WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus (Xinhua photo)
MANILA -- The World Health Organization has expressed concern about 2019 novel coronavirus acute respiratory disease (2019 n-CoV ARD) cases recorded in Europe transmitted by persons without travel history to China.
WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said the cases in France and the UK were reported on Friday and Monday, respectively.
"The detection of this small number of cases could be the spark that becomes a bigger fire. But for now, it’s only a spark and our objective remains containment," Ghebreyesus said in a media briefing at the WHO headquarters in Geneva. "We call on all countries to use the window of opportunity we have to prevent a bigger fire."
As of 6 a.m. Monday (Geneva time), there were 40,235 confirmed cases in China and 909 deaths. Outside China, there are 319 cases in 24 countries, with one death.
Health officials said the 2019 n-CoV ARD is capable of spreading through human-to-human contact and droplets carried through sneezing and coughing, and germs left on inanimate objects.
Its symptoms include runny nose, sore throat, and fever.
To identify how far and wide the 2019-nCoV has spread, the WHO started equipping laboratories with the capacity to rapidly diagnose cases.
"Without vital diagnostic capacity, countries are in the dark as to who has coronavirus or another disease with similar symptoms. We have now identified 168 labs around the world with the right technology to diagnose coronavirus," Ghebreyesus said.
He added that test kits have been sent to Cameroon, Cote d’Ivoire, DRC, Egypt, Ethiopia, Gabon, Ghana, Iran, Kenya, Morocco, Nigeria, Tunisia, Uganda, and Zambia.
"Many of those countries have already started using them. Another shipment of 150,000 tests is being assembled in Berlin today (February 10), and is destined for more than 80 labs in all regions," he said.
The African Center for Disease Control and Prevention conducted training on the diagnosis of the 2019-nCoV in Senegal using the test kits sent by the WHO.
Representatives from 12 countries attended the training.
"Further training will take place in South Africa next week. WHO will continue working with all countries to prevent and detect rapidly new cases of coronavirus, and to save lives," Ghebreyesus said. (PNA)
