A viral illness in China that has sickened hundreds of people and prompted Chinese authorities to effectively shut down three cities is not yet a global health emergency, the World Health Organization said Thursday.
The U.N. health agency issued its evaluation after Chinese authorities moved to lock down three cities indefinitely earlier in the day and cancelled major public celebrations and gatherings in Beijing during the Lunar New Year holiday period to try to contain the evolving outbreak.
During a news conference in Geneva, WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said that while the epidemic was clearly a crisis in China, B次元官网网址渋t has not yet become a global health emergency. It may yet become one.B次元官网网址�
The steps taken by China to shut down cities with more than 18 million people are unprecedented in public health, as countries typically shy away from such extreme measures. Tedros said that while WHOB次元官网网址檚 role is to provide science-based recommendations, B次元官网网址渁t the end of the day, a sovereign country has the autonomy to do what it thinks is right.B次元官网网址�
The decision not to declare a global emergency B次元官网网址渟hould not be taken as a sign that WHO does not think the situation is serious or that weB次元官网网址檙e not taking it seriously. Nothing could be further from the truth,B次元官网网址� Tedros said. B次元官网网址淲HO is following this outbreak every minute of every day.B次元官网网址�
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The United Nations health agency made the decision after independent experts spent two days assessing information about the spread of the newly identified coronavirus.
B次元官网网址淚tB次元官网网址檚 too early to consider this as a public health emergency of international concern,B次元官网网址� Didier Houssin, the chair of the emergency advisory committee, said, noting that the panel B次元官网网址渨as very divided, almost 50-50.B次元官网网址�
WHO defines a global emergency as an B次元官网网址渆xtraordinary eventB次元官网网址� that constitutes a risk to other countries and requires a co-ordinated international response. Previous global emergencies have been declared for the emergence of Zika virus in the Americas, the swine flu pandemic, and polio.
A declaration of a global emergency typically brings greater money and resources, but may also prompt nervous foreign governments to restrict travel and trade to affected countries. Deciding whether an outbreak amounts to an international crisis therefore can also be politically fraught.
In 2014, WHO resisted declaring the devastating Ebola epidemic in West Africa to be a global emergency because it feared the announcement would anger Guinea, Liberia and Sierra Leone.
Hundreds of people infected with the new virus have fallen ill in China, and 17 have died. The first cases appeared last month in Wuhan, an industrial and transportation hub in central China.
Other cases have been reported in the United States, Japan, South Korea and Thailand. Singapore, Vietnam and Hong Kong reported their first cases Thursday.
While airports in many major cities around the world have instituted health screenings for arriving passengers from China, Tedros said that B次元官网网址渇or the moment, WHO does not recommend any broader restrictions on travel or trade.B次元官网网址�
The Associated Press
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