“Coronavirus outbreak has reached a decisive point now”, says WHO, urges action to prevent infection and save lives

(from L to R)-: Dr. Maria D Van Kerkhove, Head AI Emerging Diseases and Zoonoses Unit, World Health Organization (WHO) Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, Professor Didier Houssin, Chair of the Emergency Committee, and WHO health emergencies programme Michael Ryan sit together for a press conference following an emergency committee meeting over new SARS-like virus spreading in China and other nations, in Geneva on January 22, 2020. (Photo by PIERRE ALBOUY / AFP)

The deeply intensifying health crisis caused due to the deadly epidemic of Coronavirus has put The World Health Organisation into anxiety. The death toll in China due to Coronavirus has climbed to a mark of 2788 as 44 people died of the deadly virus in one night whereas overall confirmed cases on coronavirus infection have reached 78,824 as per Chinese officials.

Various nations are applying different measures to avoid the epidemic. After China, South Korea is turning to be an epicentre of the CoVid-19 virus where it reported 315 cases in one day. The WHO has expressed concern saying, “Coronavirus outbreak is “getting bigger”, the scenario of it reaching multiple countries, “if not all countries” is something we have been warning about for quite a while.”

The World Health Organisation Director-General Tedros Adhanom asked the nations to prepare for a pandemic. Tedros said, “This virus has pandemic potential. This time is not for fear. This time is for taking action to prevent infection and save lives.”

“We are actually in a very delicate situation in which the outbreak can go in any direction based on how we handle it,” he added.

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The rapid spread of coronavirus raised fears of a pandemic on Friday, with seven countries reporting their first cases, the World Health Organization reported in a tweet. WHO said, “We are at a decisive point.”

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There are cases of reinfection of some people who were cured. The global health body clarified that it is observing some people getting re-infected and there is need to look at how tests were taken, but in general, a person who had the deadly infection would be immune at least for a while.

Scientists say much remains unknown about the deadly virus, which can lead to pneumonia, and a vaccine could take up to 18 months to develop.

In the meanwhile, India has been declared out of danger of coronavirus epidemic by health officials. According to the recent reports, there are no confirmed cases of Coronavirus in India, after three confirmed cases were discharged from hospital after complete recovery. India is screening passengers at the airports to avoid the possible exposure of Coronavirus.

OpIndia Staff: Staff reporter at OpIndia