Coronavirus declared a global emergency as more cases emerge
● WHO chief says concern is over the spread from China to other countries
The World Health Organisation (WHO) last night declared the coronavirus a global emergency, as the outbreak continues to spread outside China.
Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, the global health body’s chief said the concern was that it could spread to countries with weaker health systems.
“The main reason for this declaration is not what is happening in China but what is happening in other countries.”
In China 170 people have lost their lives to coronavirus. The WHO confirmed there had been 98 cases in 18 countries outside of the country, but no deaths.
Dr Tedros praised the “extraordinary measures” Chinese authorities had taken to prevent it from spreading and added: “Let me be clear, this declaration is not a vote of no confidence in China,” he added.
China yesterday raised the death toll to 170 and more countries reported infections from a new virus, including some spread locally, as foreign evacuees from the country’s worst-hit region returned home to medical tests and even isolation.
India and the Philippines reported their first cases, a traveller and a student who had both been in Wuhan, the central Chinese city where the first illnesses appeared in December.
South Korea confirmed a case that was locally spread, a man who had contact with a patient diagnosed the new type of coronavirus earlier.
In Geneva, the WHO convened its coronavirus expert committee which declared a global emergency.
The committee last week had advised the UN health agency it was too early to make that pronouncement.
Locally spread cases outside China are a worrying concern as potential signs of the virus spreading more easily and the difficulty of containing it. The new virus has now infected more people in China than were sickened there during the 2002-3 outbreak of Sars, another type of coronavirus.
The latest figures for mainland China show an increase of 38 deaths and 1,737 cases for a total of 7,711 confirmed cases. Of the new deaths, 37 were in Hubei province, of which Wuhan is the capital, and one was in the southwestern province of Sichuan.
India’s health ministry said a student who had been studying in Wuhan was confirmed to have the virus after returning home to Kerala state.
Philippine health officials say a woman who travelled there from Wuhan via Hong Kong tested positive.
A second japanese flight carrying 210 evacuees landed in Tokyo. Reports said nine of those aboard the flight showed signs of cough and fever.
Three of Japan’s confirmed cases were among a group of evacuees who had returned on a government-chartered flight the previous day.
A flight arranged between the European Union and China departed Portugal en route to China to bring back 350 Europeans.
The US said additional flights were being planned for around Monday, after it evacuated 195 Americans from Wuhan on Wednesday.
South Korea, Britain, New Zealand, Australia, Singapore and other countries are also trying to get their citizens out. Taiwan has also asked to be able to repatriate its passport holders from Wuhan, but it was awaiting approval from Beijing.
Israel’s El Al, Spain’s Iberia, Scandinavian Airlines, Egypt Air and Korean Air joined the list of airlines suspending or reducing service to China.
In South Korea, residents in two cities where quarantine facilities are being prepared threw eggs and water bottles at officials to protest at plans to isolate 700 South Koreans being evacuated from China in their area.