Beijing, Jan 27 (AP) The director-general of the World Health Organisation has flown to China to meet with government officials and health experts trying to contain the spread of a deadly virus that has killed 82 people in China and infected 2,750.

Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, director-general of WHO, said the UN health agency wants "to understand the latest developments and strengthen our partnership with China in providing further protection against the outbreak".

Last week, WHO held off on declaring the virus a global health emergency.

It said China had taken very strong measures — including locking down cities that are home to 50 million people — that the agency hoped would be effective in containing the virus and "short in duration".

Tedros said he would not hesitate to reconvene the WHO emergency committee at a moment's notice if the situation in China changed. He said that could happen "in a day" if that was needed. (AP)

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