WHO emphasises preventive measures to check spread of covid-19

The World Health Organisation (WHO) has urged all countries to evolve more strategies to prevent the spread of Coronavirus (Covid-19).

Its Director-General, Dr Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, who made the appeal at a news conference in Geneva on Friday, said “no country should make the ‘fatal’ mistake of assuming that it would not be affected.”

He made the appeal after a new crop of countries confirmed that they had identified cases of infection for the first time.

He said it was the responsibility of all governments to ensure that they acted swiftly, noting that “virus does not respect borders.

“Whether we get it wrong or right is in our hands… every country must be ready for its first case, its first cluster, the first evidence of community transmission and dealing with sustained community transmission.

“These are four scenarios, and we must be preparing for all of those scenarios at the same time.

“No country should assume it would not get cases; that could be a fatal mistake, quite literally. This virus does not respect borders.”

Citing the latest Covid-19 data on Thursday, the director-general said China had confirmed 78,630 cases, including 2,747 deaths as at Thursday, Feb. 27, 2020.

Outside China, there were 3,474 cases in 44 countries and 54 deaths, Tedros added, highlighting that the number of new cases in the rest of the world had exceeded the number of cases in China lately. (NAN)