The head of the World Health Organisation today told governments to ‘act aggressively’ to contain the global coronavirus crisis.
Dr Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said the major virus outbreaks in Iran and Italy in recent days ‘demonstrate what this virus is capable of’.
The global health chief warned that it would be a ‘fatal mistake, quite literally’ for other nations to assume they will not be affected by the outbreak.
Pointing to a decline in new cases in China, Tedros said: ‘It’s what’s happening in the rest of the world that’s now our greatest concern’.
World Health Organisation chief Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus speaks today in Geneva where he warned that cases outside China are now ‘our greatest concern’
Three women and a police officer wear masks in Tehran on Sunday to guard against the coronavirus in Iran, which now has the worst outbreak in the Middle East
Speaking to reporters in Geneva, Tedros said the epidemic was at a ‘decisive point’.
‘If you act aggressively now, you can contain this virus, you can prevent people getting sick, you can save lives,’ he said.
‘There does not appear to be widespread community transmission,’ he added.
‘This virus has pandemic potential,’ the WHO director-general said. ‘This is not a time for fear. This is a time for taking action to prevent infection and save lives now.’
Tedros emphasised that all countries should ensure that their health systems were prepared for an outbreak.
‘We are actually in a very delicate situation in which the outbreak can go in any direction based on how we handle it,’ Tedros said.
A group of tourists wear protective face masks while walking through Milan’s city centre on Tuesday
More than 81,000 cases of the COVID-19 – the disease caused by the coronavirus – have been recorded across the world, with the death toll nearing 2,800
WHO officials said they were working closely with organisers of the Tokyo Olympic Games this year and did not believe any decision would be taken soon on whether to hold the event starting in July as planned.
More than 2,700 people have died in China and some 78,000 have been infected.
For the second consecutive day, global infections have overtaken the rate of announced cases in the People’s Republic.
Leading the take over is Iran, with the virus having killed 26 people – the highest toll outside of China. Many of the over 240 confirmed cases in the region have links to the Islamic Republic, including dozens in Kuwait and Bahrain, six in Iraq and two in Lebanon.
Reports from the country today claim Vice President for Women and Family Affairs, Masoumeh Ebtekar, contracted the flu-like illness, just days after Deputy Health Minister Iraj Harirchi, confirmed he had been infected too.
Northern Italy is at the heart of the coronavirus crisis in Europe, with 11 deaths, 322 cases and 11 towns quarantined in a desperate attempt to contain the crisis. Masked revellers take part in the ‘Plague Doctors Procession’ on Saint Mark Square in Venice
France has reported four new cases of COVID-19 in the past 24 hours, including two people returning from Italy – bringing the total number to 17
Reports from the country today claim Vice President for Women and Family Affairs, Masoumeh Ebtekar (pictured last year), contracted the flu-like illness, just days after Deputy Health Minister Iraj Harirchi, confirmed he had been infected too
The outbreak has spread to dozens of other countries, where there have been more than 50 deaths and 3,600 cases, raising fears of a pandemic.
Jitters over the epidemic have rocked global markets, while sports matches and festivals across Europe have been cancelled.
The US and South Korea on Thursday postponed forthcoming joint military exercises because of the outbreak, while Japan’s prime minister called for schools to close nationwide for several weeks.
Saudi Arabia banned foreign pilgrims from entering the kingdom to visit Islam’s holiest sites, potentially disrupting the plans of millions of faithful ahead of the Muslim fasting month of Ramadan and as the annual hajj pilgrimage looms.
Saudi Arabia halted travel to the holiest sites in Islam in Mecca over fears of the global outbreak of the new coronavirus just months ahead of the annual hajj pilgrimage, a move coming as the Mideast has over 220 confirmed cases of the illness
President Emmanuel Macron said France, the world’s most visited country, was preparing for a jump in coronavirus cases.
‘We are facing a crisis, an epidemic that is coming,’ he said during a visit to a hospital in Paris where the first French person carrying the virus died Tuesday.
But President Donald Trump has played down fears of a major outbreak in the United States, the world’s largest economy.
President Donald Trump blamed a sudden market slide on ‘Democrat candidates standing on that stage making fools out of themselves’ – not on fears of a coronavirus pandemic
French president Emmanuel Macron visits medical staff at the Pitie-Salpetriere hospital in Paris today, where he said the country was facing an ‘epidemic’
‘I think that there’s a chance that it could get worse, a chance it could get fairly substantially worse, but nothing’s inevitable,’ Trump told reporters Wednesday.
His comments contradicted US health officials who urged Americans to be ready to cancel mass gatherings and work from home. There are 60 cases in the US so far.
The US Centers of Disease Control and Prevention said it had detected the first case of unknown origin in the country, signalling that the virus may be spreading within communities.