The WHO early on Friday took the rare step of declaring the ongoing novel Coronavirus outbreak that originated in China but has spread to at least 17 countries as an international public health emergency (PHEIC).
The Geneva-based organisation did not recommend any travel or trade restrictions on China. The declaration was made as health officials in China said that the death toll from the outbreak has jumped to 213 across China with at least 42 new deaths reported from the most-affected central Chinese province of Hubei.
In Hubei alone, there are 5806 cases of the epidemic, provincial health officials said on Friday morning in the first update on the spreading virus. Earlier in Geneva, the WHO’s DG Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus declared the outbreak as a “Public Health Emergency of International Concern” (PHEIC) after a closed-door meeting of its emergency panel. It’s only the 6th time that the WHO has declared a PHEIC since the International Health Regulations (IHR) mechanism was set up in 2005.
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