Category: Development

Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, the Director-General of the UN World Health Organization (WHO), updated journalists on Tuesday that at 6:00 am Geneva time, China had reported 72,528 cases, including 1,870 deaths.  And in the past 24 hours, China said it had 1,891 new cases, including both clinically- and lab-confirmed cases.  COVID-19 first appeared in December 2019, in the Chinese city of Wuhan, the epicentre of the outbreak.  Outside China  “Outside China, there are now 804 cases… Read More

As the number of coronavirus cases reportedly passed 60,000, WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus told foreign policy and security experts gathered for the Munich Security Conference that the UN agency was encouraged that there has not yet been widespread community transmission of the virus, now named COVID-19, outside of China.  WHO was also encouraged that “the global research community has… Read More

The Director-General of the World Health Organization (WHO), Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, told journalists via VTC from Kinshasha, Democratic Republic of the Congo, that countries globally are in “a better state of preparedness for COVID-19, the coronavirus, than they were just a week ago”. And WHO’s efforts to help countries boost their lab capacity continue. Health workers are the ‘glue’ It… Read More

“We’re not seeing a dramatic increase in transmission outside China,” Dr. Michael Ryan, the World Health Organization’s (WHO) Health Emergencies Programme chief, said, while urging against making hasty assessments. As of 4pm on Thursday in Geneva, there were 46,550 infections from COVID-19, the overwhelming majority in China, WHO reported. With 1,820 laboratory-confirmed cases and 1,369 deaths, all but two have… Read More

The World Health Organization (WHO) convened its Emergency Committee which reaffirmed that the risk remains high at the national and regional levels, but low globally.  “It was the unanimous view of the Committee that this event still constitutes a public health emergency of international concern (PHEIC)”, the UN agency said in a statement.  “The Committee was concerned that withdrawing the… Read More

Mr. Tedros was speaking at a press conference in Geneva, at the conclusion of a two-day research and innovation forum on COVID-19, during which leading health experts from around the world met to assess the current level of knowledge about the new disease, identify gaps and work together, so that critical research can begin immediately. These include decisions surrounding easy… Read More

“As of 6am Geneva time this morning, there were 42,708 confirmed cases reported in China and tragically we now have surpassed 1,000 deaths”, said Fadela Chaib, WHO spokesperson. “To be precise, it’s 1, 017 people in China who have lost their lives to this outbreak. Outside China, we have 393 cases in 24 countries with one death; the one death… Read More

After earlier describing cases of infection in people with no travel history to China as possibly the “tip of the iceberg”, the World Health Organization Director-General warned in Geneva that while the spread of the respiratory disease appeared to be slow, it could accelerate. “The detection of this small number of cases could be the spark that becomes a bigger… Read More

At a news conference in Geneva, WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus urged against stockpiling to ensure that healthworkers and those infected with the virus could still obtain them.  Today in my media briefing on #2019nCoV I shared our concerns about severe disruption in the market for protective gear used by health workers and sick people. Demand is up to 100… Read More

Dr Michael Ryan, head of the World Health Organization’s Health Emergencies Programme, was speaking in Geneva after confirmation that there are now 28,060 confirmed cases of infection in China and 564 deaths – with 225 cases in 24 other countries, where one death has been recorded, in the Philippines. “Although we are pleased that the numbers from today are the… Read More