WUHAN : China locked down some 20 million people at the epicentre of a deadly virus outbreak on Thursday, but the World Health Organization said the disease did not yet constitute a global health emergency. But after two days of talks to determine the level of global concern, the World Health Organization on Thursday stopped short of declaring a so-called public health emergency of international concern -- declaration used for the gravest epidemics. "This is an emergency in China, but it has not yet become a global health emergency," WHO chief Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus told reporters in Geneva. Tedros hailed China for taking "measures it believes appropriate to contain the spread of coronavirus in Wuhan and other cities." The other 17 fatalities have all been people aged 48 to 89 and had pre-existing health conditions, Chinese health authorities said Thursday.

Source: Mint January 24, 2020 00:56 UTC