Coronavirus containment is the key, as infections tick up: WHO head

(United Nations News) Governments should continue to treat containment of the coronavirus as a priority, the head of the UN health agency, Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, said on Monday.

After earlier describing cases of infection in people with no travel history to China as possibly the “tip of the iceberg”, the World Health Organization Director-General warned in Geneva that while the spread of the respiratory disease appeared to be slow, it could accelerate.

“The detection of this small number of cases could be the spark that becomes a bigger fire, but for now it’s only a spark. Our objective remains containment, we call on all countries to use the window of opportunity that we have to prevent a bigger fire.”

As of Monday, WHO reported 40,235 confirmed cases in China, where the virus was declared on 31 December – and 909 deaths.

Outside the country there have been 319 cases in 24 countries and one death, with reported infections in France and the United Kingdom in the past two days.

Read more at: United Nations News

Source: CARICOM TODAY