WHO head says coronavirus outbreak at ‘decisive point’

The new coronavirus outbreak has reached a “decisive point,” the head of the World Health Organization (WHO) said on Thursday. 

“We are at a decisive point. For the past two days, the number of new cases reported in the rest of the world has exceeded the number of new cases in China,” said Tedros Adhanom said at a news conference at the WHO headquarters in Geneva.

“This virus has pandemic potential,” he added.

Earlier in the day, China reported a total of 78,630 cases of COVID-19 to WHO, including 2,747 deaths.

Outside China, there were 3,474 cases in 44 countries with 54 deaths.

In the preceding 24 hours, seven countries had reported cases for the first time: Brazil, Georgia, Greece, North Macedonia, Norway, Pakistan, and Romania.

“My message to each of these countries is: this is your window of opportunity,” Tedros, said adding, if they acted aggressively now, they can contain the virus.

“You can prevent people from getting sick. You can save lives. So my advice to these countries is to move swiftly,” the WHO head said.

The epidemics in Iran, Italy and South Korea demonstrated what the virus is capable of, Tedros said, adding: “But this virus is not influenza. With the right measures, it can be contained.”

He said the epidemic could hit any country and it knew no borders.