Killer coronavirus is 'the worst enemy you can ever imagine' and may pose a greater global threat than terrorism, World Health Organisation warns
- WHO's director general warned coronavirus vaccine was still year and half away
- Dr Tedros Ghebreyesus said outbreak greater risk to humanity than terrorism
- The epidemic has so far killed more than 1,000 people and infected over 43,000
The deadly coronavirus outbreak is the 'worst enemy you can ever imagine' and more of a threat to humanity than terrorism, the World Health Organisation warns.
China hopes the killer virus, which has claimed more than 1,000 lives and struck down over 44,500 people, will be curbed by April.
But WHO's director general, Dr Tedros Ghebreyesus, said it could rumble on for more than a year and warned a vaccine could take at least 18 months to develop.
He added: 'To be honest, a virus is more powerful in creating political, social and economic upheaval than any terrorist attack. It's the worst enemy you can imagine.'
Yesterday a top Hong Kong medical official predicted the coronavirus could infect more than 60 per cent of the global population if containment methods fail.
Professor Gabriel Leung, chair of public health medicine in the city, said on Tuesday even if the coronavirus kills just 1 per cent of sufferers, it could still wipe out as many as 45million people.
The deadly coronavirus outbreak is the 'worst enemy you can ever imagine', according to the World Health Organisation. Medics in hazmat suits transfer a patient into the isolation ward in a hospital in Wuhan
Dr Tedros Ghebreyesus, the director-general of the World Health Organization, said: 'To be honest, a virus is more powerful in creating political, social and economic upheaval than any terrorist attack. It's the worst enemy you can imagine'
The WHO has long believed that a new disease pandemic could rapidly race around the world and destabilise society, due to modern air travel.
Dr Ghebreyesus' stark warning was a more broad statement about new unknown viruses, not specifically the Chinese coronavirus.
It comes after the United Nations health agency gave the illness its official name, COVID-19.
CO stands for corona, VI for virus, D for disease and 19 for the year it emerged, Dr Ghebreyesus explained on Tuesday when it was revealed.
WHO bosses said they avoided referring to a geographical location, animal or group of people so it would not cause any prejudice.
The virus, which has had various names from simply coronavirus to Wuhan coronavirus, Chinese coronavirus or even snake flu, needs its own moniker because it is just one type of coronavirus.
The word refers to a group of viruses which contains those that cause SARS (severe acute respiratory syndrome) and MERS (Middle East respiratory syndrome).
Health workers wearing protective gear take part in an exercise in handling a suspected patient at Sanglah hopital in Denpasar, Indonesia's resort island of Bali
China hopes the killer virus, which has claim claimed more than 1,000 lives (shown) will be curbed by April
But WHO's director general, Dr Tedros Ghebreyesus, said the epidemic - which has struck down 46,000 (shown) - could rumble on for more than a year
The number of new cases reported in China each day has begun to level off, steadily declining in the last six days.
But scientists tackling the crisis warn the true toll will be much higher than figures show because thousands of patients have only mild symptoms or are asymptomatic.
Most experts believe that each infected person has gone on to transmit the virus to around 2.5 people, giving an 'attack rate' of 60 to 80 per cent.
The death rate, however, is thought to be much lower. Hong Kong's Professor Leung expects it to be around one per cent once milder cases, that have not been diagnosed, are taken into account.
'Is 60 to 80 per cent of the world's population going to get infected?,' he told The Guardian during a trip to London this week,
'Maybe not. Maybe this virus will come in waves. Maybe the virus is going to attenuate its lethality because it certainly doesn't help it if it kills everybody in its path, because it will get killed as well.'
It comes after two British prisoners await results after being tested for coronavirus in Oxfordshire - one of whom had recently been transferred from a jail in Thailand.
Mark Rumble, 31, from Oxfordshire, was sent back to the UK to face charges of a conspiracy to supply class A drugs.
Rumble reportedly collapsed in his cell at HMP Bullingdon, close to Bicester on Monday, while a second inmate developed flu-like symptoms and a third other is also being tested for the illness.
A total of 33 cases of the coronavirus, have been diagnosed in Thailand and it was the first country outside of China to declare cases, on January 13.
Meanwhile Brighton is at the centre of Britain's coronavirus crisis, with six of the UK's eight confirmed cases diagnosed in the city.
'Super-spreader' businessman Steve Walsh picked up the virus in Singapore on a work trip and brought it back to the UK following a ski trip in France. He is feared to have infected at least 11 others in the UK, France and Spain.
Mr Walsh broke his silence after discovering he was the source of an extraordinary web of cases stretching across the UK and Europe.
Speaking from an NHS isolation room, the sales executive yesterday revealed he had 'fully recovered' and insisted he acted as quickly as possible once he realised the threat he posed.
Yesterday, authorities were still tracking the contacts of Mr Walsh and his five associates – including two GPs – who have also tested positive in the Brighton area over the last few days.
One of the two infected GPs also worked at the A&E unit at Worthing Hospital in West Sussex, which was last night contacting patients and staff to tell them what precautions they should take.
The doctor, who has not been identified, treated a 'small number' of patients at the hospital on February 4 and 5 before they became unwell and 'self-isolated'.
Source: https://www.dailymail.co.uk/health/article-7994665/Killer-coronavirus-poses-greater-global-threat-terrorism-World-Health-Organisation-warns.html
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