WHO warns no country should make the “fatal mistake” of assuming it will be spared the coronavirus
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No country should make the “fatal mistake” of assuming it will be spared the coronavirus, the World Health Organisation says, as governments from Iran to Australia raced to contain the epidemic’s rapid global spread.
With new infections reported around the world now surpassing those in mainland China, WHO director-general Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus says even rich nations should prepare for surprises.
“No country should assume it won’t get cases, that would be a fatal mistake, quite literally,” Tedros said on Thursday, pointing to Italy, where authorities said three more people had died, bringing the toll from Europe’s worst outbreak of the illness to 17.
As well as stockpiling medical supplies, governments ordered schools shut and cancelled big gatherings, including sports events, to try to halt spread of the flu-like disease that emerged in China more than two months ago from an illegal wildlife market.
It is on the decline in China itself after an aggressive containment campaign but rising elsewhere.
There is particular concern over a case in Japan in which a woman tested positive for the virus for a second time.
Second positive tests have also been reported in China and could imply contracting the disease does not confer immunity. Scientists warned that much remains unknown about the virus.
The head of the WHO’s emergency program, Dr Mike Ryan, said discussions were being held with organisers about the fate of the 2020 Olympics, scheduled for July in Tokyo, although no decision was expected soon.
