Coronavirus: WHO declares Health Emergency; First confirmed case detected in India’s Kerela state
Most affected countries Thailand (14), Japan (11), Singapore (10), Australia and Malaysia (7 each), and France and USA (5 each).
NEW DELHI: As India detects its first confirmed case of Coronavirus in its Southern state Kerela, and the spread of this deadly virus continues in and outside China undeterred killing over 200 people so far, the global health watchdog body World Health Organization (WHO) has declared the outbreak of this disease as “Public Health Emergency of International Concern”.
An announcement to this effect was made today by WHO chief Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus in a press conference in Geneva.
“The main reason for this declaration is not what is happening in China but because of what is happening in other countries. Our greatest concern is the potential for the virus to spread to countries with weaker health systems and which are ill-prepared to deal with it. Let me be clear that this declaration is not a vote of no-confidence in China. On the contrary, WHO continues to have confidence in China’s capacity to control the outbreak,” said Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus.
The declaration means that more resources to fight the damn bug will be inducted by the world body and other developed countries, and the situation would attract more international cooperation.
A total of 18 countries other than China have reported 48 cases of novel coronavirus so far. As many as 213 people have died, over 9600 infected and over are 1700 critical in China.
As per WHO records, Thailand has reported 14 confirmed cases of the deadly virus, Japan 11, Singapore 10, Australia and Malaysia 7 each, France and USA 5 each and India one.
On Thursday, India confirmed its first case of coronavirus in Southern state Kerela. A Kerela resident who was studying medicine in a university in Wuhan, Chian and returned to India last week tested positive for the novel coronavirus (NCoV-2019).
However, her condition is reported to be stable and is undergoing treatment in an isolated ward at a general hospital in Thrissur. She will soon be shifted to Thrissur Medical College. Her biological samples were tested at the National Institute of Virology (NIV) Pune in Maharashtra state. Of the 49 samples tested so far, one has tested positive here.
