WHO raises Coronavirus global threat level to its highest status

As the number of cases and affected countries continued to climb, the World Health Organization raised the global threat level to its highest status. Stocks on Wall Street fell in early trading for the seventh straight day, the New York Times reports.

Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, the director general of the World Health Organization, said on Friday that there was still no evidence that the virus was spreading freely outside a few specific areas. If that remains the case, he said, then there is a chance to get ahead of the virus.

“The key to containing this virus is to break the chain of transmission,” he said.