WHO "Trend of Decreasing New COVID-19 Cases in China"

"Requires Very Careful Interpretation" Premise

[Image source=EPA Yonhap News]

[Asia Economy New York=Correspondent Baek Jong-min] The World Health Organization (WHO) has assessed that the number of new COVID-19 cases in China appears to be on a declining trend. However, it emphasized that this should be "interpreted very cautiously."

On the 17th (local time), WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus stated at a briefing, "China has today published a paper containing detailed data on 44,000 COVID-19 confirmed cases," referring to this assessment.

He said, "This data seems to show that the number of new COVID-19 cases is on a downward trend," adding, "All scenarios are still on the table."

He also mentioned, "The data allows us to better understand the age groups of those infected and the mortality rate."

Director-General Ghebreyesus explained, "COVID-19 appears not to be as deadly as other coronaviruses, including SARS (Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome) and MERS (Middle East Respiratory Syndrome)."

He added, "We see relatively fewer cases among children," and "More research is needed to understand why that is."

Michael Ryan, head of the WHO Emergency Response Team, was asked whether the current COVID-19 situation can be considered a pandemic. He replied, "The real issue is whether we are seeing community transmission outside China, and at this time, we are not seeing that." He further explained, "The term 'pandemic' must be used very cautiously."

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.