The World Health Organization (WHO) has declared the ongoing coronavirus outbreak a public health emergency of international concern.
The WHO made the announcement to declare the coronavirus outbreak an international public health emergency after an emergency committee reconvened on Thursday in Geneva.
The organization said last week that it did not yet constitute the emergency declaration. The WHO has asked China to provide more information on the preventive measures it’s taking and to "enhance surveillance and active case finding across China, particularly during the Chinese New Year celebration."
However, the increasing number of cases and evidence of person-to-person transmission in a several cases outside of China has prompted the WHO to reconvene the committee over concerns of a larger outbreak in the near future.
WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said: "The main reason for this declaration is not because of what is happening in China, but because of what is happening in other countries."
"Our greatest concern is the potential for the virus to spread to countries with weaker health systems, and which are ill-prepared to deal with it," he pointed out.
WHO defines a public health emergency of international concern as "an extraordinary event" that constitutes a "public health risk to other States through the international spread of disease" and "to potentially require a coordinated international response."
Committee chairman Dr. Didier Houssin said the decision to recommend the declaration to WHO leadership was almost unanimous due to the growing number of cases in China, an increase in the number of countries impacted, and that "some countries have taken questionable measures concerning travelers."
Houssin emphasized that the declaration will allow WHO to better coordinate the international response and hold nations to account if they overstep the organization's standards regarding travel, trade, quarantine or screening.
Ghebreyesus assured: "Let me be clear: This declaration is not a vote of no confidence in China. On the contrary, WHO continues to have confidence in China's capacity to control the outbreak."
