WHO Declares Coronavirus Outbreak a Global Health Emergency

The novel coronavirus outbreak has caused a great health crisis in China, with reports saying that over 9,700 confirmed cases of coronavirus infection have been diagnosed in China, while the death toll rose to 213. Chinese official reports say that number of confirmed cases of infection has surged more than tenfold within a week. January 31 witnessed the highest death toll in a 24-hour period.

In the past 24 hours, 2,000 new cases of infection have been reported. Another 1,02,000 people have been reported to be under medical observation, who have possible respiratory symptoms that indicate infection by coronavirus. China’s Hubei province, where the epidemic started, as of now, has millions of people virtually stranded.

Meanwhile, the virus has spread to other countries. Overall, 19 countries have reported confirmed cases of infection that amount to 100, latest being reported from UK and India. The first confirmed case of coronavirus infection in India has been registered in the Southern state of Kerala.

In light of the rapid infection rate, WHO has declared that the outbreak of the virus—designated as 2019-CoV—is a Public Health Emergency of International Concern (PHEIC). In other words, it is a global health emergency now.

Also read: New Coronavirus May Not Have Originated in Wuhan: Lancet Report

China’s permanent representative to the UN, Zhang Sun, hours after the WHO declaration has called for united efforts to tackle the virus outbreak aiming to prevent the epidemic from spreading further.

But, the WHO declaration does not mean restrictions of travel and trade with China. “The Committee does not recommend any travel or trade restriction based on the current information available. Countries must inform the WHO about any travel measures taken, as required by the International Health Regulations (IHR). Countries are cautioned against actions that promote stigma or discrimination, in line with the principles of Article 3 of the IHR," a statement published after the emergency committee meeting on January 30 said.

However, the US State Department has issued a travel advisory on Thursday night asking Americans to not travel to China. The advisory is reported to have categorised this at level 4, the highest for the US state Department.

The WHO director, Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, on the other hand, has lauded China’s fast response in tackling the outbreak. Ghebreysus is quoted to have said, “The speed with which China detected the outbreak, isolated the virus, sequenced the genome and shared it with WHO and the world, are very impressive and beyond words. So is China's commitment to transparency and to supporting other countries. In many ways, China is actually setting a new standard for outbreak response.”