WHO Warns ‘Coronavirus Very Real Threat to Become Pandemic’

By Staff, Agencies

The World Health Organization [WHO] issued a grave warning against the China-generated new coronavirus outbreak, stressing that there is a "very real" threat that the flu-like pathogen would become a pandemic.

"Now that the virus has a foothold in so many countries, the threat of a pandemic has become very real," Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, WHO director-general, told a news conference in Geneva on Monday.

"But it would be the first pandemic that could be controlled. The bottom line is we are not at the mercy of the virus. Whether it is pandemic or not, the rule of the game is the same: never give up," Tedros added.

He also censured those who might suggest simply letting the virus run its course, stressing that the outbreak is "very fatal" for the elderly and weak, in particular.

The novel coronavirus, which first emerged in the city of Wuhan in Hubei, has claimed the lives of more than 3,800 people so far, and infected over 108,000 in at least 95 countries, the majority in mainland China.

According to China’s National Health Commission, 40 new cases were recorded on Sunday, down from 44 a day earlier, the lowest since Beijing first began to release data on January 20.