Health Minister travels to Brussels for extraordinary EU coronavirus meeting

Amid growing concerns over coronavirus, Health Minister Constantinos Ioannou will be rushing to Brussels on Wednesday after the European Union called for an emergency meeting of EU Health Ministers on Thursday.

According to an announcement issued by the Health Ministry, at the meeting, European Ministers will review the data collected so far concerning the virus, before extensively discussing measures that have been implemented by each Member State in view of reducing the chances of coronavirus infection within their borders.

The EU Health Ministers will also review protocols adopted by Member States on the basis of guidelines issued by the World Health Organisation and the European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control regarding the management of suspected or confirmed cases of the virus.

The Ministers will also discuss ways of bolstering protection against coronavirus, as well as ways of improving coordination between Member States.

"The situation is definitely worrisome, this is a serious danger for the public health,” the Commissioner for crisis management, Janez Lenarčič told media.

"We are in constant contact with the Chinese authorities in order to see how we can jointly in cooperation stop the spread of this virus," Lenarčič told reporters. "Now is the time to put our forces together, now is the time to work together, now is the time to do everything we can jointly to stop this epidemic."

By Wednesday, more than 1,100 people had died with some 44,000 confirmed to be infected in mainland China from the coronavirus outbreak that has rippled across the world.