Experts from WHO arrived in China as death toll due to the Wuhan Coronavirus topped SARS
The death toll due to the Wuhan Coronavirus topped all levels with over a thousand deaths recorded by the morning of February 11. Professionals from World Health Organization (WHO) arrived in China to assist in controlling the epidemic.
According to Chinese health authorities, 108 people died from the virus in mainland China on Monday, February 10, with a majority of the deaths occurring in the province of Hubei, the capital of which is Wuhan – the city where the virus was first found. The total number of deaths recorded till date stand at 1,018.
A team of professionals from World Health Organization (WHO), led by Bruce Aylward, who had initiated the organization’s response to Ebola, as well as contributed towards initiatives for immunization, communicable diseases control and polio eradication, landed in China on Monday, February 10. Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, Director General, WHO, said that they would lay the groundwork for a larger international team that will soon be joining the rest of the WHO experts.
WHOs’ arrival came after the organization received heavy criticism for its initial decision to not declare Coronavirus, a global health emergency, and for the officials’ unrestrained praise of China’s handling of the crisis, even as the country faced immense outrage for the death of the whistleblower doctor, Li Wenliang followed by the subsequent censorship of all news regarding the same.
Globally, 43,090 have now been diagnosed with the virus, again with the majority in China. Around 4,000 patients have been treated and released from hospitals in China since the end of December.