Published 17:27 IST, February 27th 2020
Coronavirus will be under control by end of April: Chinese expert
A top Chinese health expert said on February 27 that he is confident that the deadly coronavirus outbreak will be basically under control at the end of April.
A top Chinese health expert said on February 27 that he is confident that the deadly coronavirus outbreak will be under control at the end of April. According to the reports, Zhong Nanshan, the director of China’s National Clinical Research Center for Respiratory Disease, spoke in a news conference on Thursday and said that he had so far reasonably accurately projected the course of the virus. He added that earlier they predicted the peak number of cases should be in mid or late February, but it was witnessed that the number of new cases began to plummet after February 15.
'Deeply concerning'
He also added that they predicted that the total number of infected cases would be 60-70 thousand, but now it is around 78-79 thousand in China. The Chinese expert revealed that his original global projections regarding the deadly outbreak needed to change as the cases outside China soared to the next level.
The World Health Organisation (WHO) has said on February 26 that there are more coronavirus cases outside China than those inside the country for the first time since it originated in Wuhan in late December. WHO director-general, Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said at a briefing in Geneva that the drastic increase in cases in Italy, Iran and Korea are “deeply concerning”. Since the cases linked to Iran have spread to Kuwait and Oman, and those linked to Italy have been tested positive in Algeria, Austria, Croatia, Germany, Spain, and Switzerland.
Ghebreyesus also updated that a day before, a joint team of WHO and the European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control had arrived in Rome to review the public health measures and to provide technical support. Moreover, WHO has also accused “too many affected countries” who are not sharing their data with the organisation. According to the official website, Ghebreyesus said that the United Nations health agency “cannot provide appropriate public health guidance without disaggregated data and detailed line lists.”
Updated 17:27 IST, February 27th 2020