OREANDA-NEWS. The situation with the spread of the new coronavirus 2019-nCoV may be more serious than experts currently imagine. The Director-General of the World Health Organization (WHO) Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus stated this on his Twitter page.

He noted that cases of transmission of a new type of virus by people who were not in China had been registered. In his opinion, these cases indicate that the infection can spread more widely in other countries. “…In short, we may only be seeing the tip of the iceberg,” Ghebreyesus wrote.

Outside of China, the pace of the spread of the virus is now small, but it may accelerate in the future, he warns. The head of WHO called on all countries to “use the window of opportunity” in order to prepare for the possible arrival of the virus. “This means lab capacity for rapid diagnosis, contact tracing and other tools in the public health arsenal,” Ghebreyesus explained.