---
title: "WHO Leader Warns of Worldwide Coronavirus Outbreaks"
description: "WHO director-general Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus warned that the coronavirus outbreak could get worse if countries don't nip it in the bud."
date: "2020-02-10"
modified: "2020-02-10"
authors:
  - name: "Dan Robitzski"
    link: "https://futurism.com/authors/danrobitzski"
url: "https://futurism.com/neoscope/who-leader-warns-worldwide-coronavirus-outbreaks"
categories:
  - "Developments"
  - "Health & Medicine"
  - "Medical"
  - "Pathogens"
  - "Viruses"
tags:
  - "2019-ncov"
  - "coronavirus"
  - "health"
---

# WHO Leader Warns of Worldwide Coronavirus Outbreaks

![WHO director-general Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus warned that the coronavirus outbreak could get worse if countries don't nip it in the bud.](<https://futurism.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/02/who-warns-worldwide-virus-outbreak-spread.jpg>)
*\<em\>Image: John Hopkins/Victor Tangermann\</em\>*

The leader of the World Health Organization (WHO) warned on Monday that the coronavirus kown as 2019-nCoV could lead to outbreaks across the world.

"Our objective remains containment," said WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus at a press conference [attended by *CNBC*](<https://www.cnbc.com/2020/02/10/coronavirus-cases-outside-china-could-be-the-spark-that-becomes-bigger-fire-who.html>). "We call on all countries to use the window of opportunity we have to prevent a bigger fire."

Most cases of the disease outside of mainland China have been people who had just [spent time there](<https://futurism.com/neoscope/timeline-china-viral-outbreak-spread-worldwide>) or others who came into contact with them.

But in some countries the virus has continued to spread, leading to local outbreaks, which is what most worries Ghebreyesus.

"The detection of this small number of cases could be the spark that becomes a bigger fire, but for now it's only a spark," Ghebreyesus said at the press conference.

The WHO is sending shipments of supplies like medical masks and gloves, as well as tests for the coronavirus, to countries around the world in an attempt to better arm officials against the viral outbreak, *CNBC* reports.

While most patients who get sick experience [flu-like symptoms](<https://futurism.com/neoscope/symptoms-of-coronavirus>) then recover, [nearly 1,000 patients](<https://futurism.com/neoscope/coronavirus-death-toll-graph>) have died of 2019-nCoV over the last month.

## Author
Dan Robitzki is a senior reporter for Futurism, where he likes to cover AI, tech ethics, and medicine. He spends his extra time fencing and streaming games from Los Angeles, California.

### Author social links  
[Twitter](<https://x.com/danrobitzski>)