While in Wuhan, a death record has just been broken, the World Health Organization (WHO) has made its decision. The coronavirus outbreak has been declared a public health emergency of international concern. Repatriation of foreign nationals from China continues.
This January 31, 2020, the Hong Kong daily South China Morning Post delivered the latest figures on the epidemic. As of this writing, there are 9,816 confirmed cases of coronavirus 2019-nCov in the world for a total of 213 deaths. All of the deaths have been reported in China, so there are no deaths outside the country yet.
Hubei province – whose capital is Wuhan – broke a new record on January 30. Indeed, 42 additional deaths were reported on this single day, a first since the start of the epidemic. Nearly 2,000 additional cases have been confirmed in the same area, while 32,340 people are still under observation there. No fewer than 804 patients are in serious condition and 290 in critical condition . Elsewhere in the world, new countries have identified cases of Chinese coronavirus, namely the United Arab Emirates (4) and Finland (1).
On January 30, the World Health Organization (WHO) met in Geneva to decide on the scope of the epidemic and the decision was finally made. The WHO has now declared it a public health emergency of international concern.
“Our greatest concern is the possibility of the virus spreading to countries with weaker health systems (…). This is not a vote of no confidence in China,” said Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, Director General of the WHO according to a France 24 article.
In addition, the WHO says it opposes any travel restrictions to China. According to the organization, there is no reason to limit population movements and trade. Let's face it, this is a rather curious statement. However, the idea seems to be not to offend a China that many foreigners want to leave. Indeed, a dozen countries including France have begun a repatriation of their nationals.
The strongest decisions seem to have been made by the United States. The State Department has made the decision to put the Embassy and Consulates General on the starting status. All of that country's diplomatic personnel (and their families) located in Beijing, Shanghai, Chengdu and Guangzhou have been allowed to leave the country.
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