The World Health Organization said on Wednesday that it will delay deciding whether to label the spread of the Wuhan coronavirus an international emergency, as the United Nations agency seeks more information from China, reported the South China Morning Post.
An emergency committee of 21 members and advisers formulated by WHO will reconvene in Geneva, Switzerland, on Thursday to decide whether a “public health emergency of international concern” will be necessary to fight the deadly illness.
“The decision about whether or not to declare a public health emergency of international concern is one I take extremely seriously and one I am only prepared to make with appropriate consideration of all of the evidence,” WHO Director General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus told reporters in Geneva.
“Our team is on the ground in China as we speak, working with local experts and officials to investigate the outbreak and get more information,” he said.