No country should make the “fatal mistake” of assuming it will be spared the coronavirus, the World Health Organization said on Thursday, as governments from Iran to Australia raced to contain the epidemic’s rapid global spread.

With new infections reported around the world now surpassing those in mainland China, WHO Director General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said even rich nations should prepare for surprises.

“No country should assume it won’t get cases, that would be a fatal mistake, quite literally,” Tedros said, pointing to Italy, where authorities said three more people had died, bringing the toll from Europe’s worst outbreak of the illness to 17. Confirmed cases there rose to 650.

As well as stockpiling medical supplies, governments ordered schools shut and canceled big gatherings, including sports events, to try to halt the flu-like disease that emerged in China more than two months ago from an illegal wildlife market.

It is on the decline there after an aggressive containment campaign, but rising elsewhere.

In Japan, where cases rose to 200, there was particular concern after a female tour bus guide tested positive for a second time – one of very few worldwide to do so.

The head of the WHO’s emergency program, Dr. Mike Ryan, said discussions were being held with organizers about the fate of the 2020 Olympics, scheduled for July in Tokyo, although no decision was expected soon.

Their cancellation or relocation would be a massive blow for Japan.

The coronavirus has mainly battered China, causing more than 78,000 infections and around 2,750 deaths. It has spread to another 44 countries, where around 3,250 cases and 51 deaths have been reported.

Though the outbreak meets the definition of a pandemic – widespread contagion across a large region – the WHO has so far held back from using that term.

“This virus has pandemic potential,” WHO chief Tedros told reporters in Geneva.

He said Iran, Italy and South Korea were at a “decisive point”, still short of sustained community transmission, and that U.S. President Donald Trump was right to recommend preventive hygiene measures such as frequent hand-washing.

Source:- Reuters