BEIJING: An airplane of Japanese left from the Chinese virus-hit city of Wuhan arrived in Tokyo on Thursday as the total number of reported deaths from the country’s newly identified disease rose by 132 to 170.
Chinese health officials said that as of the end of Wednesday there were 7,711 confirmed cases of infection, mostly in Hubei province, where the death toll increased by 132 to 170. Outbreak have been reported in at least 15 other countries, and in every province and district of mainland China, with the emergence of the first case in Tibet.
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The Emergency Committee of the World Health Organization (WHO) is expected to reconvene in Geneva later on Thursday behind closed doors to determine whether the accelerated spread of the virus is now a worldwide emergency.
Earlier on Thursday, the World Health Organization (WHO) called a meeting of its emergency committee to decide whether the outbreak of the new coronavirus constitutes an international public health crisis.
“Preventing the spread of this epidemic both in China and internationally is the highest priority of the WHO,” WHO Director-General Dr Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said while delivering an online Geneva news conference, “We monitor the situation every single moment of the day,” he added.
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The advisory committee will also make suggestions on how to handle the crisis, Due to the seriousness of the situation, arrangements have been made for journalists from various world capitals to participate in the press conference.
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