WHO declares novel coronavirus outbreak a global health emergency!

World Health Organization (WHO) Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said Thursday that the novel coronavirus outbreak has become a Public Health Emergency of International Concern (PHEIC).

Speaking at a press conference after a closed-door meeting of the Emergency Committee, he stressed that the WHO disfavors or even opposes imposing travel or trade restrictions on China.

Under the International Health Regulations (IHR), the WHO director-general has the authority to determine that an outbreak constitutes a PHEIC when certain conditions are met. The designation is aimed at mobilizing more international resources to deal with the epidemic.

Since the IHR entered into force in 2007, the WHO has made multiple PHEIC declarations.

Ghebreyesus noted that Chinese President Xi Jinping personally commands and deploys the prevention and containment efforts.

“The speed with which China detected the outbreak, isolated the virus, sequenced the genome and shared it with WHO and the world are very impressive, and beyond words. So is China’s commitment to transparency and to supporting other countries,” he said.

“In many ways, China is actually setting a new standard for outbreak response,” he added.

That reflects not only China’s high sense of responsibility for the lives and health of its own people, but also its strong support for global disease prevention and control, he said.