Coronavirus Outbreak: WHO South-East Asia Urges Countries To Stay Vigilant And Prepared
The World Health Organization South-East Asia has urged countries in the Region to remain vigilant against the outbreak of novel Corona Virus (nCoV) and strengthen readiness to rapidly detect any case of nCoV to prevent its spread.
Two countries, in the WHO South-East Asia Region i.e. Thailand and Nepal, have reported confirmed cases of the new coronavirus.
Three individuals have been admitted to Ram Manohar Lohia Hospital in Delhi being suspected for Novel Corona Virus (nCoV) once they started complaining of respiratory problems after returning from China.
“It is time to focus all efforts on readiness guided by whatever is known about the new coronavirus,” said Dr Poonam Khetrapal Singh, Regional Director, WHO South-East Asia Region.
The total number of confirmed cases of the nCoV 2019 reported from mainland China to date is 4,515. This includes 976 severe cases and 106 people who have died. There have been 1,771 new cases and 26 deaths, including two in Beijing and Hainan in the past 24 hours and 44,132 close contacts are under medical surveillance.
The Regional Director has been in contact with the Ministers of Health since the onset of the outbreak. Last week, Dr. Khetrapal Singh also took stock of the preparedness and support being extended by WHO to countries.
WHO Keeping A Close Watch On The Coronavirus Outbreak:
Globally, WHO continues to work with networks of researchers and other experts to coordinate global work on surveillance, epidemiology, modelling, diagnostics, clinical care and treatment, and other ways to identify, manage the disease and limit onward transmission.
Though the new coronavirus outbreak being called novel coronavirus-2019 was not declared a public health emergency of international concern (PHEIC) by the Emergency Committee of the International Health Regulation which met last week, its risk was assessed to be ‘high’.
WHO is keeping a close watch on the evolving situation and remains committed to work with member countries to scale up readiness and implement IHR core capacities to respond to any importation, Dr Khetrapal Singh said, emphasizing that “We should continue to be vigilant and ready to contain and prevent any further spread.”
