What is Health Emergency of International Concern? ?

The coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19)

The coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) outbreak originating in China and reported to WHO on Dec 31, 2019, suggests that little has changed. The PHEIC declaration for COVID-19 occurred well after most public health experts had concluded that this outbreak posed a major international threat. At the first Emergency Committee meeting on Jan 22, 2020 (309 cases and six deaths reported in mainland China; five confirmed cases in four countries or territories), the Emergency Committee said it did not have key facts from China. It extended the meeting to the next day, when cases had risen to 571, with 17 deaths and ten cases in seven other countries or territories. Yet, the Emergency Committee could not achieve consensus, and the Director-General concluded that the outbreak was “an emergency in China, but it had not yet become a global health emergency