Coronavirus: New cases reported outside China have exceeded those inside, WHO data shows
New coronavirus infections outside China have outpaced those inside the country for the first time this week, according to figures released by the World Health Organization (WHO) on February 26.
There were 412 new infections and 52 new deaths in China on February 25, the WHO situation report on February 26 revealed. However, outside China, the number of new people infected across 37 countries was 459, while there were nine new deaths.
“Yesterday (January 25), the number of new cases reported outside China exceeded the number of new cases in China for the first time,” said WHO Director-General Dr. Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus.
On February 27, China reported 433 new cases along with 29 additional deaths on the mainland. These updates bring the country's totals to 78,497 cases and 2,744 deaths.
Globally, an estimated 2,800 people have died from COVID-19 and 82,163 have been sickened by it. Antarctica now is the only continent to not have a case.
The virus has emerged strongly in Italy, Iran and South Korea, sparking panic and concerns. And the numbers have continued to surge on February 27, too. South Korea, for example, has reported 334 more cases (up from 115 on February 26), bringing its total to 1,595. Most of the new cases are in the country's fourth-biggest city, Daegu, where the outbreak has hit hardest.
The global figures released on February 27 also show that the total number of infections in Italy now stands at 453 (up from 322 reported on February 26), while Iran now has 139 infected people (up from 95 on February 26).
“The sudden increases of cases in Italy, the Islamic Republic of Iran and the Republic of Korea are deeply concerning. There are now cases linked to Iran in Bahrain, Iraq, Kuwait and Oman. There are now cases linked to Italy in Algeria, Austria, Croatia, Germany, Spain and Switzerland,” said Dr. Ghebreyesus.
However, the WHO chief defended the organization’s decision to not call the COVID-19 outbreak a pandemic yet. Dr. Ghebreyesus said that the WHO is not downplaying the seriousness of the situation, or the potential for this to become a pandemic, “because it has that potential”.
“We should not be too eager to declare a pandemic without a careful and clear-minded analysis of the facts. Using the word pandemic carelessly has no tangible benefit, but it does have a significant risk in terms of amplifying unnecessary and unjustified fear and stigma and paralyzing systems,” said Dr. Ghebreyesus.
“Of course, we will not hesitate to use the word pandemic if it is an accurate description of the situation,” he added.
Declaring the outbreak a pandemic now might also signal that one can no longer contain the virus, which is not true, he said.
The WHO said that for the moment, sustained and intensive community transmission of this virus is not being witnessed, nor is there large-scale severe disease or death.
Dr. Ghebreyesus said that the key message should be that the virus can be contained. He cited examples of countries that have been able to do that — 14 countries that have had cases have not reported a case for more than a week. Further, 9 countries have not reported a case for more than two weeks: Belgium, Cambodia, Finland, India, Nepal, Philippines, the Russian Federation, Sri Lanka, and Sweden.
“But that doesn’t mean that cases may not come back to these countries. But the cases that made it before have been contained,” said Dr. Ghebreyesus.
He said all countries, whether they have cases or not, must prepare for a potential pandemic.
“The primary objective of all countries with cases must be to contain the virus. Every country needs to be ready to detect cases early, to isolate patients, trace contacts, provide quality clinical care, prevent hospital outbreaks and prevent community transmission,” said Dr. Ghebreyesus.
In a media briefing on Tuesday, the US Center for Disease Control and Prevention had said that the two aspects of COVID-19 already meet the pandemic criteria — the fact that this virus has caused illness, including illness that results in death as well as sustained person to person transmission.
“These factors meet two of the criteria for a pandemic. As community spread is detected in more and more countries, the world moves closer towards meeting the third criterion — the worldwide spread of the new virus,” Dr. Nancy Messonnier, Director of the National Center for Immunization and Respiratory Diseases, CDC, said during a media briefing.