Starting with the latest numbers in coronavirus outbreak, Ghebreyesus sadi: "As of 6am Geneva time this morning, China has reported a total of 77,362 cases of COVID-19 to WHO, including 2618 deaths. In the past 24 hours, China has reported 416 new confirmed cases, and 150 deaths."

"We’re encouraged by the continued decline in cases in China," he added.

He noted that the WHO-China joint mission concluded its visit and delivered its report.

"As you know, the team has traveled to several different provinces, including Wuhan.The team has made a range of findings about the transmissibility of the virus, the severity of disease and the impact of the measures taken," he remarked.

He went to say :"They found that the epidemic peaked and plateaued between the 23rd of January and the 2nd of February, and has been declining steadily since then. They have found that there has been no significant change in the DNA of the virus. They found that the fatality rate is between 2% and 4% in Wuhan, and 0.7% outside Wuhan. They found that for people with mild disease, recovery time is about two weeks, while people with severe or critical disease recover within three to six weeks. The team also estimate that the measures taken in China have averted a significant number of cases. The report contains a wealth of other information, highlights questions for which we still don’t have answers, and includes 22 recommendations."

He also announced that Dr Bruce Aylward would give more detail tomorrow on behalf of the joint team.

"But the key message that should give all countries hope, courage and confidence is that this virus can be contained. Indeed, there are many countries that have done exactly that," he said, giving the good news.

"Outside China, there are now 2074 cases in 28 countries, and 23 deaths," he elaborated.

He said: "The sudden increases of cases in Italy, the Islamic Republic of Iran and the Republic of Korea are deeply concerning. There is a lot of speculation about whether these increases mean that this epidemic has now become a pandemic. We understand why people ask that question."

He reminded that WHO has already declared a public health emergency of international concern – our highest level of alarm – when there were less than 100 cases outside China, and 8 cases of human-to-human transmission.

"Our decision about whether to use the word “pandemic” to describe an epidemic is based on an ongoing assessment of the geographical spread of the virus, the severity of disease it causes and the impact it has on the whole of society. For the moment, we are not witnessing the uncontained global spread of this virus, and we are not witnessing large-scale severe disease or death. Does this virus have pandemic potential? Absolutely, it has. Are we there yet? From our assessment, not yet. So how should we describe the current situation? What we see are epidemics in different parts of the world, affecting countries in different ways and requiring a tailored response," he stated.

ILKHA