from confinement on a cruise ship to
confinement on the wirl 32 British and
Europeans evacuated from the diamond
princess off the coast of Japan flew
into the UK this morning they will now
spend 14 days in quarantine at arrow
Park hospital all have tested negative
for the new coronavirus disease covered
19 but left behind in Japan in hospital
David and Sally Abel a couple from
Northamptonshire who have both tested
positive and who both now have pneumonia
the number of cases in England is still
only 9 but the NHS has now started
piloting home testing for the virus and
preparation for any potential outbreak
so any individual that we think may have
come into contact with coronavirus after
assessment we will come to their home to
do the necessary nose and throat swaps
so that means NHS staff will come to you
what we do ask is that you don't go to
see your general practitioner and you
don't go to a any department that's the
best way we have of reducing the spread
of the virus it is hard to believe but
it's only 52 days since the outbreak in
Wuhan and who Bay Province was reported
to the world health organization China
has now officially confirmed more than
76,000 cases and more than 2,300 deaths
this is the inside of one of the new
hospitals built in Wuhan the beds filled
with the critically ill and those
recovering 80% of patients develop mild
forms of the disease but it is the 20%
who prove more challenging to treat most
of the critically ill patients suffer
from breathing difficulties and low
oxygen concentrations along with other
organ injuries plus their condition has
change rapidly and we have to adjust
their treatment plans quickly to stop
any deterioration containment is still
the WHU OHS catchword preventing
significant spread to other countries
but today there was a warning from its
director-general that the window of
opportunity was narrowing although the
total number of cases outside China
remains relatively small
we're concerned about the number of
cases with no clear epidemiological link
such as tribal history to China or
contact with a confirmed case we're
especially concerned about the increase
in cases in the Islamic Republic of Iran
in the midst of their election and Iran
health officials have now confirmed 28
cases of covered 19 and 5 deaths none of
the patients are believed to have
traveled to China we are seeing cases
that have traveled from Iran and and I
confirmed that they've come from Iran
and this means that there's potentially
a lot of cases within Iran that were
that are perhaps not being reported yet
and then the major worry is that from
there where could it spread from Iran
there's connections strong connections
to countries like Afghanistan Pakistan
Iraq that don't have such strong health
systems and being able to contain the
disease then becomes challenging South
Korea is also causing concern with 433
cases officially confirmed an Eightfold
jump and infections in just four days
most of them linked to a church and a
hospital in the city of daegu three
people have died and 17 are said to be
critical while a dozen towns in northern
Italy effectively went into lockdown on
Saturday after the deaths of two people
infected with the new virus and a
growing cluster of cases linked to a
local hospital but with no direct links
to China
well just before we came on air I spoke
to dr. Margaret Harris by the internet
from Geneva she's on the World Health
Organization's coronavirus team so we
are now seeing spread in countries
outside China as I'm sure you know
before the vast majority of infections
were in China in China in fact gave us a
couple of weeks according to the experts
the modeling experts but now we are
seeing that there are more clusters in
North in in Korea and in Iran and and
now in Italy and this does and also
we're seeing cases that don't have a
clear EPI link that's means they're not
associated with travel to China or to
people who are infected so that is
raising the alarm and means we as as our
director-general said the window of
opportunity is closing does that means
in layman's terms that we could be on
the brink of a global pandemic here it
means we certainly all have to be ready
for in the arrival of coronavirus in our
communities which means health systems
individuals everybody has to be on the
alert and some countries have stopped
flights to and from Iran for example is
that an overreaction or is that a
sensible precaution in your view we tend
to say no travel restrictions mostly
because when you stop flights it means
the help that countries need can't get
in as well so we send a lot of supplies
to different countries we've sent
supplies to laboratories around the
world and also to health workers around
the world protective supplies so when we
stop flights when we stop that transport
the help people need is also stopped I
mean this may be a sort of how long is a
piece of string question but how long do
you believe that countries around the
world might have to stop this becoming a
pandemic so this is a new virus this is
the problem we are watching this and
learning every day now one of the really
good things if there's a good thing to
say about this is the sharing of
information but all the scientists all
the health workers has
meant that we've learned very very
quickly but it's too early to say what
really what we are really looking at in
the end a new talk of learning there the
wh o has been ler on a learning exercise
really in Wuhan now what has emerged
from that that meeting today so I hate
to be always saying too early to say but
our experts met with counterparts and
also with the officials in the city
today and that will yield a lot of very
good information and as soon as we've
got some very clear signals we will
certainly be letting the rest of the
world know and just your hunch I know
you don't really deal in hunches but do
you believe this is going to become a
pandemic or do you think we can avoid it
this is a very serious and it's a very
infectious virus the one good thing is
it it seems to infect a lot of people it
doesn't kill everybody unfortunately
though if you're older if you've got
other health illness issues like you've
got lung problems or you've got heart
problems you're more at risk so do what
you can to mitigate that stop smoking do
everything you can to protect your
health knowing that if you are in those
groups you are particularly at risk dr.
Margaret Harris thank you so much well I
also spoke this afternoon to jarred
rushing in Wuhan he's a correspondent
for the China Global Television Network
which is owned by the national
broadcaster number cam by asking what
the w-h-o had learned on their visit to
the city earlier whu-oh executive leader
said the men priority for the team on
the ground is first and foremost to
learn as well as to understand the
nature of one of the largest public
health responses in history in China
adding that there are lessons to be
learnt from the responses of the crises
at all levels and the head of whu-oh
said it's daily briefing Friday that the
measures China and other countries have
taken have given the rest of the world a
fighting chance of containing the spread
of the virus calling on all countries to
continue their containment measures
while preparing for community
transmission if it occurs
it has been quite a lot of criticism of
China's initial response and quite a lot
of anger as well at the silencing of the
doctor in Wuhan who's now sadly passed
away is that anger still there I think
before the death of that convicted of
that doctors that National Health
Commission have has already extended
condolence to that and I already seen
many of you know Internet users online
to share the passion or you know
sympathy over the the past
another medical worker in Wuhan has died
how confident are you that health
workers have the protective gear
that they need that they're not being
overworked and therefore making
themselves more susceptible to infection
your protective gears as you mentioned
is really an urgent need still and over
the past weeks we have seen this kind of
national trend and also the the central
government has called on all
manufacturers if possible to ramp up
their preparation because I arrived
actually late in January and back then
when I had those interviews with nurses
and doctors in hospitals they try to
save their protective gears by you know
saving not to drink water not to have
the food and then you know keep
themselves in that ward for at least
four hours so that they can save one
piece of suit but now I think the
situation has been improved Chinese
citizens around the world have faced
discrimination and racism
after this coronavirus outbreak how
concerned are you not just about the
epidemic itself but an epidemic of
ignorance that has followed it I think
many Chinese overseas try to show the
word that we are not devours but
sometimes you know it has been
politicized as you know the foreign
minister said that there might be the
political iris among some
their countries it's not about human to
human transmission but it's about human
to human compassion during this period
do you believe that Westerners are
panicking about the virus or given the
number of deaths in China alone more
than 2,300 now is that panic in some way
justified yes I think there is panic I
would be say honest that I did not have
a panic when I received the task to come
to the epicenter of the outbreak because
I think there are two kinds of panic so
I think as I mentioned that the
government is trying to expanding the
knowledge to the citizens so I think
that's the rational panic because of
course they're afraid of the death
because in the beginning the number was
really horrifying and there another type
of panic is the irrational panic as we
talked about the political virus I think
this is another a panic which is not a
necessary
Jerry joshing thank you very much for
joining us thank you Cathy