Increasing numbers of cases are being reported around the world and governments are struggling to contain the disease.

From a wildlife market in China's Wuhan city, where the coronavirus is believed to have emerged, to the city of Qom in Iran.

The disease is sweeping around the globe and health experts are warning we could be on the brink of a pandemic.

More than 80,000 people in over 40 countries have been infected.

The number of new cases inside China, the country at the centre of the epidemic, has been overtaken for the first time by new infections outside.

Now, the focus of the outbreak is shifting to Europe, in particular, and the Middle East.

In that region, Iran appears to be the centre of the spread of the disease.

Cases in Bahrain, Iraq, Kuwait, Lebanon and Oman have been linked to patients who travelled to Iran recently.

So, how do we prepare for a potential pandemic?

Presenter: Adrian Finighan

Guests:

Patrick Tang - Division chief of pathology sciences at Sidra Medicine

Abdhalah Ziraba - Medical doctor and research scientist at the African Population and Health Research Center

Dominic Wilkinson - Medical doctor and director of Medical Ethics at the Uehiro Centre for Practical Ethics at the University of Oxford

Source: Al Jazeera News