How Do We Fix It takes a look at the best ways to deal with coronavirus

As concern over the deadly new coronavirus grows, this week’s episode of the solutions oriented podcast, How Do We Fix It looks at the world’s response to the rapid spread of the 2019-nCoV virus. It also considers the best ways to deal with the outbreak, and hear the latest about scientific research into a new vaccine.

The show’s guest, infectious diseases epidemiologist Kylie Carville withThe Peter Doherty Institute for Infection and Immunity in Melbourne, Australia. She is on the front lines of Australia’s public health response to the virus. There are tens of thousands of cases, hundreds of deaths, and no known cure, the new coronavirus that emerged in China has been declared a public health emergency by the World Health Organization.

“I think we need to be alert, not alarmed in Australia and The United States," Kylie tells us in this exclusive interview. “Every time something happens, we learn and are better prepared for the next time.”

“We will have to wait and see” if it becomes a global pandemic, she says. “We are seeing some degree of transmission outside of China, but at this point, the cases are all linked to someone who has come back and been ill.”

“In these sorts of events, the time for us having nothing to having a potential vaccine has been really dwindling,” she says. “We could get there in three months, but there is a number of different laboratories working on different vaccine candidates. But you have to do trials to test safety. Those things take time.”

“Coronavirus is a family. There are lots of them,' Kylie says. ”This one is new and that’s why there’s this concern."

“Outside of China at the moment, we don’t need to be wearing masks.”

The news media have done quite a good job of covering the outbreak, she says. “But I would be a bit more wary of social media. Who are you following on Facebook and Twitter? Are they authoritative?”

“How Do We Fix It” is hosted by solutions journalists Richard Davies and Jim Miegs Each week they search for ways to make the world a better place They ask thoughtful, unusual questions and play with fascinating contrarian ideas. “How Do We Fix It” can be heard via Apple Podcuasts, Google Podcasts, Spotify, Tuned In, Stitcher, Radio Public and other podcast apps.