WHO: Will not increase in global risk level of outbreak

Chinese health authority Tuesday said it received reports of 1,886 new confirmed cases of novel coronavirus infection and 98 deaths on Monday from 31 provincial-level regions and the Xinjiang Production and Construction Corps.

Among the deaths, 93 were in Hubei province, three in Henan, and one in Hebei and Hunan respectively, according to the National Health Commission.

Monday saw 1,701 people walk out of hospital after recovery.

A total of 12,552 patients infected with the novel coronavirus had been discharged from hospital after recovery by the end of Monday.

By the end of Monday, a total of 1,868 people had died of the disease and 72,436 confirmed cases of novel coronavirus infection had been reported in 31 provincial-level regions and the Xinjiang Production and Construction Corps in China.

In the latest guideline over the diagnosis and treatment of the virus issued on Feb 5, the top health authorities said plasma of recovering patients could be employed to fight the disease.Seven patients are receiving treatment using the therapy at Jiangxia First People’s Hospital, in Wuhan’s Jiangxia district, Liu Bende, vice-president of the hospital, said.

Twelve to 24 hours after the therapy, patients have seen a decline in indicators of inflammation and a hike in lymphocytes, among other favorable turns.

“Of the patients, those in serious condition have not deteriorated so far, while those in a milder condition have showed improvement,” he said. “In general, we have not seen serious side effects or complications due to the therapy.”

On the 17th, WHO held a press conference in Geneva to introduce the latest situation of the new crown pneumonia epidemic.

At the meeting, WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesu said that according to the data released by China on new coronary pneumonia cases, the number of new cases of new coronary pneumonia is declining.

“As more data comes in from China, we are starting to get a clearer picture of the outbreak. How it’s developing and where it could be headed,” said WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus.

The WHO chief said that COVID-19 does not appear as deadly compared with other coronavirus including SARS and MERS.

A reporter asked whether WHO would raise the global risk level of the epidemic and whether it could be called a “pandemic”.

In this regard, the WHO stated that new coronary pneumonia is not a pandemic and will not increase the global risk level of the epidemic.

Michael J. Ryan, the head of the WHO health emergency program, responded to reporters:

I think we need to be extremely cautious in using the term pandemic.

The real issue here is whether we’re seeing efficient community transmission outside China, and at present we’re not observing that.

Therefore I think we have to be very careful not to drive fear in the world right now and be very cautious in using the word you have used.

Tedros said a WHO international team of experts is now on the ground in China working with Chinese counterparts to better understand the outbreak.

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