Coronavirus: World facing ‘chronic’ shortage of protective equipment against deadly virus, WHO says

Rate of infections in China has decreased over past few days, health official says

The world is facing a shortage of gowns, masks and gloves in the fight to halt the spread of the coronavirus outbreak, according to the World Health Organisation.

Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, WHO’s director general, said protective equipment has been sent to every region to help fight the outbreak.

“However the world is facing a chronic shortage of personnel protective equipment, as you might imagine,” he said.

He also said that the rate of infections within China had slowed over the last two days, but that “the numbers could go up again”.

Authorities have built a new hospital in Wuhan, the Chinese city where the disease originated, to deal with epidemic.

There are over 30,000 confirmed cases of coronavirus around the world, with over 600 deaths having been reported, the vast majority in China.

Three people have been diagnosed with the virus – which gives flu-like symptoms but can develop into pneumonia – in the UK.

Meanwhile, a British national is reportedly being treated for the disease after being tested on a quarantined ship off the coast of Japan.

WHO has declared an international health emergency over what it called an “unprecedented outbreak”.

The director general of the United Nation’s health body also urged countries to share detailed case reports with the organisation “immediately”.

Additional reporting by Reuters