Report: Protective Masks Are Useless – Coronavirus Also Spreads Through The EYES

As infectious disease specialists and epidemiologists race to contain the outbreak of the novel coronavirus centered on Wuhan, China, they’re getting back up that’s 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.

More bad news came in as expert claims that deadly coronavirus can be spread through the EYES after he contracted the disease, despite wearing a protective mask.

Dr. Wang Guangfa has now theorized the similar coronavirus may be transmitted through the eye after testing positive following an eye infection.

Mr. Wang was a leading figure in the fight against SARS virus that gripped China in 2003.

The doctor now says he believes he contracted the virus due to not donning protective eyewear.

Teresa Zhan, a pharmacist in Manhattan’s Chinatown, had not seen protective face masks sell out in her 10 years as an employee until this week, when China’s coronavirus arrived in the United States just days before Lunar New Year celebrations.

More than a dozen pharmacies in the tiny district had run out of face masks or only had a few left on Friday. Pharmacists said hundreds of locals had rushed to buy masks for protection from the newly discovered coronavirus that has killed 26 people in China and infected at least 800 others, including a case in Chicago and another near Seattle.