Tibet’s potala palace has been temporarily shut down to prevent the spread of Coronavirus. The palace drawing thousands tourists from China has been closed amid the scare of the new viral health problem that started from Wuhan in China. This casually communicable disease is fast spreading through out the world.
The coronavirus outbreak that began in the central Chinese city of Wuhan has killed 80 people in China so far and infected more than 2,750 globally, most of them in China. No fatalities have been reported outside China. Despite several cases being reported outside China, the World Health Organisation has stopped short of declaring it a global health emergency, according to NDTV.
Apart from Disney Land and Ocean Park in Hong Kong, the Potala Palace which draws major chunk of tourist to Tibet’s capital Lhasa has been shut down. The call to shut down major tourist attractions aims to reduce the mass movement of people. This festive season has been ruined by the outbreak this new virus.
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. The symptoms are 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.
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.