The World Health Organisation (WHO) has declared the new coronavirus a ‘global emergency’, as the outbreak continues to spread beyond China.
Said WHO chief Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus: ‘The main reason for this declaration is not what is happening in China but what is happening in other countries.’
WHO’s main concern, according to a BBC report, was the spread of the virus to countries with weaker health systems.
At least 213 people in China have died from the virus, mostly in Hubei, and there are almost 10 000 cases nationally.
The number affected has surpassed the worldwide total of the deadly Sars virus of 2003, which infected 8 100 people and caused 774 deaths.
Yesterday, Health Minister Zweli Mkhize said South Africa was on ‘high alert’, but that there were no confirmed cases of coronavirus in the country. News24 reported his saying that 55 international travellers were screened at points of entry into South Africa and were found to have a fever. None tested positive for the coronavirus, however.
According to the BBC, WHO officials say there have been 98 cases in 18 other countries, but no deaths. Most international cases involve people who had been to the city of Wuhan in Hubei. In eight cases –in Germany, Japan, Vietnam and the United States – patients were infected by people who had travelled to China.