WHO emergency committee to meet again today

Tedros made the announcement with WHO Health Emergencies Programme head Michael Ryan. Photo: AFP

The head of the World Health Organisation has called another meeting of experts to discuss whether the Wuhan virus outbreak constitutes an international health emergency.



WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, who visited China this week and held talks with President Xi Jinping, said Thursday's meeting was needed because of onward transmission of the virus outside of China.



The WHO's Emergency Committee met for two days last week but stopped short of calling an international health emergency, saying that more information was needed.



The designation is reserved for the worst outbreaks and has only been used five times before, including for Ebola and swine flu.



Tedros said most people who contract the virus exhibit milder symptoms but about one in five have severe illness, including pneumonia and respiratory failure.



Since it was first identified on December 31, the virus has killed over 130 people and spread to more than a dozen countries.



Germany and Japan have both reported cases of human-to-human transmission of the coronavirus in their countries.



"The world is pulling together to end the outbreak, building on lessons learned from past outbreaks," Tedros said. "China needs the world's solidarity and support," he said, adding that he had held frank talks with Xi.



Tedros also said the WHO deeply regrets a mistake in three of its reports last week in which it referred to the global risk of the outbreak as "moderate" instead of "high".



The virus bears similarity to Sars (Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome), which also originated in China and killed hundreds of people worldwide in 2002 and 2003. (AFP)