Coronavirus: ‘This is not a drill,’ WHO chief says as he warns some nations not grasping reality of disease threat

‘This is not a time for excuses,’ Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus tells leaders

The chief of the World Health Organisation (WHO) has warned that some countries are not facing up to the reality of the threat posed by the Covid-19 coronavirus as the number of infected people worldwide neared the 100,000 mark.

While the majority of the more than 98,000 infections and 3,300 deaths caused by the virus have occurred in China, where it was first observed in December, the rest of the world reported 17 times as many cases as Beijing in the last 24 hours.

Now the UN’s health body has urged legislators across the world to help “push the virus back”, with WHO director general Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus saying the agency was concerned that in some cases “the level of political commitment and the actions that demonstrate that commitment don’t match the level of the threat we all face”.

“This is not a drill. This is not the time for giving up. This is not a time for excuses. This is a time for pulling out all the stops,” he said in Geneva. “Countries have been planning for scenarios like this for decades. Now is the time to act on those plans.”

His comments came as Donald Trump was chastised for attempting to play down the threat of the virus by telling Fox News he had “a hunch” the 2 to 3 per cent mortality rate associated with the virus was “a false number” while incorrectly calling the disease a flu.

The president has previously claimed the virus had been “weaponised” by political opponents due to its damaging effects on US economic growth.

“A lot of people will have this and it’s very mild. They’ll get better very rapidly. They don’t even see a doctor. They don’t even call a doctor,” he said. “You never hear about those people. So you can’t put them down in the category of the overall population in terms of this corona flu and – or virus. So you just can’t do that.”

The death toll in the US rose to 12 on Wednesday with at least 52 new cases across 18 states. Congress has earmarked some $8.3bn (£6.4bn) to fight infections, which is due to be signed off by the president in the coming days.

In California a state of emergency was declared and testing kits were airlifted to a cruise ship carrying about 3,500 passengers after officials announced a previous passenger had become the region’s first fatality.

“The ship will not come on shore until we appropriately assess the passengers,” California governor Gavin Newsom said. Around 100 people are understood to have been selected for testing.

But Mike Pence, the vice president, warned that the US did not currently have enough testing kits to meet demand.

In Iran the government began to limit travel between cities in a response similar to that conducted by China during the early stages of the epidemic.

Officials set up checkpoints and urged citizens to consider limiting their use of paper money, the latest in a string of more drastic measures deployed by Tehran which has included releasing low-level prisoners and the mass closure of schools.

The virus has particularly affected the nation’s ageing legislature. Of the 107 deaths recorded by the state – which has been accused of covering up the severity of the virus within its borders – two have been senior government officials.

On Wednesday an adviser to the foreign minister died after contracting Covid-19, following on from a senior adviser to the Supreme Leader Ayatollah Khamenei. About eight per cent of Iran’s political class is reported to be infected with the virus.

The nation has become the epicentre of the disease in the Middle East, where the spread has led to stringent measures being applied across the region. In Bethlehem in the West Bank, the Church of the Nativity was closed and disinfected for a second time while Iraq cancelled Friday prayers in Karbala, the Shia holy city, over health fears.

The virus has also continued to spread across Europe, with the UK and Switzerland announcing their first deaths linked to it and Ireland announcing seven new cases – including one patient with no travel link to an infected area.

Italy, the worst afflicted region on the continent, announced an additional 31 deaths and almost 800 cases in a 24-hour period. In response the government, which had already temporarily closed all schools, has implemented restrictions on visiting relatives in nursing homes.

Dr Franco Locatelli, head of Italy’s national scientific council on health, said the measure sought to reduce contagion and protect the “fragile population” of the sick and elderly who are most at risk. ”The care of this population of patients is a fundamental objective for our country,” he told reporters.

Meanwhile in Australia authorities announced the country’s first school closure after a 16-year-old pupil tested positive for coronavirus. The nation has reported 60 cases so far, while two elderly people have died.