He added that even though the spread of the virus outside China appears to be slow at the moment, the situation may exacerbate.
The death toll from the novel coronavirus has breached the 900 mark, with the total number of fatalities and infections related to the outbreak having crossed the numbers from the SARS outbreak in China.
In this backdrop, World Health Organisation (WHO) chief Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus has issued a grave warning.
"There’ve been some concerning instances of onward #2019nCoV spread from people with no travel history to China. The detection of a small number of cases may indicate more widespread transmission in other countries; in short, we may only be seeing the tip of the iceberg," he tweeted.
He added that even though the spread of the virus outside China appears to be slow at the moment, it could very well accelerate.
In a tweet, United Nations Secretary General Antonio Guterres also urged people around the world to follow advisories on coronavirus from the WHO, emphasising the need to avoid stigma and discrimination at such a time of "heightened anxiety".
Outside China, the highest number of cases reported have been on a cruise ship docked at the Yokohama Port in Japan. The total number of cases on Diamond Princess, the ship which has been quarantined for over a week now, has gone beyond 130, as per a report by The New York Times. It noted that around 3,700 people are quarantined on the ship, with a rising number of cases on the ship being reported by the Japanese Ministry almost daily.Exclusive offer: Use code "BUDGET2020" and get Moneycontrol Pro's Subscription for as little as Rs 333/- for the first year.
