Coronavirus updates: WHO urges nations to pull “out all the stops”

The World Health Organization urged governments around the world to pull out “all the stops” in the fight against the increasingly pervasive and deadly outbreak of the new coronavirus.

“This is not a drill. This is not the time to give up. This is not a time for excuses. This is a time for pulling out all the stops,” WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said Thursday.

“Countries have been planning for scenarios like this for decades,” he said. “Now is the time to act on those plans.” 

The U.N. health agency called on all nations to “push this virus back.” 

Nearly 97,000 people in 81 countries have been infected with the virus and more than 3,300 people have died. There have been 11 deaths in the United States — 10 in Washington state and one in California.

California declared a state of emergency after the first death was confirmed there Wednesday. A cruise ship that the victim had traveled on was being held offshore in San Francisco, while all passengers are tested for the virus.

China, the country where the outbreak started, appeared to be over the worst of the epidemic, with daily death and infection rates declining.

The disease’s impact on everyday life is mounting. Some of America’s biggest corporations have told employees in West Coast offices to work from home. The United Nations education agency UNESCO said more than 290 million children were out of school around the world due to closures in more than 20 countries.

Congress on Thursday was poised to approve $8.3 billion dollars in supplemental spending to help respond to the outbreak.