A team of 25 global health experts returned from China’s Wuhan, the epicenter of the coronavirus outbreak. Team leader Bruce Aylward warned in a press conference that the Wuhan coronavirus is a “rapidly escalating epidemic in different places that we’ve got to tackle superfast to prevent a pandemic.” However, “big conclusion for the world is – it’s simply not ready,”
According to data from China’s National Health Commission, situation seems to be easing with slowing increase in new cases and deaths. On February 25, there were 406 new confirmed cases, bringing the total accumulated number to 78064. Death tolls rose 52 to 2715. Separately announced, the northwestern regions of Inner Mongolia and Xinjiang and the southwestern province of Sichuan have downgraded their emergency response level. Gansu, Yunnan, Guangdong, Shanxi, Guizhou and Anhui downgrade emergency level earlier this week.
Situations in other countries worsen, however. South Korea reported 169 news cases today, bringing the total to 1146,with 11 deaths. There are 323 cases in Italy, with 11 deaths. Japan’s cases rise steadily to 159, with 1 death. Iran has reported a total of 95 cases, with 16 deaths.