WHO Chief: Epidemic can be pushed back with concerted approach

The epidemic of the COVID-19 infection spreading around the world from China can be contained and controlled, the WHO has said, but only with a concerted response by all the world's governments.

"We are calling on every country to act with speed, scale and clear-minded determination," the WHO's director general Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, told a briefing at the UN health agency's Geneva headquarters.

Tedros voiced concern that "some countries have either not taken this seriously enough, or have decided there is nothing they can do".

The WHO has warned that a number of countries have not taken all the the steps needed to fight against the spread of the deadly coronavirus.

WHO chief  told reporters in Geneva he was concerned that a "long list" of countries were not showing "the level of political commitment" needed to "match the level of the threat we all face".

 Tedros said that the organisation is concerned that the "level of political commitment" in some countries do not "match the level of the threat we all face".

On Twitter, he wrote: "This is not a drill. Not a time to give up. Not a time for excuses."

On North Korea which has not reported any case of the Coronavirus, WHO said despite being in the heart of the coronavirus epidemic zone, the country still has no reported cases of the coronavirus, WHO official Mike Ryan has said.