The Corona virus outbreak appears to be stabilizing in China.

Each day's news cycle bring stories of new nations and new types of patients impacted.

Islam's holiest site, Mecca, shut to Pilgrim's Japan, which has ordered all schools closed till the end of spring vacation in early April.

They're now wondering whether to stage next summer's Tokyo Olympics.

Here in France, of health authorities scrambling to figure out how victims who had no contact with the most infected area came down with covert 19 two months after the detection of the first cases is, it's still too early to draw conclusions.

How solid is the signs?

Just how much is the world coming together?

As worries grow and stock markets tumble, the French president happens to be in Naples for long scheduled summit, with the north of Italy reeling from this continent.

Worst outbreak.

What precautions?

What helped for a nation whose industrial heart line and tourist trade could be crippled?

How much of a test for Europe and for the world at a time When go it alone, nationalism is on the rise.

Can humanity come together with coordinated, credible crisis management and effective collaboration to face what may or may not be on already out of control pandemic Today in the Friends 24 debate.

How to counter a potential pandemic.

Joining us Dr Jean Jacket Zumba Levski professor of public health manager.

Paris's University of Dick Outta.

How are you?

I'm fine, thank you.

Wanna welcome as well?

She's been on the front lines of the Ebola outbreak in Congo.

Dr.

Sanchez mean sing is with Doctors Without Borders.

Midsouth, soften Tell Thank you.

Matt Yogis Alberti, editor in chief of Push Media.

Good evening.

Thank you.

Which media, which is?

It's an independent media French based.

All right, Thank you for being with us.

Yon Cedric Hanson, Secretary general of the Global Health Security Alliance, joins us from the Normandy capital of Hall.

Thank you for joining us.

Creating the France 24 debate on Facebook and Twitter hashtag f 24 Debate.

Let's start in Geneva, The head of the World Health Organization coming closer, still toe laboring with a pandemic.

He's still holding back, though for now our message continues to be that this virus has pandemic potential.

Once again, this is not a time for fear.

This is a time for taking action now to prevent infections and save lives.

Now doctors Ambrosius.

But if it makes message, there is talk about pandemic potential, and then he's saying, Don't be afraid.

It's not a time for fear.

Potential doesn't mean at all that there is a panda meat going on.

Okay, So define for our viewers what a pandemic is it might be, but it might well not be.

Nobody knows for the moment, and there is a kind of uncertainty there, whether it will turn into what is called the panda me, or whether it will remain and a new type of virus having unordinary epidemics.

Is it a semantic nuance or an important distinction, whether or not it's rather like a kind of a new else?

Although the precautions and the size and the number of people involved, and the capability of the health authorities and the health power everywhere might not be involved the same way, the more the millions of people suspected of having the virus with them, the more it will be difficult to control that so it can be a pandemic, be the name itself means everybody.

While the epidemic is dozens of people, thousands of hundreds of people.

Julie the flu in France's 10,000 people at least go to the hospital for that reason in France annually, and nobody cares.

So it's just more than the purely a question of vocabulary, a question of level of also, And I put it to you, Dr Young Cedric Hanson.

What we're asking is, is it out of control already?

No, it doesn't seem to be out of control.

It's trading.

It's a natural thing for a virus to spread the overpopulation, and it is using the way that it signed through the population movement and things like that.

It would be out of control if our hospitals everywhere would be overcrowded by patients looking for treatment and with large amount of people with a long disease and rest.

Respiratory distress is and is not the case right now, so it is not out of control on DDE.

What we need is to have every citizen to be concerned about how to protect himself on the others, and this is the barrier missions.

Wash your hands at wear a mask, avoid to be in crowded places that this would help to stop the spread of that disease and also one of things that's been talked about is thinking twice before going to the emergency room course.

Yes, think twice, because right now the best treatment is the fruit treatment and home care.

The best treatment if you're touched by that virus, is to take aspirin or acetaminophen or very basic drugs that you can have without prescription to decrease the fever and two to decrease the sore.

So basically most of the people might even be contaminated or infected without notice, because it seems that most of the cases are actually a symptomatic, which means there's no symptoms, no, not even fever or maybe some shivering.

And that's it.

So so the the part off the mind side off the disease, it's a certainly broader than we can proceed it right now we're for accusing on people with symptoms and the people with the severe.

And they are our concern right now with a respiratory distress that those are concerned.

The others.

That's okay.

The others it's okay.

Yeah, well, I think this is a few things there that I that I would just interject with.

So I think first of all, the I you know, I agree with some of Dr Hanson's comments that you know that it's not out of control, that it's a natural phenomenon of a virus to be spreading on dhe.

Certainly that's what we have seen.

Of course, it is a concern that there is a new virus that that is still being studied and and is causing some you know, significant morbidity In some places, however, it is important to remember, like, Dr Hensen said, that there are a lot of cases that that have minimal symptoms or that have very mild symptoms.

In fact, the data suggests that it's about 80% of cases that are reported and diagnosed a mild, and they're probably others that are still milder than that.

But I don't agree with the with the advice to that, every woman should wear a mask.

There's actually no evidence that that wearing a mask in the community is helpful, and I think giving that message is probably just going to spread more fear and panic on they, obviously, for health care workers that are in contact with patients and in close proximity where there is, you know, coughing and respiratory droplets, then it is useful.

But there's after a lot of systematic reviews.

There's no evidence that that people just in the community should be wearing a mask.

Doctors Ambrose.

I just wanted to insist on your question about going to the emergency room, because if you have, if you do are, are infested with this cove in 19 which is actual name of this virus.

And if you start splitting and and shaking the ends off everybody in the or just being close to those people, then you will have more people infested.

So the good thing is, in countries like France, for example, who said call an emergency special called Center and they will tell you where to go, who to see and how to manage.

Because the worst thing if you do have an infects infection with this virus is too, go anywhere and and spread it all over.

So in some countries you have no other possibility to see a doctor degree with doctor saying that I'm wearing.

I'm wearing a mask in most cases because most of the mosque are useless.

I mean, it can prevent you from receiving a split from somebody else, but it doesn't.

Uh, um, if you are having the virus, it will not prevent the others from catching it from you.

And this is probably what happened to those people who whom you don't know what was the source of the virus.

Those people in the surroundings of Paris, probably They met someone whom who you know.

It's the story of a man.

You met the man you met, the man who saw the bear, right?

Nobody knows.

We'll talk more about that in a moment.

We heard at the outset the head of the W H.

O, saying, It's not a time for fear.

Fear is certainly something that's contagious.

It also sells newspapers, the Daily Mail reporting how the pope canceled an event in Rome due to what the Vatican calls a slight illness.

This one day after he was seen blowing his nose and coughing during Ash Wednesday celebrations.

However, it's obviously not that serious, since the spokesman said that Francis would continue with the rest of his days.

Business matter, yogis Alberti.

I'll turn to the only other lay men on this panel besides me, you know, you go through the day oscillating between being reassured and being really worried.

Well, actually if I consider what is, do what my country is doing.

So Italy.

I'm very worried because Italy unfortunately showed how you don't have to do with a crisis like this because way so that the first be viewed when we get to the first news from China the government's tops, the flights to M from China.

And then when China protested because they considered that this measures was was to stronger Ah, well, the government said Okay, we don't need to do any quarantine And, uh, if you want, if you feel sick, please stay at home.

But it was leave to the volunteer of the people.

So, uh, everybody was it was, ah authorized to go everywhere and so And when I heard that the Prime Minister saying that the hospital in Caledonia, which is one of the best of them, the panda me epidemic, saying that it was, ah, their behavior, who was which was wrong because they contaminated a lot of people.

Yes, I said, okay.

But at the same time, the government say everybody is free to do what he wants, because it's not so s not so big.

Mr.

Big Mistake and a big hell to two if you if you catch this.

Ah, sick.

I think I'm just a just a step in there.

So you get some of what you say I think is quite valid that, you know, there was a bit of, you know, potential misinformation through through like media sources, and that differs from what people are told, like from government sources.

However, I think we have to stick with what we know with this virus is that you know there is potential transmission before people you know have significant symptoms.

So there might have very mild symptoms or even during an incubation period.

I think it's important t remember that, You know, closing borders and making really restricted travel restrictions.

It's it's not really going to change practice.

I think the virus is out there, and I think we wait No, no, no.

What I'm saying is that I mean, this happens with many different illnesses that happens with influenza on dhe, you know, viruses that they spread.

And we shouldn't be in this strict sort of containment mode, because what we're seeing now is that you know, these really strict border policies, and it's it's really affecting a lot of it has a lot of flow on effects and and we in MSF of a little bit concerned that this is going to have quite significant impacts on things like essential surgery.

We're new places where we work, like in Yemen and in the DRC.

They already struggle out.

Ministry of Health colleagues struggled to deliver, you know, essential surgeries in care, you know, already in with it without a covert context and the fact that now you know global supply of masks and essential surgical items and drug production could be affected because of thes strict importation and border closes.

And and and then the socio economic effects that it has on populations and people's livelihood is actually could be quite a lot more significant than the Let me bring in the young Cedric Hanson.

You agree that the minuses outweigh the positives when it comes to travel bans.

Oh, yes, Definitely Banning the travel is not a solution that the virus will spread anyway, so it's Ah, the point is we should not consider catching them Barris as a magic thing.

We should consider that when we catch the virus, it's because there is a load off thyroid particles in our clothes environment that is sufficiently high to a trigger the disease inside our body.

So when you cross someone for a few seconds industry, there's no fear.

Even if that person shred some virus particles it very, very little chance you catch the disease.

So So let me ask you.

On that point, Dr Hansen was Leo rightto host of Juventus in the Champions League wins.

Well, as I mentioned on the French side off Fransman Cata, it was not wise to have all those people traveling by bus is because during the travel by bus is that you increase the chances that some of them get infected.

But why they were in the watching the match in the in the place, it's open.

There's lots of wind.

It's the The virus is diluted, the virus particles of value diluted.

So it's not that dangerous to be in a crowd where you have lots of air and and the air is renewed.

So the important there, it's there's no black on white answers.

Oh, yes, I'll know it's It's very subtle, so it's not wise to travel impact environment, but it's not wise to prevent people from traveling that dust upon because the virus will go everywhere.

No matter.

We have to learn to leave with that virus and to protect ourselves in the individual.

I just want to make, especially coming to dr saying, When I was mentioning wearing a mask, I was talking about the patients to protect the others.

Up and off course has professionals for our practice masks, and it's different.

Yeah, that's that's something very brief, everybody.

Not everybody should wear hats in the streets, that's for sure.

Matilda's Alberti, Just Berryessa.

And eventually, yes, I agree with the doctors, but I'm not.

Ah, doctor.

The point is that I so in Italy Ah, very, very bad decisions because ah, yes, that's true that we can't stops.

We can close the borders, but we can check the people over.

We can inform them.

For example, we said some minutes ago that it is important not to go to the emergency rooms.

Well, in Italy we went.

A lot of people went there because we didn't understand what to do after the changing of the decision of the governmental and and then so, um, I think that it would be better before to check and say to the people, Yes, please.

Ah, do this behavior or have these behaviors instead of, Ah, let them go everywhere and let them decide what to do.

I think that in this moment in Italy, we have a lot of self made.

The solutions to protect them.

There isn't there isn't a holistic holistic, not policy is what you're saying.

We're gonna pick up on this point when we come back.