Global virus spread tip of iceberg: WHO
A team led by WHO leaves for China to probe epidemic; countries told to be prepared for virus arrival
I’ve just been at the airport seeing off members of an advance team for the @WHO-led #2019nCoV international expert mission to #China
— TEDROS ADHANOM GHEBREYESUS WHO director-general
Geneva, Feb. 10: The head of the World Health Organisation said on Monday there have been “concerning instances” of coronavirus among people with no travel history to China, warning that it could be the “tip of the iceberg”, as he urged all countries to prepare for the possible arrival of the novel virus that has killed over 900 people.
Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus lauded the doctors, nurses and health workers for doing “their utmost” at personal risk to contain the epidemic, terming them “true heroes” of the outbreak that first surfaced in December in Wuhan city in China’s central Hubei province where millions of people are under lockdown in a bid to stop it from spreading. “There’ve been some concerning instances of onward 2019nCoV spread from people with no travel history to China. 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,” tweeted Ghebreyesus, Director-General of the WHO.
Health team in China An advance team of international experts led by the World Health Organisation (WHO) has left for Beijing to help investigate China’s coronavirus epidemic, which authorities said on Monday had claimed 909 lives on the mainland.
WHO director-general Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, who made a trip to Beijing for talks with President Xi Jinping and Chinese ministers in January, returned with an agreement on sending an international mission. But it took two weeks to get the government’s green light.