Beijing
The world is grateful for the efforts of health workers in China, especially in Hubei, to discover how to best treat infected patients and prevent the spread of the new coronavirus, said World Health Organization (WHO) Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus.
“I am in awe of the thousands of health workers in China, especially in Hubei, who are caring for patients and gathering data on 2019 novel coronavirus for scientific analysis, while under immense pressure,” said Dr. Tedros on Twitter,according to China Economic Net. “The world is grateful for your efforts to discover how to best treat (patients) and prevent the spread of the virus,” he said.
Tedros underlined that experts in medicine and science are working across borders to lead a data-driven response to the novel coronavirus.
“From China’s early sharing of genome sequencing data to our work at WHO to debunk myths, we are rapidly collecting, analyzing and sharing information to keep the world safe,” he added.
China and the World Health Organization (WHO) will form a joint expert team to conduct in-depth discussions on and evaluations of the novel coronavirus epidemic and the containment, said a spokesperson with the National Health Commission (NHC) on Monday. They will provide suggestions on joint prevention and control of the coronavirus outbreak to China and other affected countries in the next step, Mi Feng told a press conference in Beijing. An advance team of the WHO is scheduled to arrive in Beijing Monday to discuss related arrangements with the Chinese side, Mi said.
“We welcome international experts including those from the United States to take part in the joint expert team,” Mi said, adding that appropriate arrangements for the team will be made after thorough consultation and communication. The head of the World Health Organization has warned that confirmed cases of coronavirus being transmitted by people who have never travelled to China could be the “tip of the iceberg”.
Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus’ remarks come as members of a WHO-led “international expert mission” flew to China on Monday to help coordinate a response to the outbreak that has so far infected more than 40,000 people and killed 908 in the country. “There’ve been some concerning instances of onward #2019nCoV spread from people with no travel history to (China),” Ghebreyesus tweeted Sunday, using the virus’s provisional scientific name.
“The detection of a small number of cases may indicate more widespread transmission in other countries; in short, we may only be seeing the tip of the iceberg.” While the virus’ spread outside China appeared to be slow, Ghebreyesus warned it could accelerate. “Containment remains our objective, but all countries must use the window of opportunity created by the containment strategy to prepare for the virus’s possible arrival,” he said.
Outside mainland China, there have been more than 350 infections reported in nearly 30 places. There have been two deaths, one in the Philippines and the other in Hong Kong. Several countries have banned arrivals from China while major airlines have suspended flights, and Air China cancelled some of its flights to the United States.
The WHO-led mission to China is being headed up by Bruce Aylward, a veteran of previous health emergencies, Ghebreyesus said. Aylward oversaw the WHO’s 2014-2016 response to the Ebola epidemic in West Africa. WHO said in recent days there had been “some stabilising” in the numbers of new cases of the coronavirus in China. But the UN agency cautioned it was too early to say if the virus had peaked.
The SARS-like virus is believed to have emerged late last year in the central city of Wuhan, the capital of Hubei province where millions of people are under lockdown in a bid to stop it spreading.—APP
