The World Health Organization (WHO) said on Thursday it was “a bit too early” to declare a new coronavirus a global health emergency as China put millions of people on lockdown amid an outbreak that has killed 18 people in the country and infected around 650 globally. Health officials fear the transmission rate could accelerate as hundreds of millions of Chinese travel at home and abroad during week-long holidays for the Lunar New Year, which begins on Saturday. “It is a bit too early to consider that this is a public health emergency of international concern,” WHO Emergency Committee panel chair Didier Houssin said after the body met in Geneva. WHO chief Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said the committee of 16 independent experts had been divided in its conclusion. “Make no mistake, though, this is an emergency in China. But it has not yet become a global […]