WHO working closely with China to fight coronavirus outbreak

Bruce Aylward, senior advisor to Director General of the World Health Organization (WHO), told a joint news conference in Beijing on Monday that its team of experts came to China at the right time.

The WHO’s team has been on the ground in Wuhan, Hubei province, the epicenter of the outbreak, since Jan 21 and has worked closely with the Chinese government, he said.

“It was the right time to be coming,”he said.

International experts arrived about a week ago and the joint team visited three provinces to learn about the effectiveness of the epidemic prevention and control measures in urban and rural areas of China.

Aylward praised China’s efforts to update and disclose the information about the novel coronavirus to the world.

In any crisis, especially for a new disease, officials must accurately diagnose new cases, develop efficient treatment and make it available as quickly as possible, he said.

“It takes a while to figure out why the numbers bounce around,” said. “That's not unusual.”

He said that the trend line of the epidemic — not daily reports of new cases — is the key issue is determining success in fighting the outbreak.

“If we go back and look over time with China, with all the different information, the trends have been incredibly clear and consistent,” Aylward said.