WHO says coronavirus has ‘unique’ features and the world is in ‘uncharted territory’

The coronavirus has “unique” features that are placing the world into “uncharted territory”, the World Health Organisation says.

The coronavirus COVID-19 has “unique” features that are very different to influenza and can still be contained, the World Health Organisation says.

“We are in uncharted territory,” WHO director-general Dr Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus told reporters in a briefing on Monday (local time).

Dr Tedros said the number of cases of the coronavirus in China continued to decline but in the previous 24 hours, there were almost nine times more cases reported outside China than inside China.

“The epidemics in the Republic of Korea, Italy, Iran and Japan are our greatest concern,” he said.

Korea has now reported more than 4200 cases and 22 deaths, meaning it has more than half of all cases outside China but these cases appear to be from five known clusters rather than the community.

“That’s important because it indicates that surveillance measures are working and Korea’s epidemic can still be contained,” Dr Tedros said.

“Korea’s situation also underlines that this a unique virus with unique features. This virus is not influenza.

“We have never before seen a respiratory pathogen that is capable of community transmission, but which can also be contained with the right measures.”

Dr Tedros said the containment of COVID-19 was feasible and must remain a top priority for all countries.

“If this was an influenza epidemic, we would have expected to see widespread community transmission across the globe by now, and efforts to slow it down or contain it would not be feasible,” he said.

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“With early, aggressive measures, countries can stop transmission and save lives.”

Despite some countries appearing to move quietly to a “mitigation” phase, Dr Tedros said WHO believed all countries should start from a “containment” strategy as results showed it had worked even in places like China where there had been many cases.

He said around eight countries had not reported new cases in the last two weeks, and 38 countries had 10 cases or less.

“We appreciate that people are debating whether this is a pandemic or not. We are monitoring the situation every moment of every day, and analysing the data,” he said.

“I have said it before and I’ll say it again: WHO will not hesitate to describe this as a pandemic if that’s what the evidence suggests.”

Dr Tedros said the outbreak needed to be seen in perspective and that 90 per cent of the cases reported so far were in China, mostly in one province.

Of the cases outside China, 81 per cent were from four countries.

“More than 130 countries have not detected any cases yet,” he said.

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A paramedic checks the temperature of a government official before a meeting with Thailand Prime Minister Prayut Chan-O-Cha at the Government House in Bangkok. Picture: Royal Thai Government/AFP

The number of reported cases in China on Sunday had been the lowest since January 22, with only eight cases outside Hubei province.

“Outside China, a total of 8739 cases of COVID-19 have been reported to WHO from 61 countries, with 127 deaths,” Dr Tedros said.

Dr Tedros said a WHO team has also arrived in Iran to deliver supplies and support the government.

“Our message to all countries is: this is not a one-way street. We can push this virus back,” he said.

“Your actions now will determine the course of the outbreak in your country.

“There’s no choice but to act now.”