The World Health Organization on Friday raised its global risk assessment of the new coronavirus to its highest level after the epidemic spread to sub-Saharan Africa and financial markets slumped.
The virus has proliferated around the globe over the past week, emerging on every continent except Antarctica, prompting many governments and businesses to try to stop people from travelling or gathering in crowded places.
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It has killed more than 2,800 people and infected over 84,000 worldwide, the vast majority in China, since it emerged apparently from an animal market in the central Chinese city of Wuhan in late December.
On 28 February, WHO raised the risk assessment for the #COVID19 outbreak internationally from "high" to "very high."#coronavirus https://t.co/Opqi73eCdv
— World Health Organization (WHO) (@WHO) February 29, 2020
But it is its rapid spread to new zones that has authorities concerned: in the past 24 hours, it has affected nine new countries, from Azerbaijan to Mexico to New Zealand.
In Italy alone the virus that has killed 29 and infected more than 1,000 people.
"We have now increased our assessment of the risk of spread and the risk of impact of COVID-19 to very high at global level," WHO chief Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus told reporters.
"We do not see evidence as yet that the virus is spreading freely in communities. As long as that's the case, we still have a chance of containing this virus."
Ghebreyesus said in a tweet that the risk was elevated over the "increase of international spread of cases, large clusters of cases currently reported outside Flag of China, limited testing capacity in some countries, and potential medical supply shortages," as well as over "difficulty in identifying cases due to non-specific symptoms and the potential of undetected transmission, and potential for major impact on healthcare systems in some affected & potentially affected countries."
Last week, Israeli researchers who developed a successful vaccine against a strain from the coronavirus family say it could be adapted for the novel coronavirus.
