'Fatal error' for countries to assume that they will not contract coronavirus, according to the head of the WHO
An outbreak of a new coronavirus similar to SARS (COVID-19), which originated in the Chinese city of Wuhan, has claimed at least 2,850 lives and infected more than 83,000 people worldwide. With 2,788 deaths, China is the most affected, with deaths reported in other countries such as the Philippines, Hong Kong, Japan, France, Taiwan, Iran, Italy and South Korea, which also has the highest cases of confirmed infections outside of China. The other nations with cases confirmed by the new coronavirus are New Zealand, Algeria, Switzerland, Lebanon, Israel, Egypt, Australia, Belgium, Cambodia, Canada, Finland, Germany, India, Malaysia, Brazil, Greece, Norway and Pakistan, Nepal, Russia, Singapore, Spain, Sri Lanka, Sweden, Thailand, United Arab Emirates, United Kingdom, United States and Vietnam.
GENEVA (Reuters) - It would be a "fatal mistake" for any country to assume that it will not be affected by the new coronavirus, and rich countries that might have thought they were safer should expect surprises, said the head of the World Organization of the Health. Thursday.
The head of the WHO emergency program said that Iran, which so far has reported the majority of deaths outside of China, could be dealing with an outbreak that is worse than is understood. He also said talks were being held with the organizers about the fate of the Olympic games scheduled for July in Japan.
"No country should assume that it will have no cases, that would be a fatal mistake, literally," said WHO Director General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus.
"And I even say that if you take Italy, a member of the G7, it was really a surprise. So even in many other developed countries you also see some surprises, you should expect some surprises."
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Tedros said the epidemics in Iran, Italy and South Korea were at a "turning point": still marked by groups of infections with some transmission in the communities, but not yet by a sustained community transmission.
WHO declared the outbreak as an international emergency on January 30 and has urged countries to prepare for detection, isolation rooms and public education campaigns.