Countries Should Prepare for Local Coronavirus Outbreaks: WHO Official

Hospital staff in protective clothing talk to a police officer at a checkpoint to the Hubei province exclusion zone at the Jiujiang Yangtze River Bridge in Jiujiang, Jiangxi province, China, as the country is hit by an outbreak of a new coronavirus on Feb. 1, 2020. Thomas Peter/Reuters

Governments around the world should prepare for controlling domestic coronavirus outbreaks, a World Health Organization (WHO) official said.

“Countries need to get ready for possible importation in order to identify cases as early as possible and in order to be ready for a domestic outbreak control, if that happens,” WHO official Gauden Galea told The Associated Press in Bejing on Saturday.