Dubai – Masaader News
China put millions of people on lockdown amid an outbreak that has killed 18 people and infected more than 630, according to Reuters.
Health officials fear the transmission rate could accelerate as hundreds of millions of Chinese travel at home and abroad during week-long holidays for the Lunar New Year, which begins on Saturday.
“It is a bit too early to consider that this is a public health emergency of international concern,” WHO chief Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said in Geneva, adding that the organization’s Emergency Committee of 16 independent experts had been divided in its conclusion.
“Make no mistake, though, this is an emergency in China. But it has not yet become a global health emergency. It may yet become one.”
He said China had taken measures which WHO believes are appropriate.
“We hope they will be both effective and short in their duration… For the moment, the WHO does not recommend any broader restrictions on travel or trade.”