World Health Organisation convenes emergency meeting on coronavirus
The World Health Organisation will today convene a panel of experts to determine whether a viral outbreak in China constitutes an international public health emergency—a rare step taken only for serious epidemics like the Ebola and Zika outbreaks.
A new strain of coronavirus, which comes from the same family as SARS, has infected over 300 and killed at least 6 people as of January 21. The outbreak has been traced to the central Chinese city of Wuhan, with additional cases reported in Beijing and Shanghai, as well as abroad in Japan, Thailand, and South Korea.
Chinese authorities announced on January 20 that the new virus is transmittable between humans—14 medical workers reportedly caught the illness while treating patients.
Hundreds of millions of Chinese will travel domestically and abroad to celebrate the Lunar New Year in the coming days, the world’s largest annual human migration. This has raised fears that the virus may spread throughout the world’s most populous country and across borders.
If today’s meeting results in the declaration of an international public health emergency, it will enable the WHO to recommend measures like travel restrictions to be taken by China and other countries at risk. Anxiety over the outbreak has already unnerved stock markets, and analysts fear further spread could cause disruptions throughout the global economy.
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