China says it has confidence and capability to win war against coronavirus

BEIJING/UNITED NATIONS - China has confidence and capability to win the war against the new coronavirus, said the country's foreign ministry spokeswoman in responding to the World Health Organisation (WHO)'s decision to declare the virus outbreak in China as a global emergency.

Hua Chunying, the ministry spokeswoman, also said that China will continue to work with the WHO and other countries to maintain global and regional public health security. The epidemic has killed at least 212 and infected more than 8,000 globally as of Jan 30.

China's UN ambassador, Zhang Jun, said on Thursday Beijing was assessing the WHO's declaration that the coronavirus outbreak was a global emergency.

"We are still at a very critical stage in fighting the coronavirus. International solidarity is extremely important and for that purpose all countries should behave in a... responsible manner," Zhang said.

"While we understand the concerns of other countries, we should also listen to the advice of WHO director-general... He said he had full confidence in China's efforts," Zhang said.

He said it was important to avoid "overreactions which may result in spill over negative effects" so said that China will continue to work with the WHO and other countries to maintain global and regional public health security.

The WHO said on Thursday it was declaring the coronavirus outbreak that has killed 212 people in China a global emergency, as cases spread to at least 18 countries.

The vast majority of the more than 7,800 cases detected globally, according to the latest WHO data, have been in China, where the virus originated in an illegal wildlife market in the city of Wuhan.

But nearly 100 cases have emerged in other countries, spurring cuts to travel, outbreaks of anti-China sentiment in some places and a surge in demand for protective face masks.

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In Hubei province - of which Wuhan is the capital - some 60 million people are living under virtual lockdown as China seeks to contain the epidemic.

Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, WHO director-general, praised China's response in a news conference in Geneva but said the WHO was concerned about the virus spreading to countries that did not have the resources to deal with it.

"The main reason for this declaration is not because of what is happening in China but because of what is happening in other countries. Our greatest concern is the potential for the virus to spread to countries with weaker health systems," he said.

For the latest updates on the Wuhan virus, visit here.