TORONTO -- Newly released medical imaging from a U.S. hospital is showing just how fast the coronavirus can spread through the lungs of a healthy person.
Doctors at George Washington University Hospital are using existing CT scan technology to study and better understand how COVID-19 spreads throughout a person’s body.
This kind of CT scan imaging is typically used for cancer screenings or to plan surgeries.
The 360-degree virtual reality animation shows a 59-year-old patient as the infection quickly attacks his healthy lungs.
Just days before the scan was taken, the patient showed no symptoms of the virus.
The hospital said it’s sharing the images in hopes of conveying to the public how dangerous COVID-19 really is.
As of March 28, the U.S. had recorded 85,288 confirmed cases of the virus, and 1,243 deaths.
The U.S. has surpassed China, the country where the virus was first detected in late December, in total numbers, and are just behind Italy, which has the highest number of cases globally, at 86,498.
