Coronavirus: 'Window of opportunity to stem virus narrowing', says WHO

WHO has warned that the window to curb the coronavirus outbreak is narrowing amid the soaring global confirmed cases of COVID19. The warning comes as fatalities outside China are on the spike with first European death recently confirmed, and four Iranians that died after contracting the novel coronavirus.

World Health Organization director-general, Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said, "we are still in a phase where containment is possible... our window of opportunity is narrowing." "That's why we called on the international community to act quickly, including the financing," while speaking in Geneva. He said that the outbreak could go in any direction. If nations did contain it well, they can avert any serious crisis, but if they squandered the opportunity, then countries will have a serious problem on their hands, he added.

According to the reports, Health authorities in Iran confirmed that 18 of its citizens tested positive to Wuhan virus. It further warned that the novel coronavirus had spread to multiple cities, and in fact, across the entire Middle East as Lebanon and Israel declared first domestic cases of coronavirus.

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In Italy, 10 towns on lockdown

As authorities scramble to investigate the source of the outbreak, it remains clear that none of the diagnosed patients had either travelled to China or had been in contact with a Chinese national, confirmed reports. The outbreak in Iran reportedly began in the city of Qom. Health ministry official Minou Mohrez told the media that the virus spread to several cities including the capital, Tehran and the cases couldn’t be traced to have any connection with China.

Similarly, in Italy, more than 50,000 people have been issued restraint orders to stay indoors. All public activities have been banned by the government for up to a week to stem the spread of coronavirus, confirmed reports. As of Friday, Italy reported zero cases of coronavirus during the day's start. By the end of the day, Italy detected 16 confirmed cases of coronavirus including the 5 health professionals, said reports.

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(With inputs from PTI)