Coronavirus: WHO Declares Global Public Health Emergency

The UN health agency on Friday declared an international emergency over the deadly novel coronavirus from China—a rarely used designation that could lead to improved international co-ordination in tackling the disease. The death count in coronavirus outbreak has climbed to 213 with the number of confirmed cases totalling to 9,692.

“Our greatest concern is the potential for the virus to spread to countries with weaker health systems,” World Health Organization (WHO) chief Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said as he announced the virus as a Public Health Emergency of International Concern (PHEIC).

Reacting to the announcement, Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson Hua Chunying in a press statement said, “Since the outbreak of the novel coronavirus epidemic, the Chinese government has been taking the most comprehensive and rigorous prevention and control measures with a high sense of responsibility for people’s health.”

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Many of these measures go well beyond the requirements of the International Health Regulations, she said.

“We have full confidence and capability to win this fight against the epidemic,” said the spokesperson.

China said it has full confidence and capability to win the fight against the epidemic.

To curb the epidemic, China has decided to adopt a host of measures including delaying and reducing conferences and major events, extending the current Spring Festival holidays and supporting online work. 

China is rushing to build a new hospital in a record breaking time to treat patients at the epicentre of a deadly virus outbreak that has stricken hundreds of people, state media reported last week. The facility in the central city of Wuhan is expected to be in use by February 3 to serve a rising number of patients infected by a coronavirus that has left at least 26 people dead and millions on lockdown in an effort to curb the spread. Dozens of excavators and trucks were filmed working on the site by state broadcaster CCTV.

What is Coronavirus?

The coronavirus has caused alarm because of its similarity to SARS (Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome), which killed nearly 650 people across mainland China and Hong Kong in 2002-2003. Like SARS, it can be passed among people through the respiratory tract. Animals are suspected to be the primary source of the outbreak, with Chinese health officials saying the virus originated from the market where wild animals were illegally sold. Studies published this week suggest that the virus may have originated in bats or snakes.

The first case of the new virus was confirmed on December 31, and it has since been detected in Japan, Hong Kong, Macau, South Korea, Taiwan, Thailand and the United States.