WHO: Coronavirus May Turn into Pandemic Soon

Director-General of the World Health Organization (WHO) Dr. Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, said that the risk of the  Coronavirus which may turn into a pandemic is already threatening the whole planet.

It becomes a very real danger after its spread in many countries, but that control is still possible across the globe.

Ghebreyesus stressed that 70% of people infected with Coronavirus in China have recovered.

Ghebreyesus pointed out that the strategy that must be followed to stop the spread of that deadly virus bases on containing it virus and mitigate its destructive effects at the same time.

He also stressed that the organization monitors encouraging signs that Italy is taking strict measures to contain the virus.

He expresses his hope that these measures will be effective in the coming days.

Even as the number of new coronavirus infections continues to spiral upward in countries around the world, a top global health expert says it's not too late to contain the virus.

"As long as you have these discrete outbreaks ... there is the opportunity to control them — to get on top of these and contain them and prevent a lot of diseases and ultimately death," said Dr. Bruce Aylward, a senior adviser to the director-general of the WHO.

"That is the big message as we saw in China is and one of the big surprises."

Aylward led a fact-finding trip to China in February on behalf of the World Health Organization. He said the experience there altered his view of what can be done.

"They actually changed the course of a respiratory-borne outbreak without a vaccine, which was extraordinary," Aylward added.

The number of daily new cases in China went from around 2,000 just a few weeks ago to less than 100 in recent days.

But he said other countries may be taking the wrong lesson from China by attributing its success to the government's unprecedented restrictions on daily life in several cities, most famously Wuhan, the city of 11 million people where the outbreak began. There, the government has suspended transportation out of the city and for the most part required people to remain in their homes — with only brief forays permitted to stock up on food and other supplies.

On the other hand, the organization urges the inflicted countries to suspend schools and universities to reduce the possibilities of infections with the Coronavirus.