The World Health Organization (WHO) on Saturday said the coronavirus outbreak in China is a sign that every country needs to be ready to timely detect and manage outbreaks of any type, report agencies.
A number of Asian nations and countries from four continents have reported the virus. There has been no confirmed case in Bangladesh, yet. France officially notified the WHO Regional Office for Europe of three confirmed cases on Friday. All of them had travelled from Wuhan, the epicentre of the virus.
In a statement, WHO underscored that timely action is fundamental for early containment and noted that the first confirmed cases of coronavirus in Europe were not unexpected. It said the global nature of travels means that no country is exempted from infectious disease spread. “This also means that no country can afford postponing the establishment of all necessary measures to protect their people,” the UN health agency said.
So far, 1,975 confirmed cases and 56 deaths have been reported, according to AP. Small numbers of cases have been found in Thailand, Japan, South Korea, the US, Vietnam, Singapore, Malaysia, Nepal, France and Australia. Canada said it discovered its first case. WHO said it is working together with Chinese authorities and doing everything it can to investigate the outbreak.
At a time of uncertainty about how the virus originated and behaves, the health agency said it is even more critical that everyone acts as one. “We need to move as one region, as one world in scaling up our ability to prepare and respond together,” it said. “The time is now to make ourselves ready.”