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Health authorities are scrambling to halt the spread of a new virus that has killed hundreds in China, restricting visitors from the country and confining thousands on cruise ships for extensive screening after some passengers tested positive. But with important details about the illness and how it spreads still unknown, officials and medical personnel are struggling. Governments have rushed to get their citizens out of China, which is orchestrating history’s largest anti-viral campaign by blocking 50 million people from leaving Wuhan, the center of the outbreak, and nearby areas. (Tong-Hyung, 2/4)

Can individuals infected with the Wuhan coronavirus spread it to others even if they aren’t showing symptoms? It’s one of the most important questions confronting scientists. If even asymptomatic people can spread the virus, then it will be much, much harder to slow its spread. Doctors in China claimed asymptomatic transmission was possible, and a letter published Jan. 30 in the New England Journal of Medicine appeared to back them up. (Rabin, 2/4)

German health officials have raised questions about a report that suggested the new virus from China could be spread by people who are not yet showing symptoms. The report, published last week in the New England Journal of Medicine, raised concerns that controlling the virus will be more daunting if it turns out it is spreading before people know they are sick. But officials at the Robert Koch Institute, Germany's public health agency, said Tuesday the woman who set off a cluster of cases was taking anti-fever medicine. (Johnson, 2/4)

The revelation underscores how the urgency to make sweeping public health decisions about the spread of the coronavirus is clashing with the uncertainties surrounding a novel virus. The essential question public health experts are grappling with is how easily the virus spreads, particularly from people who have mild symptoms. And despite the error in the report from Germany, it’s still possible that people can spread it before they have symptoms. Public health measures that depend on isolating people who could transmit the virus could become difficult to implement if the virus spreads before people realize they have been infected. (Johnson and Sun, 2/4)

“There has been an increasing number of reports of person-to-person spread. And now most recently, a report from the New England Journal of Medicine of asymptomatic spread,” said Dr. Nancy Messonnier, director of CDC’s National Center for Immunization and Respiratory Diseases. “While we still don’t have the full picture and we can’t predict how this situation will play out in the U.S., the current situation, the current scenario is a cause for concern.” (Branswell, 2/4)

The original report said a Shanghai resident came to Germany on a business trip and did not exhibit symptoms of illness while she interacted with several German colleagues. On her return flight to China, she became ill and later tested positive for the novel coronavirus. After her visit, four individuals at the company -- two of whom had direct interactions with their Chinese colleague -- tested positive for the virus. In an email to CNN on Tuesday, German public health officials said the report was incorrect.(Gumbrecht, Holcombe, Kounang and Nedelman, 2/5)