Beijing, Visiting WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus on Tuesday said that the global health body was confident in China’s epidemic prevention and control ability, amid the novel coronavirus outbreak that has claimed the lives of 106 people in the country.
Ghebreyesus made the remarks while meeting Chinese State Councillor and Foreign Minister Wang Yi here, reports Xinhua news agency.
He said the World Health Organization and the international community lauded the decisive measures the Chinese government has taken.
The WHO does not recommend the evacuation of nationals, and called on the international community to remain calm and not overreact, Ghebreyesus noted.
After the outbreak, China identified the pathogens in record time, shared the genetic sequence of the novel coronavirus with the WHO and other countries, and carried out a series of effective measures to curb the spread of the novel coronavirus, he said.
He said the WHO was willing to provide all necessary help.
On January 23, an Emergency Committee set up by the WHO over the virus which originated in the Chinese city of Wuhan, had concluded that the outbreak did not constitute a Public Health Emergency of International Concern (PHEIC).
As of Tuesday, there were at least 106 fatalities due to the coronavirus in China, with 4,515 confirmed cases in 30 provincial-level regions, according to the country’s National Health Commission.
At the moment, Tibet remains the only Chinese province that has not registered any cases.
Meanwhile, Thailand on Tuesday reported another six cases of coronavirus, taking the total to 14 – the highest number of infections outside China, Efe news reported.
On Monday night, respective health authorities reported first cases in Germany (a man from Starnberg in the state of Bavaria, who is said to be in good condition), Cambodia (a 60-year-old Chinese man who travelled from Wuhan to Sihanoukville who is in “normal” condition) and Sri Lanka (a 43-year-old female Chinese tourist from Hubei).
Other countries with confirmed cases include Australia, Singapore, United States, Japan, Malaysia, South Korea, France, Vietnam, Canada, Ivory Coast and Nepal.
There are also several cases in Taiwan, although Chinese authorities consider Taiwan a province of China and therefore include it in the national count.
No deaths have been reported outside of China.
