Governments should continue to treat containment of the coronavirus as a priority, the head of the UN health agency, Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, said.
After earlier describing cases of infection in people with no travel history to China as possibly the “tip of the iceberg”, the World Health Organization Director-General warned in Geneva that while the spread of the respiratory disease appeared to be slow, it could accelerate.
“The detection of this small number of cases could be the spark that becomes a bigger fire, but for now it’s only a spark. Our objective remains containment, we call on all countries to use the window of opportunity that we have to prevent a bigger fire.”
As of Monday, WHO reported 40,235 confirmed cases in China, where the virus was declared on 31 December – and 909 deaths.
Outside the country, there have been 319 cases in 24 countries and one death, with reported infections in France and the United Kingdom in the past two days.
The overall pattern of infections had not changed, Tedros told journalists. Ninety-nine percent of all cases were in China and most sufferers displayed mild symptoms, while two percent were fatal, he explained.
Leading them is Dr. Bruce Aylward, a WHO veteran outbreak expert, who recently coordinated the agency’s response to the Ebola epidemic in West Africa. His job will be to “lay the groundwork” for a larger international team of experts which is expected to follow to China, Tedros said.
WHO’s other measures have included equipping laboratories in some 14 countries with kits to “fast diagnose” infections, including to Cote d’Ivoire, Kenya, Tunisia and Zambia. This was essential to being able to identify coronavirus infections which can resemble other respiratory bugs, the WHO chief explained.
To date, WHO has identified 168 labs around as having the right technology to identify the coronavirus.
Original source: UN News
Published on 10 February 2020
