[link to www.zerohedge.com (secure)]

In Shocking Admission, WHO Advisor Says Coronavirus May Infect Over 5 Billion People

In yet another sign of the World Health Organization's about-face on the coronavirus outbreak, a top epidemiologist and advisor to the organization said Thursday that if the virus isn't contained soon, it could infect 60% of the global population - or more than 5 billion people - echoing projections made by a Hong Kong scientist who was once labeled an alarmist despite his pioneering work in the fight against SARS.

According to Bloomberg, that's what WHO advisor Ira Longini said after finishing a study of the virus's transmissibility. His estimates suggest that the virus could one day infect billions of people, far more than the ~60,000 or so cases as of earlier on Thursday.

If the virus truly has a mortality rate of 2% (around the low end of current estimates), at this rate, it would kill more than 100 million.