Wuhan shuts down, as WHO mulls 'global emergency'

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EDITORS PLEASE NOTE: REMOVING REFERENCE OF WUHAN BEING A CITY OF 9 MILLION.

The World Health Organization said that it will decide on Thursday (January 23) whether to declare a global emergency over the outbreak of a new coronavirus spreading from China.

If it does so it will be only the sixth international emergency to be declared in the last decade.

And the W-H-O Director-General in Geneva said a declaration would come only after heavily deliberation.

(SOUNDBITE) (English) WORLD HEALTH ORGANIZATION DIRECTOR-GENERAL, TEDROS ADHANOM GHEBREYESUS, SAYING:

"The decision about whether or not to declare a public health emergency of international concern is one I take extremely seriously and one am only prepared to make with appropriate consideration of all the evidence."

Deaths from China's new coronavirus virus rose to 17 on Wednesday with more than 540 cases confirmed.

The previously unknown coronavirus strain is believed to have emerged from an animal market in the central Chinese city of Wuhan.

State media reported the city is closing its transport networks and advising citizens not to leave the city.

Cases have cropped up in Beijing, Shanghai, South Korea, Japan, and at least one in the United States.

Travelers from China to the U.S. are now screened at five American airports.

(SOUNDBITE) (English) DIRECTOR OF THE NATIONAL INSTITUTE OF ALLERGY AND INFECTIOUS DISEASES, DR. ANTHONY FAUCI, SAYING:

"The risk to the United States for this to be a big problem or even a problem at all is very low."

Anthony Fauci of the U.S. National Institutes of Health said the N-I-H was taking the outbreak seriously but that the American public needn't panic.

(SOUNDBITE) (English) DIRECTOR OF THE NATIONAL INSTITUTE OF ALLERGY AND INFECTIOUS DISEASES, DR. ANTHONY FAUCI, SAYING:

"All the various agencies that are involved in the federal government response are taking this very seriously. But the message to the general public is that this is something that you should not be worrying about at night, that this is going to be some sort of serious issue for you."

Fauci said the N-I-H had begun process of working toward a vaccine, but it likely would be some time before one was ready.