have been identified in some areas. We recognize that it is now time to curb the expansion of the market ( in the figure).
This is a crucial time to end the epidemic epidemic early, and measures must be taken to ensure that clusters do not create the next cluster. Hmm.
In order to minimize the impact on society and the economy, it is essential to "suppress the rate of increase in the number of patients" and "reduce the scale of epidemics and reduce the peak of the number of patients" ( in the figure).
In the meantime, in the meantime, it is necessary to prepare necessary systems such as a medical provision system in order to be able to respond to severely ill patients in case the number of patients increases significantly in Japan (国内 in the figure).
For this reason, the government has organized the measures currently being taken and the measures to be taken in view of the progress of the situation in the future, and compiled the "Basic Policy on New Coronavirus Infectious Disease Control" on February 25.
* The “small patient cluster” refers to a group of several to several tens of patients whose infection routes are being tracked.

Q4. How do you get the new coronavirus infection?
At the moment, there are two types of infections: droplet infections and contact infections.
(1) Droplet infection The virus is released together with the droplets (sneezing, coughing, brim, etc.) of the infected person, and others infect the virus by inhaling it through the mouth or nose.
* When you should be careful about infection: When you spend a certain amount of time indoors, etc., when the distance between each other is not sufficient.
(2) Contact infection After the infected person has sneezing or coughing with his / her hand, touching the surrounding objects with his / her own hand causes the infected person's virus. When an uninfected person touches that part, the virus of the infected person attaches to the hand of the uninfected person and can be transmitted without directly contacting the infected person.
* Examples of infected locations: straps on trains and buses, doorknobs, escalator railings, switches, etc.

Question 5: Is airborne infection occurring?
Judging from the domestic infection situation, it is considered that airborne infection has not occurred.However, if there is no coughing or sneezing under a certain environment such as talking with many people in a closed space in a short distance. There is a risk of spreading the infection.


Question 6: Is the disease transmitted from an asymptomatic pathogen carrier (a person who has no symptoms but a positive PCR test)?
Usually, in the case of a viral infection that causes pneumonia or the like, the chances of transmitting the virus to others are highest when the symptoms are most pronounced.
https://www.cdc.gov/coronavirus/2019-ncov/about/transmission.html
Therefore, although the possibility is unlikely, the new coronavirus has not yet been fully elucidated, so take measures to control general infectious diseases and health care (see Question 13).

Question 7: Is the new coronavirus transmitted from pets?
So far, no cases have been found in which the new coronavirus transmitted humans from pets. In general, refrain from excessive contact with animals, and after contact with animals on a regular basis, wash hands and disinfect with alcohol for hand rubbing.

(Reference) Ministry of Health, Labor and Welfare website: Animal-borne infectious disease



Question 8: Can the infection be transmitted from the feces of infected people?
Perform normal hand washing and disinfection with hand rubbing alcohol as before.
In addition, patients who are suspected of having a new type of coronavirus infection, patients with a new type of coronavirus infection, and used toilets that have been used by close contacts may be hypochlorite if the toilet becomes dirty due to acute diarrhea. We recommend wiping with sodium acid (commercially available bleach, etc., 1,000 ppm) or alcohol (70%).


Question 9: Will you be infected by luggage such as letters or imported foods sent from the location (foreign or domestic) where the infected person was found?
At present, there have been no reports of human transmission of the new coronavirus from contact with items shipped from China or elsewhere where the virus was found. WHO also generally states that coronaviruses cannot survive for long periods of time with things like letters and luggage.
[WHO Information]