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The WHO declared international emergency for coronavirus: The World Health Organization has declared on Thursday a global alert for the new coronavirus. WHO has decreed that the virus constitutes a Public Health Emergency of International Concern (PHEIC).
According to the doctors, the decision means that WHO can recommend temporary measures to prevent or reduce the international spread of the disease. It also allows to avoid unnecessary interference in international traffic and mobilize healthcare resources.
It’s not Wuhan, it’s other countries that worry WHO
As explained by the Director-General of WHO, Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, the reason WHO has decided to declare the international alert is not what happens in China, but what happens in other countries.
“WHO remains confident in China’s ability to control the outbreak,” he said. The organization explains that “We do not know what kind of damage this virus could cause if it were spread in a country with a weaker health system. We must act now to help countries prepare for this possibility.”
Adhanom said on Wednesday that, “if there were several outbreaks of coronavirus, it would be chaos.” The general director, who traveled to China this week to learn the measures taken against the coronavirus first hand, has explained that efforts should continue to focus on fighting this virus in the epicenter of the outbreak, the city of Wuhan.
Tedros Adhanom has praised China’s action against the coronavirus and has made it possible for the government to agree that WHO sends health personnel from other countries to help control the epidemic.
The director general of WHO has also expressed concern about the transmission of the new coronavirus: “In recent days the progress of viruses in some countries, especially transmission from person to person, worries us.”
170 people dead and about 8,000 people infected
There have already been cases of contagion of people who had not traveled to China. For example in Germany, where four cases have been confirmed, all patients are from the same company.
There are already 15 countries where cases of infection have been detected, specifically 104 people infected by the virus out of China. So the international emergency for coronavirus seems right.
According to the estimates made by the European Commission from the data transferred by the member states, about 600 European citizens have communicated to be evacuated from China for the viral pneumonia outbreak.
There are flight suspensions in effect by major airlines
Some of the major airlines have suspended all flights to China with immediate effects due to the rapid expansion of the new coronavirus. The first to do so şs British Airways, and Lufthansa, Swiss Air, Austrian Airlines and Turkish Airlines has followed.
Intenational companies had to stop production at their factories
Due to the rapid expansion of the coronavirus, many international companies have decided to shut down their factories in China. Google, Ikea, Apple, and Samsung are among these companies.
