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World not in pandemic over coronavirus – WHO

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World not in pandemic over coronavirus - WHO

The World Health Organisation (WHO) on Tuesday tried to douse the growing fears arising from the growing spread of the coronavirus, saying the world is “not in a pandemic” over the disease which has killed 427 people as at Tuesday.

The director of global infectious hazard preparedness at the WHO, Sylvie Briand, said: “Currently we are not in a pandemic. We are at a phase where we have an epidemic of Coronavirus with multiple foci and we try to extinguish each of these foci.”

Briand said the WHO currently has no evidence of mutation of the virus, adding that “it is quite a stable virus.”

READ ALSO: China’s coronavirus cases hit 20, 000

Meanwhile, China’s National Health Commission said 64 new fatalities were recorded as of midnight on Monday – the biggest daily increase since the virus was first detected late last year.

It also said Wuhan, and the surrounding province of Hubei, being the epicenter of the outbreak has been effectively sealed off from the rest of the country for more than a week.

Meanwhile, the Singapore Ministry of Health said it had found six additional cases, four of them involving human-to-human transmission within the country, bringing the total infections to 24 in the city-state.

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