The coronavirus outbreak started in Wuhan, China, and has spread across the world, infecting over 79,000 people and killing over 2,000.Outside of China, the virus has infected over 2,000 people and resulted in 23 deaths.The WHO believes that China's efforts to contain the virus have severely limited the severity of the outbreak.However, they noted the especially severe increase of cases in Iran, Italy and South Korea.According to WHO executive director Mike Ryan, WHO teams will arrive in Iran on Tuesday to address the country's outbreak.However, Ryan added that they needed to take care with the first wave of infected in Iran, as they may only be detecting severe cases with a higher death rate.Despite how widespread the outbreak is, the WHO has still not labeled it a pandemic."Now is the time to prepare," Ryan said. "It's time to do everything you would do to prepare for a pandemic. But to call it a pandemic, it's still too early."He added that they are still trying to prevent this reality.The preparations nations have made in fighting the virus have caused nations to be better suited to slow the tide of the outbreak, WHO director-general Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus explained, adding that while only one country could test for the virus at the start of the outbreak, now there are over 40.Daily media briefing on #COVID19 with @DrTedros https://t.co/ChotCy0r1k
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WHO director Sylvia Briand added that most, if not every country, has a preparation plan for the virus.