The World Health Organisation (WHO) has declared a public health emergency of internationconcern following the spread of the Wuhan coronavirus – describing the event as an “unprecedented outbreak that has been met with an unprecedented response”.
The announcement by the medical arm of the UN frees up additional finances to respond to the healthcare crisis, with officials citing the risk of the virus reaching a country with an underdeveloped healthcare system as the reason for the move.
The body has faced criticism after holding off on the decision to announce an official international crisis – however in a hastily arranged Thursday session of the body’s emergency committee officials were almost unanimously in favour of making the declaration.
The WHO’s director general Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, who visited China to consider the state’s response to the spread of the disease from the Hubei province while meeting with president , said the nation “must be congratulated”.
“We would have seen many more cases outside China by now – and probably deaths – if it were not for the government’s efforts and the progress they have made to protect their own people and the people of the world”.
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