Breaking News: World Health Organization declares Zika virus global health emergency

The World Health Organization (WHO) on 2 February 2016  announced that the explosive spread of the Zika virus in the Americas is an “extraordinary event” that merits being declared an international emergency. The WHO convened an emergency meeting of independent experts to assess the outbreak after noting a suspicious link between Zika’s arrival in Brazil last year and a surge in the number of babies born with abnormally small heads. The last such public health emergency was declared for the devastating 2014 Ebola outbreak in West Africa, which killed more than 11,000 people.

Courtesy: WHO Report