The death toll from the coronavirus outbreak surged past 1,000 on Tuesday as the World Health Organisation convened a global research and innovation forum to mobilize international action in response to the deadly outbreak.
The forum, being held Tuesday and Wednesday in Geneva, is organised in collaboration with the Global Research Collaboration for Infectious Disease Preparedness.
It brings together key players including members of the scientific community, researchers from member states’ public health agencies, regulatory experts, bioethicists with expertise in research in emergencies, and major funders of research related to the outbreak.
At the opening of the forum, on Tuesday, the WHO Director-General Dr Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, said that it is hard to believe that just two months ago, the new coronavirus which has come to captivate the attention of media, financial markets, and political leaders "was completely unknown to us."
He said: "With 99% of the new coronavirus cases in China, this remains very much an emergency for that country, but one that holds a very grave threat for the rest of the world."
Last week, the WHO said it needs the full support of the entire UN system to prevent further spread of the deadly new coronavirus. The WHO said $675.5 million is needed to implement priority public health measures in support of countries to prepare for and respond to the new coronavirus.
A test for scientific solidarity
The outbreak, he said, is "testing us” in many ways.
"It’s a test of political solidarity – whether the world can come together to fight a common enemy that does not respect borders or ideologies."
It is also a test of financial solidarity, he noted, in view of whether the world will invest now in fighting the outbreak, or pay much later to deal with its consequences.
"And it’s a test of scientific solidarity – will the world come together to find shared answers to shared problems? That’s why you’re here. This is not a meeting about politics or money. This is a meeting about science.”
Participants are set to discuss areas of research, including identifying the source of the virus as well as sharing of biological samples and genetic sequences.
Dr Tedros said: "We need your collective knowledge, insight and experience to answer the questions we don’t have answers to, and to identify the questions we may not even realize we need to ask."
The meeting is expected to produce a global research agenda for the new coronavirus, setting priorities and frameworks that can guide which projects are undertaken first.
"Understanding the disease, its reservoirs, transmission and clinical severity and then developing effective counter-measures is critical for the control of the outbreak, to reduce deaths and minimize the economic impact,” said Dr. Soumya Swaminathan, WHO Chief Scientist.
According to the UN health agency, setting clear global research priorities for the novel coronavirus should lead to more efficient investments, high-quality research and synergies among global researchers.
According to Tedros, "There is still so much we don’t know,” including: the virus’ reservoirs, transmission dynamics, period of infectiousness, which samples should be used for diagnosis and monitoring of treatment, the best way to manage cases of a severe disease, and "what ethical issues we need to be aware of in the way we do our research?”
"To defeat this outbreak, we need answers to all those questions, and more."
"There are also tools we don’t have. We have no vaccine to prevent infections, and no proven therapeutics to treat them.”
The WHO boss noted that "we hope” that one of the outcomes of this meeting will be an agreed roadmap for research around which researchers and donors will align.
"The bottom line is solidarity, solidarity, solidarity."
The latter, he said, is especially true in relation to sharing of samples and sequences.
To defeat the outbreak, he stressed, "we need open and equitable sharing, according to the principles of fairness and equity."
The latest – February 10 – WHO situation report on the outbreak indicated that "no new countries reported cases of 2019-nCoV in the past 24 hours.”
As part of the preventive measures, the national carrier, RwandAir, suspended its route to the Chinese city of Guangzhou where it flies three times a week.
The Minister for Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation, Dr. Vincent Biruta late January met Rao Hongwei, Chinese ambassador to Rwanda, to express solidarity with the people and Government of China on the outbreak.