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WHO / CORONAVIRUS UPDATE
STORY: WHO / CORONAVIRUS UPDATE
TRT: 03:35
SOURCE: WHO
RESTRICTIONS: NONE
LANGUAGE: ENGLISH / NATS
DATELINE: 29 JANUARY 2020, GENEVA, SWITZERLAND
1. Wide shot, press conference room
2. SOUNDBITE (English) Dr Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, Director-General, WHO:
“The continued increase in cases and the evidence of human to human transmission outside China, are of course was deeply concerning. Although the numbers outside China are still relatively small, they hold the potential for a much larger outbreak. I have therefore decided to reconvene the International Health Regulations Emergency Committee on novel coronavirus 2019 to advise me on whether the outbreak represents a public health emergency of international concern, and to seek their recommendations on how best to protect people all over the world.”
3. Med shot, journalists
4. SOUNDBITE (English) Dr Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, Director-General, WHO:
“China's efforts to contain the outbreak at the epicenter have been essential for preventing the further spread of the virus. China identified the pathogen in record time and shared it immediately, which led to the rapid development of diagnostic tools.”
5. Med shot, journalists
6. SOUNDBITE (English) Dr Michael Ryan, Executive Director, WHO Health Emergencies Programme:
“The challenge is great, but the response has been massive, and the Chinese government deserve huge credit for that response and for the transparency in which they have dealt with this.”
7. Med shot, journalist
8. SOUNDBITE (English) Dr Michael Ryan, Executive Director, WHO Health Emergencies Programme:
“China's not only helping to manage the cases in its own country, but it is actively reaching out on an individual basis, not only to WHO, but to other partners in the world to help them respond in a more effective way.”
9. Wide shot, press conference room
10. SOUNDBITE (English) Dr Michael Ryan, Executive Director, WHO Health Emergencies Programme:
“My memories go back to SARS and we had very many of the same questions during the early days of SARS, can this be controlled? Which way is it spreading? And at the time I said, we have to base our actions on imperfect evidence. There will never be enough information to make a perfect decision, but if we don't make decisions and act, therefore we don't take any opportunity. So, this is really where science, public health and policy meets. Can we gather enough evidence and make good evidence-based decisions that are rational, and can we use that evidence to drive a public health strategy that can stop the disease with the minimum impact?
11. Med shot, journalists
12. SOUNDBITE (English) Dr Michael Ryan, Executive Director, WHO Health Emergencies Programme:
“WHO is at the center of a scientific, public health and political web that allows us to act collectively under the leadership of the Director-General. The question now for us all is, how will we act in the coming weeks? How will we support each other in order to bring this epidemic to an end, or at the very least, reduce its impact on human populations?”
14. Med shot, journalists
15. SOUNDBITE (English) Dr Michael Ryan, Executive Director, WHO Health Emergencies Programme:
“We are at an important juncture in this event. We as WHO believe that this, these chains of transmission can still be interrupted. This, this disease is still spreading from person to person. Through personal contact between individuals and through proper management of hygiene, proper management of a case identification, isolation, and social distancing. Like previous outbreaks of coronavirus, we may be able to working with the government and China and other governments, stop those transmission chains.”
16. Wide shot, dais
The Emergency Committee on the novel coronavirus under the International Health Regulations will be reconvened on Thursday (30 Jan), the World Health Organization Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus announced today (29 Jan)
The meeting is planned to start at 13:30 Geneva time.
Speaking to journalists in Geneva, Dr Tedros said “the continued increase in cases and the evidence of human to human transmission outside China, are of course was deeply concerning. Although the numbers outside China are still relatively small, they hold the potential for a much larger outbreak.”
He said his decision to reconvene Emergency Committee in order to receive advice “on whether the outbreak represents a public health emergency of international concern, and to seek their recommendations on how best to protect people all over the world.”
The Committee will advise the Director-General on whether the outbreak constitutes a Public Health Emergency of International Concern (PHEIC), and what recommendations should be made to manage it.
Dr Tedros said, “China's efforts to contain the outbreak at the epicenter have been essential for preventing the further spread of the virus. China identified the pathogen in record time and shared it immediately, which led to the rapid development of diagnostic tools.”
WHO’s Health Emergencies Programme Executive Director, Michael Ryan, said, “the challenge is great, but the response has been massive, and the Chinese government deserve huge credit for that response and for the transparency in which they have dealt with this.”
Ryan said, “China's not only helping to manage the cases in its own country, but it is actively reaching out on an individual basis, not only to WHO, but to other partners in the world to help them respond in a more effective way.”
Recalling his experience with the 2003 SARS pandemic, Ryan said, “we had very many of the same questions during the early days of SARS, can this be controlled? Which way is it spreading? And at the time I said, we have to base our actions on imperfect evidence. There will never be enough information to make a perfect decision, but if we don't make decisions and act, therefore we don't take any opportunity. So, this is really where science, public health and policy meets. Can we gather enough evidence and make good evidence-based decisions that are rational, and can we use that evidence to drive a public health strategy that can stop the disease with the minimum impact?
He said, “WHO is at the center of a scientific, public health and political web that allows us to act collectively under the leadership of the Director-General. The question now for us all is, how will we act in the coming weeks? How will we support each other in order to bring this epidemic to an end, or at the very least, reduce its impact on human populations?”
Ryan said, “we are at an important juncture in this event. We as WHO believe that this, these chains of transmission can still be interrupted. This, this disease is still spreading from person to person. Through personal contact between individuals and through proper management of hygiene, proper management of a case identification, isolation, and social distancing. Like previous outbreaks of coronavirus, we may be able to working with the government and China and other governments, stop those transmission chains.”
On 31 December 2019, WHO was alerted to several cases of pneumonia in Wuhan City, Hubei Province of China. The virus did not match any other known virus. This raised concern because when a virus is new, we do not know how it affects people.
One week later, on 7 January, Chinese authorities confirmed that they had identified a new virus. The new virus is a coronavirus, which is a family of viruses that include the common cold, and viruses such as SARS and MERS. This new virus was temporarily named “2019-nCoV.”
WHO has been working with Chinese authorities and global experts from the day we were informed, to learn more about the virus, how it affects the people who are sick with it, how they can be treated, and what countries can do to respond.
Because this is a coronavirus, which usually causes respiratory illness, WHO has advice to people on how to protect themselves and those around them from getting the disease.
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