World Health Organization (WHO) Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said on Friday that the declaration by the organization of the global health emergency over the coronavirus outbreak on January 30 was timely
MOSCOW (Pakistan Point News / Sputnik - 01st May, 2020) World Health Organization (WHO) Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said on Friday that the declaration by the organization of the global health emergency over the coronavirus outbreak on January 30 was timely.
The WHO declared the highest level of health emergency when there were less than 100 coronavirus cases outside China, which was the hardest-hit country at that time. During a media briefing on the COVID-19 situation, the WHO director-general was asked whether the organization regretted that it did not declare a global health emergency during the Emergency Committee meetings on January 21 and 23 and whether the decision would be different if the committee had to make it again.
"And I repeat that January 30 was a timely declaration of the highest level of global emergency based on the International Health Regulations, which is WHO's mandate," Tedros said.
On March 11, the WHO declared the coronavirus outbreak a pandemic.
To date, more than 3,200,000 coronavirus cases and over 230,000 related deaths have been recorded globally, according to the statistics collected by Johns Hopkins University.
