Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, director-general of the World Health Organization, said Friday that Europe "has now become the epicentre of the COVID19 pandemic, with more reported cases and deaths than the rest of the world combined, apart from China.”

“More cases are now being reported every day than were reported in China at the height of its epidemic,” he said.

Tedros added that at least 132,000 cases of coronavirus and 5,000 deaths have been reported around the world.

WHO sending additional coronavirus supplies to 28 countries

The World Health Organization also announced that it will provide personal protective equipment to health workers in 28 additional countries.

“We're continuing to support countries to prepare and respond,” Tedros said during a press briefing.

“We have shipped supplies of personal protective equipment to 56 countries, we're shipping to a further 28, and we've sent almost 1.5 million diagnostic tests to 120 countries,” Tedros said. “Every health facility should be ready to cope with large numbers of patients and ensure the safety of staff and patients.”

The World Health Organization urged countries to act quickly and aggressively test to fight the novel coronavirus.

Dr. Mike Ryan, executive director of health emergencies programme at the World Health Organization, recounted his past experience with Ebola outbreaks, with this advice:

“Be fast, have no regrets. You must be the first mover. The virus will always get you if you don’t move quickly.”

Ryan said being prepared is paramount to keeping the virus at bay, adding, “If you need to be right before you move, you will never win.”

“Speed trumps perfection. And the problem we have with society at the moment is everyone is afraid of making a mistake. Everyone is afraid of the consequence of error. But the greatest error is not to move. The greatest error is to be paralyzed by the fear of error,” Ryan warned.

Dr. Maria Van Kerkhove, a WHO infectious disease epidemiologist, said if there are countries that are actively looking and doing aggressive contact finding and starting to report high numbers of cases, “they shouldn’t be punished from that.”

“It’s really important that we support countries in doing the right measures and sometimes that’s going to mean that case numbers are going to increase,” she said.

“In many countries, it’s going to get worse before it gets better,” Van Kerkhove added. “Please look for cases, please do testing and find those cases so we can turn the tide.”