WHO calls for emergency meeting as mystery Coronavirus continues to spread

The World Health Organisation (WHO) has announced on January 20 that it will assemble an emergency committee on the new coronavirus (2019-nCoV) discovered in China under the International Health Regulations. The meeting will be headed by Director-General of WHO, Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus and the members will meet on January 22 to decide whether the outbreak constitutes a public health emergency of international concern, along with discussing the recommendations to manage the spread of the virus.  

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This announcement by WHO comes in the wake of China confirming at least 200 patients of the coronavirus and four deaths due to the infection. The novel SARS-like virus has reportedly spread across China along with three other countries in Asia with confirmed cases in Japan, South Korea, and Thailand.

Chinese President Xi Jinping said on January 20 that it is extremely crucial to take every step to measure and combat the new virus. Xi's remarks were aired by state broadcaster on the same day country reported a hike in the number of patients. Furthermore, the unprecedented outbreak in China has reportedly come as the country enters its busiest travel period around Lunar New Year holidays. 

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The mystery strain

It was WHO which confirmed the first case of a novel coronavirus outside China, which has the same family as the deadly SARS virus. The UN health agency had said that the person travelling from Wuhan, China was hospitalised in Thailand and is recovering from the illness. According to the organisation, novel coronavirus is a new strain in the large family of coronaviruses (CoV) which was not identified in humans before.

CoV can cause illnesses ranging from the common cold to more severe diseases such as Middle East Respiratory Syndrome (MERS-CoV) and Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome (SARS-CoV). CoV is zoonotic which means such viruses transmit between animals and humans. 

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(With inputs from Agencies)