Beijing (Agencies): The death toll from China's new coronavirus epidemic on Wednesday climbed past 1,100.
Another 97 people died in China, raising the national toll to 1,113, while more than 44,600 people have now been infected by the newly named COVID-19.
The WHO decided to name the virus COVID-19 in keeping with guidelines aimed to avoid linking a disease to an animal or a geographic location.
Addressing scientists at the first international conference on combating the virus in Geneva on Tuesday, WHO chief Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus warned that the virus was a “very grave threat”.
But he said there was a “window of opportunity to hit hard and stand in unison to fight this virus in every corner.” “We are not defenceless,” Tedros said, adding: “If we invest now... we have a realistic chance of stopping this outbreak.”
“Viruses can have more powerful consequences than any terrorist action,” he told reporters later on the sidelines of the meeting, which will resume Wednesday.
