The World Health Organization (WHO) decided Thursday against declaring the novel coronavirus outbreak in China an international health emergency, saying it is "too early."
After a one-day delay in which the WHO International Health Regulations emergency committee sought more information, the panel determined the outbreak doesn't qualify as a "public health emergency of international concern" (PHEIC).
WHO emergency committee chair Didier Houssin, MD, described a "very divided" committee that was "almost 50/50." But, citing the "limited number of cases abroad," members couldn't agree that the outbreak deserved PHEIC status, which creates certain obligations for member nations.
"Make no mistake, this is ... an emergency in China, but has ," said WHO director-general Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, MBBS, PhD. "It may yet become one."
Latest WHO data listed 584 cases of novel coronavirus, with 575 in China alone, and 17 deaths, all in China.
Adhanom Ghebreyesus said there is "no evidence of human-to-human transmission [of the so-called nCoV-2019 virus] outside China."
He said that China has already taken steps to contain the outbreak, referring to the lockdown conditions placed on several cities in China, including Wuhan, where the outbreak originated, as well as Huanggang. Nature also reported that the city of Ezhou has .
The outbreak's timing is especially daunting because it's occurring around the Chinese New Year, a popular time for long-distance family travel and holiday-making.
Experts seemed skeptical about the effectiveness of restricting travel in and out of cities.
Global health security expert Rebecca Katz, PhD, of Georgetown University in Washington, D.C., said limiting population movement can slow disease spread, but only when done gently, as coercive methods often backfire.
"We have learned through past precedent that non-pharmaceutical interventions like 'social distancing' -- including keeping people from gathering in confined spaces like a public bus or train -- can be useful in controlling a respiratory disease," Katz said in a statement.
"But, we know that broadly-applied interventions such as travel bans can cause public panic, impede individual rights, lead to secondary effects like shortages of food, and may not be effective at containing a virus if it has already spread outside of the epicenter, as nCoV-2019 has done," she added.
Even Adhanom Ghebreyesus seemed skeptical at the WHO press conference. When pressed by a reporter about what he thought of the travel ban, he re-read from his prepared statement: that China has taken steps to contain the outbreak, and that he hoped "they will be effective and short in duration."
He added that WHO does not recommend any broader restrictions on travel or trade, but emphasized that "all countries should have ... measures to detect the coronavirus, including at health facilities."
For now, the focus is on understanding more about the virus, including how it spreads and its clinical features, Adhanom Ghebreyesus said.
Michael Ryan, MD, executive director of WHO's health emergencies program, noted that there is no specific treatment for this disease.
Drugmaker Gilead Sciences is currently examining whether its , could be effective against the novel coronavirus, Reuters reported on Thursday.
Ryan added that "early diagnostics, early supportive care, and intensive care where needed" are crucial for treating infected patients, but noted that "we haven't seen many mild cases."
"The outbreak is still evolving. [We are] not in a position to say the epidemic has peaked," he said.