The World Health Organisation (WHO) has warned that the increasing signs of transmission of COVID-19 outside China indicates a narrowing of the window of opportunity to contain the virus outbreak globally.
WHO Director-General, Dr Tedros Ghebreyesus, who made this known on Saturday during the Emergency Ministerial meeting on COVID-19 organised by the African Union and the Africa Centres for Disease Control and Prevention urged all countries to invest urgently in preparedness.
Ghebreyesus stressed the need to take advantage of the window of opportunity available to attack the virus outbreak with a sense of urgency
According to him, the total number of cases outside China remains relatively small.
He, however, expressed concern about the number of cases with no clear epidemiological link, such as travel history to China or contact with a confirmed case.
“China has now reported 75,569 cases, including 2,239 deaths, saying that data from China continues to show a decline in new cases.
“This is welcome news, but it must be interpreted very cautiously. It is far too early to make predictions about this outbreak.
“Outside China, there are now 1,200 cases in 26 countries, with eight deaths. As you know, there is one confirmed case on the African continent in Egypt.
“Several African countries have tested suspected cases of COVID-19, but fortunately they have been found negative.
“We are especially concerned about the increase in cases in the Islamic Republic of Iran, where there are now 18 cases and four deaths in just the past two days,” NAN quoted him as saying.
