Unlike SARS of 2003 and MERS of 2012, the coronavirus is causing more infections and deaths in a shorter period of time.

It took almost a month and a half before it caused widespread infections in China.

As of writing this article (01/26/2020), the other countries have just started seeing small-scale infections.

Two data points must catch the attention of other countries dealing (or beginning) to deal with this situation: 1) how China’s infection rate is growing since the inception point 2) how fast this infection grew compared to earlier epidemics such as SARS and MERS.

A look at the daily infection growth rate in china alone is a clear indication of how contagious this disease is and how this is going to impact if not curbed properly.

The historical data shows that SARS and MERS did not cause a single infection in Africa. As of writing this post, Africa is still free from Coronavirus. Since China has commerce ties with African countries, it’s unlikely that the isolation of the continent could be the reason for no infection. Is this just a coincidence or are African people immune to this type of virus? Only time will tell.