(2 Feb 2020) Officials from the World Health Organization in Egypt said they were working to prevent the spread of a new virus that has killed more than 300 in China, with cases reported in several other countries. The WHO's regional headquarters held a news conference in Cairo on Sunday on developments related to cases of the new coronavirus in the Middle East.
The WHO's Regional Director for the Eastern Mediterranean, Ahmed al-Mandhari, stated that there were six confirmed cases of the virus in the region, including four from the same family in the UAE.
But Emirati officials later stated that was incorrect, and that there were five cases of the virus in the UAE.
No other Middle Eastern country has reported a case so far.
The discrepancy in numbers provided by the UAE and WHO could not be immediately explained.
Al-Mandhari also said there were 11,953 confirmed cases of the virus, mostly in China.
However, China on Sunday confirmed that there were 14,380 cases on the Chinese mainland.
Infectious Hazard Management (IHM) Unit Team Leader, Abdi Nasir Boubakr said they are assisting countries in the region to ensure that students returning from China "don't spread the infection."
WHO has provided them with testing kits to prevent any more spread of the virus.
The new virus is a member of the coronavirus family, a close cousin to the SARS and MERS viruses that have caused outbreaks in the past.
The virus has sickened thousands, mostly in China, and killed 304.
Older people, and those with other health conditions, are believed to be at greater risk for severe illness from the virus.
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