A mysterious new virus that has emerged in Asia is the greatest current health threat to the world, a global summit heard yesterday.
World Health Organisation director general Dr Margaret Chan picked out the coronavirus which has emerged in the middle east as her biggest concern.
She revealed her anxieties as she spoke to the closing session of the World Health Assembly.
The virus causes pneumonia like symptoms and has rampaged through a clinic in Saudi Arabia after causing a trickle of deaths since last year. Victims have turned up in the UK and France.
The clinic outbreak has raised concern it could be especially infectious.
She said the world needed to work together to address the threat and uncover the disease’s secrets.
Dr Chan said: "We understand too little about this virus when viewed against the magnitude of its potential threat. Any new disease that is emerging faster than our understanding is never under control.
"We do not know where the virus hides in nature. We do not know how people are getting infected. Until we answer these questions, we are empty-handed when it comes to prevention.
"These are alarm bells. And we must respond."
She added: "The novel coronavirus is not a problem that any single affected country can keep to itself or manage all by itself. The novel coronavirus is a threat to the entire world."
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