UNITED NATIONS, Feb 15 (APP):The World Health Organization (WHO) Director-General, Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, has said countries around the world were in a better state of preparedness for COVID-19, the coronavirus, than they were just a week ago. Speaking through an online video system from Kinshasa, capital of the Democratic Republic of Congo, where he had met with officials to review the progress that has been made toward ending the Ebola outbreak, the WHO chief said on Friday his organization’s efforts to help countries boost their laboratory capacity will continue. Investing in preparedness is the smartest way to ensure that the coronavirus and other disease outbreaks are “identified and stopped quickly”, he said. It is not uncommon for case definitions to change as more information becomes available, it was pointed out. And WHO is seeking clarity on how clinical diagnoses are being made so that other respiratory illnesses, including influenza, are not getting mixed into the COVID-19 data. “In total, there have been 1,381 deaths in China, including 121 reported today”, WHO chief stated, adding that outside the country, “there have been 505 cases in 24 countries and two deaths”. Meanwhile, the vice minister of China’s national health commission Zeng Yixin … Continue reading World better prepared for coronavirus than a week ago: WHO chief