<![CDATA[Coronavirus: WHO head warns 'time is of the essence' in limiting disease's global spread]>
The World Health Organisation warned Tuesday that the opportunity to limit the international spread of the coronavirus outbreak is fading, and that if the disease isn't contained it could wreak global havoc.
Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, director general at the World Health Organisation (WHO), said that the virus "is more powerful in bringing serious consequences than any terrorist attack [can accomplish]".
"It's not just the health issue, it's a matter of economic, political and social upheavals."
"I remind and will continue to remind the world to take [the outbreak] really seriously. We are asking countries to be as aggressive as possible," said Tedros. "Time is of the essence."
During the briefing on Tuesday in Geneva, Switzerland, WHO officially dubbed the virus Covid-19 " for coronavirus disease of 2019 " in an effort to create a common title that did not refer to a geographic location or a specific animal.
"Having a name prevents other names that could be used for stigmatisation," Tedros said.
The WHO's warnings came after the coronavirus claimed its highest number of lives within a 24-hour period, with China reporting 108 deaths on Monday.
Since the disease emerged in late December, more than 42,000 confirmed cases and over 1,000 deaths have been reported in China. Outside China, there have been 476 confirmed cases and two deaths.
The deadly virus, which originated in Wuhan, the capital of China's Hubei province, has led numerous countries to close borders and suspend travel with China in fears of the infection.
The Trump administration announced on January 31 a ban on any non-US citizen who had recently visited China from entering the US.
Major airlines around the world have suspended routes to China, Hong Kong and Macau. Last week, Royal Caribbean Cruises and Norwegian Cruise Line said they would temporarily bar any passengers holding passports from China, Hong Kong and Macau from boarding their cruise ships regardless of when they had last been in China.
Tedros also stressed that the WHO, the United Nations' health agency, was continuing with its containment strategy toward the virus.
He praised China's government for locking down Wuhan, a city of 11 million that is a transit hub in central China, to reduce migration from there to other parts of the country and the world.
In doing so, he said, Beijing had created a "window of opportunity" for the world to limit the spread of the outbreak.
But, Tedros urged, "let's be serious about using the window" because "I don't think the window will stay long".
He did not offer an estimate of what he imagined the time frame to be.
Tedros's cries of alarm come after the WHO first declined to declare Covid-19 a global public health emergency in mid-January, only to reverse itself on January 30, citing the contagion's potential to spread to countries not prepared to deal with it.
On Tuesday and Wednesday, the WHO is hosting a forum of 400 scientists globally, both in person and online, to discuss how to work better together to combat the disease. The latest development is that the first vaccine could be ready in 18 months, Tedros said.
Michael Ryan, the WHO's head of emergency programmes, said on Tuesday that Covid-19 had the potential to spread faster than either the Ebola or Sars viruses. Earlier this week, Covid-19 exceeded the Sars outbreak of 2002-03 in terms of deaths attributed to it.
"We have the unknowns about the ways of transmission and about the mild cases," Ryan said.
The latest report by the US Centres of Disease Control and Prevention said that still "much is unknown about how [the virus] spreads".
Transmission methods have been shown to include human-to-human contact. The incubation period is believed to be up to 14 days.
In recent days, epidemiologists have said that the contagion may also spread through "aerosol transmission" " when tiny particles or droplets of the virus suspended in the air are inhaled.
Others indicated that transmissions are possible from patients who show mild or no symptoms.
WHO officials said that the agency had also activated a UN crisis management team to better assess and mitigate the outbreak's economic implications.
In the long term, the WHO needs to focus on prevention, the officials said. Last week, the agency issued a call for US$675 million to support preparedness and response operations around the world from February through April 2020.
"The world is getting smaller and smaller. Whatever happens in the weakest link [of the world's health care system] will affect all of us," said Tedros.
"If the world doesn't want to wake up to fight this as our No 1 enemy, I don't think we will learn the lesson," he added. "Time is ticking."
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This article originally appeared on the South China Morning Post (SCMP).
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