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Published 15:09 IST, February 22nd 2020

Tedros: still a chance to contain coronavirus outbreak

The head of the World Health Organisation (WHO)  said on Friday there was a "fighting chance" of containing the virus that's spread from China, but the crisis could get worse.

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The head of the World Health Organisation (WHO)  said on Friday there was a "fighting chance" of containing the virus that's spread from China, but the crisis could get worse.

"Although the window of opportunity is narrowing to contain the outbreak, we still have a chance to contain it," WHO director general Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus told reporters in Geneva.

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But he added: "We have to prepare at the same time for any eventualities, because this outbreak could go any direction – it could even be messy."

His comments came after South Korea announced a sharp rise in new cases.

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Dr. Sylvie Briand, who heads global infectious hazard preparedness at WHO, cautioned that fatigue among overworked or understaffed healthcare workers also increases the risk of hospital-based infection, because in such cases, infection prevention and control measures tend to lag.

 

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15:09 IST, February 22nd 2020