These are all you need to know about Wuhan Coronavirus and how it's spreading

The GHS said the infection is a novelty and it was detected on January 7, 2020 in the Wuhan Province in China.

The release further said Ghanaian authorities at our points of entry will ensure that passengers from China entering the country will be properly scrutinized to curb its spread.

Below are some facts on this never-heard-of infection that has taken the lives of 59 people so far.

Coronaviruses are named for the spikes that protrude from their membranes, which resemble the sun’s corona.

They can infect both animals and people, and cause illnesses of the respiratory tract, ranging from the common cold to severe conditions like SARS, which sickened thousands of people around the world.

Symptoms of infection include a high fever, difficulty breathing and lung lesions. Milder cases may resemble the flu or a bad cold, making detection very difficult.

Wuhan file photo Pulse Ghana

The incubation period — the time from exposure to the onset of symptoms — is believed to be about two weeks.

The number of human infections has grown dramatically, to more than 400 in China, and cases have now been confirmed in Taiwan, Japan, Thailand and South Korea.

The nine people who have died from the illness were in Hubei, the Chinese province of which Wuhan is the capital, and many of the others infected had lived in Wuhan or traveled there.