WHO panel to reconvene on Thursday to decide if virus global emergency

The World Health Organization's Emergency Committee will meet on Thursday, the third time in a week, to evaluate whether the new coronavirus spreading from China now constitutes an international emergency, the WHO said. "The Committee will advise the Director-General on whether the outbreak constitutes a Public Health Emergency of International Concern (PHEIC), and what recommendations should be made to manage it," the WHO said in a statement issued in Geneva ahead of a news briefing by senior WHO expert Mike Ryan on return from China.

The Emergency Committee, composed of 16 independent experts, twice last week declined to declare a global emergency.