As if 2020 couldn’t get any crazier, on Monday morning, reports of the bubonic plague surfacing in China is trending online.
According to CNN, the case was discovered in the city of Bayannur, located northwest of Beijing, according to state-run Xinhua news agency. The victim was a herdsman from Mongolia.
Local authorities then issued a citywide Level 3 warning for plague prevention, the second-lowest in a four-level system that will remain in place until the end of the year.
The disease is fatal in about 30 percent to 60 percent of untreated cases, the World Health Organization says. The bubonic plague can be cured with antibiotics if treated early.
“At present, there is a risk of a human plague epidemic spreading in this city. The public should improve its self-protection awareness and ability, and report abnormal health conditions promptly,” the local health authority said, according to state-run newspaper China Daily.