The World Health Organization said Monday that more than 70 percent of people infected with the new coronavirus in China have recovered, adding that the country has “brought its epidemic under control”.
Of the up to 80,000 cases of COVID-19 in China, “more than 70 percent have recovered and been released,” WHO chief Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus told reporters in Geneva.
The corona virus is closer to triggering a epidemic, but outbreaks in countries can still be controlled through a combination of containment and mitigation measures, according to the World Health Organization (WHO).
“Now that the virus is taking root in so many countries, the risk of a pandemic has become very real,” Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, WHO Director General, told the press conference.
“But it would be the first pandemic that could be controlled. The bottom line is that we are not at the mercy of the virus. “Four countries make up 93 percent of the nearly 110,000 cases worldwide,” said Tedros.
“We are encouraged that Italy will take aggressive measures to contain its epidemic and we hope that these measures will prove effective in the coming days,” he added.
