In comments made to Global News, Dr. Bruce Aylward—WHO assistant director-general who has just returned from China where he was investigating the spread of the virus—said that public health measures could “take the heat out of the outbreak” and prevent deaths.

“We’re at a pretty critical point right now,” Aylward said. “We’re seeing evidence that this can actually be contained and controlled, but we’re not seeing that effort to contain and control it. The most critical thing here is speed.”

The health official highlighted China’s response to the virus, where entire cities were shut down and millions of people quarantined.

“China, with some very very rigorous and disciplined application of public health measures, [was] able to take the heat out of the outbreak and bring the case numbers down and save a lot of lives,” he said.

However, as Jeff Goad, professor and chair of the Department of Pharmacy Practice at Chapman University, told MarketWatch, “China can shut down entire cities, which we can’t do.”

Aylward noted that governments should consider health measures such as quarantines, although they should be appropriate to the severity of the outbreak in any given region.

“Remember, this is a virus that can kill somewhere between two and four per cent of the people that it infects,” he said. “It can infect an awful lot of people because the global population has no immunity to this virus as far as we know.”

“So when we talk about the measures, we’re making a judgment about human life here. And people often ask me, is that too much? It depends on how you value your vulnerable populations who are at risk here,” he said.

According to Aylward, the respiratory virus spreads in a similar way to the flu. As a result, he stressed the importance for health officials of tracing and isolating people whom infected patients have come into contact with.

“That can prevent an awful lot of damage to the health of people in a country and to the economies, as we’ve seen in some of the countries affected,” he said. “People have to know what COVID is. It’s a high fever and a dry cough. And people with those symptoms have got to be able to get tested and tested quickly. The vast majority of the transmission is going to be driven by people who have the symptoms as well as their very close contacts.”

The graphic below, provided by Statista, shows confirmed cases of COVID-19 around the world.

There have been more than 98,000 reported cases of COVID-19 around the world, resulting in over 3,300 deaths, according to data collected by Johns Hopkins University. The vast majority of these have occurred in China, while there have been more than 200 confirmed cases in the United States.

Earlier this week, WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said at a media briefing that the virus can be contained if the right measures are taken.

“Containment of #COVID19 is feasible and must remain the top priority for all countries. There is no one-size fits all approach,” Ghebreyesus wrote in a Tweet. “Our message to all countries is: this is not one-way street. We can push this #coronavirus back. Your actions now will determine the course of the #COVID19 outbreak in your country. There’s no choice but to act now.”

“This is a serious disease,” he said in the media briefing. “It’s not deadly to most people, but it can still kill. We’re all responsible for reducing our own risk of infection, and if we’re infected, for reducing our risk of infecting others. There is something all of us can do to protect vulnerable people in our communities. That’s why we keep talking about solidarity. This is not just a threat for individual people, or individual countries. We’re all in this together.”

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) recommends the following actions to help prevent the spread of the disease:

Avoid close contact with people who are sick. Avoid touching your eyes, nose, and mouth. Stay home when you are sick. Cover your cough or sneeze with a tissue, then throw the tissue in the trash. Clean and disinfect frequently touched objects and surfaces. Follow CDC’s recommendations for using a face mask (face masks are only needed for those who show symptoms of coronavirus. )Wash your hands often with soap and water for at least 20 seconds, especially after going to the bathroom; before eating; and after blowing your nose, coughing, or sneezing.