$675 million appeal to stop coronavirus in its tracks, as deaths rise

(United Nations News) The head of the World Health Organization (WHO) appealed on Wednesday for $675 million to boost international measures to counter the new coronavirus epidemic, as deaths from the outbreak neared 500.

Speaking in Geneva, Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said that latest data indicated 24,363 confirmed infections in China and 490 deaths from the respiratory disease (2019-nCoV), which was declared on 31 December.

“In the last 24 hours, we had the most cases in a single day since the outbreak started (3925 new cases globally),” he said.

Noting the concern generated by the virus, Tedros added that “we must not forget how difficult it is for the people of Wuhan”, in reference to the city at the epicentre of the outbreak in central China.

Outside China, 191 cases have been reported in 24 countries and there has been one death in the Philippines, the WHO Director-General told journalists.

Of that number, 31 cases are people with no travel history to China, he explained, but all of them are close to contacts of confirmed cases, or to someone from the hotspot city of Wuhan, where the epidemic originated.

Read more at: United Nations News

Source: CARICOM TODAY