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WHO / CORONAVIRUS
STORY: WHO / CORONAVIRUS
TRT: 1.29
SOURCE: WHO
RESTRICTIONS: NONE
LANGUAGE: ENGLISH / NATS
DATE: 17 JULY 2013, GENEVA, SWITZERLAND
FILE – RECENT, WHO HEADQUARTERS AT THE PALAIS DES NATIONS, GENEVA, SWITZERLAND
1. Wide shot, exterior WHO HQ at the Palais des nations
17 JULY 2013, GENEVA, SWITZERLAND
2. Wide shot, cameraman at press conference
3. Cutaway, journalists taking notes
4. SOUNDBITE (English) Dr Keiji Fukuda, WHO Assistant Director-General, Health Security and Environment, WHO:
“Basically in their discussions, I think, what they said, that the current situation, the current virus is serious in the sense that it has been persistent. When it infects people it can cause very serious disease. You know many people end up on respirators, many people die. And its also possible that this virus could spread further in the future. But based on the current situation, when they look at everything, when they weigh everything, they feel that there is not enough evidence for WHO and the Director-General to go ahead and declare a public health emergency; a global public health emergency of international concern. And furthermore they noted that when you do that, you know this is really quite a dramatic action, can also have negative effects, and so that on balance, what they suggested or what they recommended was that this is not the time to go ahead with such a declaration. But really to again monitor the situation very carefully and then take steps to strengthen countries.”
5. Various shots, Emergency committee meeting in the SHOC at the Palais des Nations
Dr Keiji Fukuda, the World Health Organization’ s (WHO) Assistant Director-General, for Health Security and Environment said at a press conference that the current Middle East Respiratory Syndrome Coronavirus was “serious in the sense that it has been persistent.”
Dr. Fukuda was briefing journalists yesterday (17 May) following a second meeting of the International Health Regulation (IHR) Emergency Committee concerning the Middle East Respiratory Syndrome Coronavirus at the WHO headquarters in Geneva.
Fukuda stressed that when the virus infected people “it can cause very serious disease. You know many people end up on respirators, many people die.”
He also noted that it was “also possible” in the future for the virus to “spread further”. But, he said that based on the current situation, looking at all the available elements and weighing everything, the HIR felt that “there is not enough evidence for WHO and the Director-General to go ahead and declare a public health emergency”.
A second meeting of the Emergency Committee convened by the Director-General under the International Health Regulations (2005) [IHR (2005)] took place yesterday via teleconference.
The Committee reviewed and deliberated on information on a range of aspects regarding the MERS-CoV, among them:
-improvements in surveillance, lab capacity, contact tracing and serological investigation
-Infection prevention and control and clinical management
-Travel-related guidance
-Risk communications
-Research studies (epidemiological, clinical and animal)
-Improved data collection and the need to ensure full and timely reporting of all confirmed and probable cases of MERS-CoV to WHO in accordance with the IHR (2005).
The WHO Secretariat will provide regular updates to the Members and will reconvene the Committee, in September, on a date to be determined. However, serious new developments may require an urgent re-convening of the Committee before then, WHO said in a statement.
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