The number of reported cases of COVID-19 has stabilized in China, but World Health Organization (WHO) chief Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus cautioned that the ‘outbreak could go in any direction’.
The UN agency cautioned that it’s too early to predict whether the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) might have peaked or when the epidemic might end.
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Michael Ryan, head of WHO’s health emergencies programme, said: “It’s way too early to try to predict the beginning, the middle or the end of this epidemic right now.”
However, the said ‘stability’ was challenged as Hubei province reported 14,000 confirmed cases in the past 24 hours, a ten-fold higher than the previous reported number of infected patients.
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The number of fatalities in the epicenter of the epidemic also doubled to 242 from the recorded 97 deaths.
Ghebreyesus stressed that it is the stigma that comes with the disease that affects the measure to combat the new coronavirus.
“Outbreaks can bring out the best and worst in people. Stigmatizing individuals or entire nations does nothing but harm the response,” he pointed out.
“Instead of directing all our energy against the outbreak, stigma diverts our attention and turns people against each other,” he added.
