WHO declares coronavirus global health emergency

As coronavirus continues to spread to different countries with the number of infected rising, World Health Organization (WHO) declares coronavirus global health emergency.

Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, World Health Organization (WHO) chief said:

The main reason for this declaration is not what is happening in China but what is happening in other countries,

The coronavirus outbreak has killed at least 213 people in china with the number of infected people rising over 10,000. The majority of cases are in the Hubei province of China.

According to reports by WHO and other sources, so far there have been 98 cases of coronavirus in 18 other countries but do deaths have been recorded due to the virus in these countries.

These cases of infection in other countries are among people who recently travelled to Wuhan which is in the Hubei province.

Although in some countries including Germany, United States, Vietnam and Japan, people have been infected by those who traveled to China making the infection spread more.

The United States has advised its citizens to not travel to China.

An emergency meeting was held in Geneva, the World Health Organization (WHO) said:

that the outbreak now meets the criteria for a Public Health Emergency of International Concern (PHEIC).

The Committee emphasized that the declaration of a PHEIC should be seen in the spirit of support and appreciation for China, its people, and the actions China has taken on the frontlines of this outbreak, with transparency, and, it is to be hoped, with success,

In line with the need for global solidarity, the Committee felt that a global coordinated effort is needed to enhance preparedness in other regions of the world that may need additional support for that.

Until now, PHEIC has only been declared five times.

The concern at the moment is the virus spread to low to and middle income countries which do not have the tool to detect and deal with the situation immediately causing the new coronavirus to spread uncontrollably.

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