- Title: WHO doesn't see bubonic plague in China as high risk - spokeswoman
- Date: 7th July 2020
- Summary: AMUT PRAKAN, THAILAND (RECENT - JULY 3, 2020) (REUTERS) AIRPORT SECURITY WALKING BETWEEN EMPTY SEATS SOCIAL DISTANCING SIGNAGE ON SEATS VARIOUS OF PEOPLE WALKING INSIDE AIRPORT FLIGHT BOARD
- Embargoed: 21st July 2020 14:45
- Keywords: China WHO bubonic plague disease monitoring outbreak
- Location: GENEVA, SWITZERLAND / BEIJING, CHINA / AMUT PRAKAN, THAILAND / ROME, ITALY / MELBOURNE, AUSTRALIA
- City: GENEVA, SWITZERLAND / BEIJING, CHINA / AMUT PRAKAN, THAILAND / ROME, ITALY / MELBOURNE, AUSTRALIA
- Country: Switzerland
- Topics: Health/Medicine
- Reuters ID: LVA003CLTA79J
- Aspect Ratio: 16:9
- Story Text: An apparent outbreak of bubonic plague in China is being "well managed" and is not considered to represent a high risk, a World Health Organization (WHO) official said on Tuesday (July 7)
Local authorities in the city of Bayan Nur in the Chinese region of Inner Mongolia issued a warning on Sunday (July 5), one day after a hospital reported a case of suspected bubonic plague. It followed four reported cases of plague in people there last November, including two of pneumonic plague, a deadlier variant.
"We are monitoring the outbreaks in China, we are watching that closely and in partnership with the Chinese authorities and Mongolian authorities," WHO spokeswoman Margaret Harris told a U.N. press briefing in Geneva.
"At the moment we are not putting it, considering it high-risk but we are watching it, monitoring it carefully," she added.
The bubonic plague, known as the "Black Death" in the Middle Ages, is a highly infectious and often fatal disease that is spread mostly by rodents. Cases are not uncommon in China although they are becoming increasingly rare.
Harris also urged travellers to wear masks on planes and keep themselves informed as COVID-19 cases surge again in some countries, prompting new restrictions in places like Australia.
She urged people not to be caught off-guard by resurgent local epidemics and quarantine measures, saying: "If it's anywhere, it's everywhere and people travelling have to understand that."
Lockdown measures were reimposed in Australia's second biggest city on Tuesday (July 7), confining Melbourne residents to their homes unless undertaking essential business, as officials scramble to contain a coronavirus outbreak.
(Production: Cecile Mantovani) - Copyright Holder: REUTERS
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