New coronavirus cases outside China are 9 times higher than inside in past 24 hours: WHO

The number of new coronavirus infections outside China is almost 9 times higher than that inside the country in the past 24 hours, World Health Organization officials said on Monday.

While the flu-like virus is spreading across other continents, new cases in China are declining, WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said at a press briefing at the agency’s headquarters in Geneva.

China announced just 206 new cases of the coronavirus, COVID-19, on Sunday, the lowest number of new cases in that country since January 22, Ghebreyesus said. Outside China, the total number of new cases now exceeds 8,739 across 61 countries, including 127 deaths, the WHO official said.  Around 81 percent of cases outside China are from four countries, South Korea, Italy, Iran, and Japan, he noted.

The epidemics in South Korea, Italy, Iran and Japan are the World Health Organization’s greatest concern, Ghebreyesus said.

The coronavirus, which originated in China, has an incubation period of 10-14 days, with unknown cure up till now, as yet; most of the deaths have been among the elderly and those with underlying health conditions.

Source: CNBC