China, where the outbreak originated, said the peak had passed as it reported just eight new cases in Hubei province on Thursday. More businesses reopened as authorities cautiously eased containment measures.
Beijing’s senior medical officer, Zhong Nanshan, an epidemiologist renowned for helping to combat the Sars outbreak in 2003, told a news conference that the pandemic could be over within a matter of months if countries mobilised properly to fight it and were prepared to take firm measures.
Zhong said that “my advice is calling for all countries to follow WHO instructions and intervene on a national scale”, and further, “if all countries get mobilised, it could be over by June … But if some countries do not treat the infectiousness and harmfulness seriously, and [do not] intervene strongly, it will last longer.”
Let us all work together to prove him right!
Biosphere Expeditions: blogs from the frontline of wildlife conservation and the fight for a more sustainable planet 