Workers wearing protective gears disinfect as a precaution against the new coronavirus at a subway car depot in Seoul, South Korea
The coronavirus pandemic could be over by June if countries follow China's example of strict health measures, a Beijing medical adviser claimed today.
Epidemiologist Zhong Nanshan urged countries to 'get mobilised' and 'intervene on a national scale' to halt a crisis which is now spiralling outside China.
Families wear protective face masks as they walk with their luggage at Tarradellas Barcelona-El Prat Airport
Zhong, who is credited with helping to combat the SARS outbreak in 2003, warned that the current crisis would 'last longer' if countries 'do not treat the infectiousness and harmfulness seriously'.
Beijing says that the 'peak of the epidemic has passed for China' with only a trickle of new cases and the number of new patients in Hubei province falling to single digits for the first time yesterday.
Empty streets in Milan, Italy on March 11 as a man wearing a face mask in Piazza Duomo as restrictive measures are taken to contain the coronavirus outbreak However, the outbreak is worsening outside China and was declared a pandemic by the World Health Organisation.
Italy is among the nations to have taken aggressive measures, shutting schools and shops across the country in a nationwide quarantine.
In the U.S. Donald Trump has imposed a travel ban on Europe but has not announced any measures to stop the spread of the virus within America.
Boris Johnson is facing growing pressure to implement drastic health measures in the UK, but has so far resisted calls to shut schools or ban public gatherings.
Families wear protective face masks as they walk with their luggage at Tarradellas Barcelona-El Prat Airport
Empty streets in Milan, Italy on March 11 as a man wearing a face mask in Piazza Duomo as restrictive measures are taken to contain the coronavirus outbreak
