By: Nigel Griffiths, The Marine Advisory Medical Service, Singapore Home / News / Advice / Coronavirus – overview and shipping guidance for Members Advice, Loss Prevention Coronavirus – overview and shipping guidance for Members 2 March, 2020 By: Nigel Griffiths, The Marine Advisory Medical Service, Singapore The shipping industry is likely to be impacted in a number of ways by the emergence of COVID-19: not only through disruption to voyages to and from China, but also from delays in other countries as a result of quarantine and port checks due to cases, or suspected cases, of the coronavirus amongst crew and passengers on board vessels. Coronaviruses (CoV) are a large family of viruses that cause illness ranging from the common cold to more severe diseases such as Middle East Respiratory Syndrome (MERS-CoV) and Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome (SARS-CoV). A novel coronavirus (nCoV) is a new strain that has not been previously identified in humans.  The continued increase in the number of cases, and the number of affected countries over the last few days, are clearly of concern. The virus found to cause COVID-19 was initially isolated from a clinical sample on 7 January. It is notable that within weeks following the identification of the virus, a series of reliable and sensitive diagnostic tools were developed and deployed. The main signs and symptoms of COVID-19 include fever, dry cough, fatigue, sputum production, shortness of breath, myalgia or arthralgia, sore throat, and headache. Nausea or vomiting has been reported in a small percentage of patients (5%). WHO epidemiologists have been monitoring developments continuously and have now increased the assessment of the risk of spread and the risk of impact of COVID-19 to very high at a global level. The key to containing this virus is to break the chains of transmission. The virus is transmitted from a sick person to a healthy person through respiratory droplets when the sick person coughs, sneezes or talks