'Every scenario on the table' in China virus outbreak: WHO's Tedros

Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, WHO director-general, told a news conference in Geneva that China's detailed paper on more than 44,000 confirmed cases provided insight into the age range of infections, disease severity and mortality rates.

Dr. Mike Ryan, head of WHO's emergencies program, asked whether the outbreak was a pandemic, said: "The real issue is whether we are seeing efficient community transmission outside of China and at the present time we are not observing that".

WHO expert Dr. Sylvie Briand said it was working closely with Japanese authorities and the chief medical officer on the Diamond Princess docked off Yokohama on infections and evacuations, adding: "Our focus is on our public health objective that we contain the virus and not contain the people."