WHO: Narrowing window to contain coronavirus
Caution urged as cases surge across the Middle East and South Korea
The World Health Organisation (WHO) has warned that the window to stem the deadly coronavirus outbreak was shrinking, amid concern over a surge in cases with no clear link to China.
WHO chief Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus has for weeks insisted the low number of cases of Covid-19 outside the epicentre of the deadly outbreak in China’s central Hubei province presented a “window of opportunity” to contain the international spread.
But as cases surged across the Middle East and in South Korea, he cautioned for the first time that while “we are still in a phase where containment is possible . . . our window of opportunity is narrowing.”
He warned that if countries did not quickly mobilise to fight the spread of the virus, “this outbreak could go in any direction. It could even be messy.”
The outbreak, which began in
December, has already killed more than 2200 people and infected more than 75,500 in China.
China reported 118 more deaths on Friday, raising the toll to 2236, most of them in Hubei.
The National Health Commission also said in its daily update that China tallied 889 new cases, up from the previous day when it reported the lowest number of new infections in nearly a month, fuelling hopes that the epidemic is nearing its peak.
But Hubei’s figures have raised questions as officials have changed methods of counting cases twice and amended their figures.
A 29-year-old Wuhan doctor died on Thursday, making him one of the youngest known fatalities of the epidemic and the eighth among medical workers.
New hot spots were found in several prisons and hospitals, prompting the firing of a number of officials.
More than 1150 people have also been infected and more than a dozen have died across 27 other countries.
On Friday, cases of the deadly virus were reported in a range of countries in the Middle East, including in Israel and Lebanon for the first time, while Iran said four people there had died and 18 had been infected in the outbreak.
Infections nearly doubled in South Korea to 204, making it the hardesthit country outside China.
In Europe, meanwhile, a small northern Italian town closed bars, schools and offices for up to five days to try to quell fears over six cases of the virus.
And in Ukraine, buses carrying evacuees from China bound for a medical facility were attacked by protesters hurling rocks.
Tedros stressed, though, that the number of cases outside of China still remained “relatively small”.
But he voiced concern “about the number of cases with no clear epidemiological link, such as travel history to or contact with a confirmed case”, urging countries worldwide to be “very, very serious” about preventing the spread of the virus.
“We must not look back and regret that we failed to take advantage of the window of opportunity we have.”
China has meanwhile pointed to official figures showing new cases in the country slowing this week as evidence that its drastic containment measures are working, but fresh infections emerged at two Beijing hospitals, and more than 500 others
This outbreak could go in any direction. It could even be messy WHO chief Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus
were reported in prisons across the country.
Chinese authorities have placed tens of millions of people under quarantine in hard-hit central Hubei province, restricted movements in other cities far from the epicentre and closed schools nationwide.
At a Politburo meeting chaired by Chinese President Xi Jinping Friday, the leadership said the epidemic’s peak “has not yet arrived”, and the situation in Hubei and Wuhan remains “grim and complex”, according to state media.
Many nations have banned travellers from China and airlines have suspended flights to and from the country.
WHO does not recommend any international travel or trade restrictions, but Tedros called on countries to take “proportionate” actions to protect against the international spread of the virus.