“My biggest worry is that there are countries today who do not have the systems in place to detect people who have contracted with the virus, even if it were to emerge,” said Dr Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, WHO Director-General.
“Urgent support is needed to bolster weak health systems to detect, diagnose and care for people with the virus, to prevent further human to human transmission and protect health workers.”

In China, cities have been shut off, flights canceled and factories closed, shutting supply lines crucial to the world economy. Companies including Hyundai Motor, Tesla , Ford, PSA Peugeot Citroen, Nissan , Airbus, Adidas and Foxconn are taking hits.

While the claim expenses associated with the outbreak remain uncertain, medical costs for future treatments may burden insurers. As of 3 February 2020, the Ministry of Finance and local governments have planned to allocate total funding of CNY47bn ($6.7bn) to assume responsibility of medical-related costs.

Worldwide, the virus, so far, has spread to Thailand, Singapore, Japan, South Korea, Australia, Malaysia, Taiwan, Vietnam, Macau, India, Philippines, Nepal, Sri Lanka, Cambodia, United States, Canada, Germany, France, Britain, Italy, Russia, Finland, Spain, UAE and Sweden.

The number of deaths in China from the newly identified virus, which emerged in Wuhan city in the central province of Hubei in December, had risen to 361 as of Sunday, up 57 from the previous day, the National Health Commission said.

The initial pledge towards this fund is RMB 4 million (EUR 520,000), coming in part from Allianz SE’s Disaster Recovery Fund and in part from Allianz’s operating entities in China and the region