A decision to declare the outbreak of a new strain of coronavirus in Wuhan an international health emergency has been delayed by a day, announced the World Health Organization (WHO) on Thursday.

Concerned over the widening infection within China and other countries, the WHO Emergency Committee met in Geneva to decide if the outbreak is a "public health emergency of international concern," that warranted a coordinated international response. 

Committee members were split down the middle, with the director general saying more information is needed.

"The decision about whether or not to declare a public health emergency of international concern is one I take extremely seriously, and one I am only prepared to make with appropriate consideration of all the evidence," Dr. Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus told reporters in Geneva.

A WHO team is already "on the ground in China" and "working with local experts and officials to investigate the outbreak and get more information," revealed Dr. Ghebreyesus, saying the committee will have more to add in the meeting on Thursday. 

The low fatality rate of the new virus – 2019n-CoV – was a major reason behind not declaring the outbreak an emergency. With a fatality rate of 3.8 percent, the novel coronavirus appears to be less lethal.

"Other coronaviruses that caused SARS and MERS had a much higher fatality rate," said Professor Didier Houssin of the UN health agency.

Nearly 72 percent of the infected cases were of over 40 years of age, with males constituting 64 percent of these cases. And more than 40 percent of the patients have underlying medical conditions, including diabetes and cardiovascular diseases.

At present, the virus is transmitting from close human-to-human contact, similar to previous coronavirus outbreaks that led to SARS and MERS epidemic. If the chain of the epidemic is human-to-human, then the infection can be controlled, senior WHO officials maintained. 

But "issue arises when other unknown routes of transmissions are occurring. At this point of time, it's not possible to determine all these routes," officials said, adding that the source of the virus is still unknown, potentially limiting containment efforts. 

The virus has infected more than 540 people in Wuhan, capital of central China's Hubei Province, killing 17 people.  A travel ban has been imposed in the city starting from 10:00 a.m. January 23, shutting down public transportation, incoming and outgoing trains, long-distance buses and air travel till further notice, effectively putting everyone in the city in quarantine.

(Cover: Staff move bio-waste containers past the entrance of Wuhan Medical Treatment Center, where some infected with a new virus are being treated, in Wuhan, central China's Hubei Province, January 22, 2020. /AP Photo)