- Global cases have risen to 80,000, and deaths have surpassed 2,700 worldwide.
A renowned Canadian epidemiologist who led a team of experts to China to study the novel coronavirus on behalf of the World Health Organization says other countries are not ready for a global outbreak.
Dr. Bruce Aylward returned from a two-week mission to China, including the city of Wuhan where the spread of the coronavirus began, urging other countries to get ready for a potential outbreak within their own borders as soon as possible.
He says countries should be looking to China for expertise in how to manage and treat the disease now known as COVID-19, noting that country has taken an aggressive approach to testing, containing and treating people who contract the coronavirus.
He warned the spread of the virus seems inevitable, and urged all countries to make sure hospitals increase their bed capacity and have enough ventilators for the very sick.
Meanwhile the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) on Tuesday alerted Americans to begin preparing for the spread of coronavirus in the United States, after the flu-like virus surfaced in several more countries.
The announcement signals a change in tone for the U.S. health agency, which had largely been focused on efforts to stop the virus from entering the country and quarantining individuals traveling from China.
Businesses, schools and families should begin having discussions about the possibility that their lives may be disrupted if the virus begins spreading within U.S. communities, authorities said.
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With files from The Canadian Press and Reuters.
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