The announcement was made on Thursday, 30 January following an emergency meeting between Health experts and the WHO emergency committee in Geneva.
WHO Director-General Dr Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus told reporters: “The main reason for this declaration is not because of what is happening in China, but because of what is happening in other countries.
“Our greatest concern is the potential for the virus to spread to countries with weaker health systems, and which are ill-prepared to deal with it.”
This is coming only a week after the WHO said it was too early to declare the virus a medical emergency. Now, it has said that it declared a medical emergency so that countries around the world would be able to prepare for the spread of the disease.
The deadly Coronavirus was first spotted in the Wuhan area of China on 31 December 2019.
The death toll in China has now risen to 213 within a week with 9,692 confirmed cases. Another 102,000 people are reportedly under investigation for the illness.
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