LONDON: The head of the World Health Organization on Wednesday called a new emergency meeting of experts to discuss whether the SARS-like virus outbreak that began in China constitutes an international health emergency.
WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, who visited China this week and held talks with President Xi Jinping, said the meeting was needed because of cases of onward transmission of the virus outside of China.
Just back from where I held frank talks with President Xi Jinping, who has taken charge of a monumental national response to the #coronavirus outbreak. Based on cooperation & solidarity, China has committed to protecting its citizens & all people globally from the outbreak pic.twitter.com/Q2aT3UYpAn
— Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus (@DrTedros) January 29, 2020
"I have decided to reconvene the International Health Regulations Emergency Committee on the new #coronavirus (2019-nCoV) tomorrow," Tedros aid on Twitter.
Tedros said most people who contract the virus exhibit "milder symptoms" but about one in five have severe illness, including pneumonia and respiratory failure.
People who have contracted new #coronavirus are showing a wide range of symptoms. Of known cases, most people exhibit milder symptoms, but about 1 in 5 people have severe illness, including #pneumonia and respiratory failure.
— Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus (@DrTedros) January 29, 2020
Since it was first identified on December 31, the virus has killed 132 people and spread to more than a dozen countries since emerging in the Chinese city of Wuhan.
Germany and Japan have both reported cases of human-to-human transmission of the coronavirus in their countries.
The WHO's Emergency Committee met for two days last week but stopped short of calling an international health emergency, saying that more information was needed about the virus.
The designation is reserved for the worst outbreaks and has only been used five times before by the Geneva-based UN health agency, including for Ebola and swine flu.
"The world is pulling together to end the outbreak, building on lessons learned from past outbreaks," Tedros said.
People can take a range of measures to protect their health, including hand-washing and properly covering your mouth and nose when coughing or sneezing. Find out more here https://t.co/qwlPMHBz61
— Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus (@DrTedros) January 29, 2020
“China needs the world’s solidarity and support,” he said, adding that he had held “frank talks” with Xi.
Tedros also said the WHO “deeply regrets” a mistake in three of its reports last week in which it referred to the global risk of the outbreak as “moderate” instead of “high.”
Meanwhile, the US and Japan on Wednesday began evacuating their citizens from the Chinese city hardest-hit by the outbreak that has infected more than 6,000 on the mainland and abroad.
China’s latest figures cover the previous 24 hours and add 26 to the number of deaths, 25 of which were in the Hubei province and its capital, Wuhan. The 5,974 cases on the mainland were a rise of 1,459 from the previous day. Dozens of infections of the new type of coronavirus have been confirmed outside mainland China as well.
Malaysia’s Health Ministry said on Wednesday three more people had been infected with the new coronavirus, taking the total to seven, all of whom are Chinese citizens.
The new cases involve a 4-year-old girl, a 52-year-old man and the mother of two children confirmed infected earlier, the ministry said in a statement.
Authorities said the mother had initially tested negative and had stayed in Malaysia to take care of her children – grandsons of a 66-year-old man who tested positive in Singapore for the coronavirus last week.
Passengers wearing face masks queue at the immigration counter upon arrival at the Kuala Lumpur International Airport 2 in Sepang on January 29, 2020. (AFP)
A Japanese chartered flight carrying 206 evacuees from Wuhan included some who had coughs and fever on the plane, Kyodo News reported, citing health ministry officials. They were expected to be taken by ambulances to a Tokyo hospital specializing in infectious diseases.
A plane carrying Americans who had been in Wuhan left for Anchorage, Alaska, where they will be rescreened for the virus. Hospitals are prepared to treat or quarantine people who may be infected. Then the plane is scheduled to fly to Ontario, California.
The British government is warning against “all but essential travel” to mainland China amid the outbreak of the new type of coronavirus. British Airways on Wednesday has suspended all flights to and from mainland China with immediate effect.
And Hong Kong’s leader said the territory will cut all rail links to the mainland and halve the number of flights to stop the spread of the virus.
South Korea also said it will send a plane, and France, Mongolia and other governments also planned evacuations.
China has cut off access to Wuhan and 16 other cities in Hubei province to prevent people from leaving and spreading the virus further. The lockdown has trapped more than 50 million people in the most far-reaching disease control measures ever imposed.
Workers in protective gear are seen on the apron near the first charter flight from the Chinese city of Wuhan, which was arranged by Japan’s government to evacuate its citizens, on Tuesday, Jan. 29, 2020. (AFP)
The Japanese plane carried into China 20,000 face masks as well as protective gear, all in short supply as Chinese hospitals treat a growing number of patients. Wuhan is building two hospitals in a matter of days to add 2,500 beds for treatment of patients with the virus.
The sharp rise in infections recently suggests significant human-to-human spread of the virus, though it could also be explained by expanded monitoring efforts, said Malik Peiris, chair in virology at the University of Hong Kong.
The source of the virus and the full extent of its spread are still unknown. However, experts worry the new virus may spread more easily than originally thought, or may have mutated into a form that does so. It is from the coronavirus family, which also can cause the common cold as well as more serious illnesses such as SARS and MERS, which both emerged in the past two decades and are thought to have come from animals.
(With AP and AFP)
