Expert says new virus basically a ‘bad cold’

HKU pathologist: No 2019-nCoV vaccine on horizon but virus will die out in five to six months

Taiwan News
Date: 2020/02/10
By:: Jules Quartly, Taiwan News, Contributing Writer

TAIPEI (Taiwan News) — There’s no vaccine on the immediate horizon for the new virus 2019-nCoV but there’s no need to panic because the world is “going to get basically a very bad cold for about five months,” according to John Nicholls, clinical professor at University of Hong Kong (HKU).

In January, Nicholls and his team were the first scientists outside China to reproduce the new or novel coronavirus in a laboratory. The pathologist also helped isolate the SARS (Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome) coronavirus when it was rampant 17 years ago in Asia.

In a video uploaded by South China Morning Post on Monday (Feb. 10), Nicholls said a vaccine for the virus would not be ready any time soon. “You have to make sure it works, make sure it’s safe and doesn’t have any side effects.”    [FULL  STORY]