|
 If it does so it will be only the sixth international public health
emergency to be declared in the last decade.
"The decision is one I take extremely seriously and one I am only
prepared to make with appropriate consideration of all the
evidence," WHO director-general Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said.
"This is an evolving and complex situation," he added. "Our team in
China is working with local experts and officials to investigate the
outbreak."
He was speaking after the WHO held a day-long meeting of an
independent panel of experts in Geneva on Wednesday.
Deaths from China's new coronavirus virus rose to 17 on Wednesday
with more than 540 cases confirmed, increasing fears of contagion
from an infection suspected to originate from illegally traded
wildlife.
The WHO's head of emergencies program, Mike Ryan, said the priority
now was to find the roots of how the virus is passing between
people.
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"We are in agreement with Chinese authorities who have been clear
and transparent that there is evidence of human-to-human
transmission," he said. "The primary issue is to limit (that)
human-to-human transmission."
The previously unknown coronavirus strain is believed to have
emerged from an animal market in the central city of Wuhan, with
cases now detected as far away as the United States.
Wuhan is closing its transport networks and advising citizens not to
leave the city, state media reported on Thursday.
(Reporting by Stephanie Nebehay in Geneva and Kate Kelland in
London; Editing by Hugh Lawson)
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