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The coronavirus pandemic could be contained by June if countries around the world take strong actions to battle the outbreaks, China’s senior medical official said Thursday.

“If all countries could get mobilized, it could be over by June,” Zhong Nanshan, the Chinese government’s senior medical adviser, said at a press conference.

Zhong, an 83-year-old epidemiologist credited with helping stop the SARS outbreak in 2003, said that the warmer weather could help slow the spread of the virus that has infected almost 125,000 people worldwide.

“My estimate of June is based on scenarios that all countries take positive measures,” he said. “But if some countries do not treat the infectiousness and harmfulness seriously, and intervene strongly, it would last longer.”

His comments come a day after the World Health Organization recognized the crisis as a pandemic and urged countries around the world to work to detect and contain the virus.

“My advice is calling for all countries to follow WHO instructions and intervene on a national scale,” Zhong said.

The deadly bug has now been detected in at least 118 countries and territories with the number of cases increasing 13-fold, according to the World Health Organization.

With Post wires