‘Asia, vulnerable to Zika’

GENEVA: The Zika virus linked to a microcephaly outbreak in Latin America could spread to Africa and Asia, with the world’s highest birth rates, the World Health Organisation warned as it launched a global response unit against the new emergency.

The WHO on Monday declared an international public health emergency due to Zika’s link to thousands of recent birth defects in Brazil.

"We’ve now set up a global response unit which brings together all people across WHO, in headquarters, in the regions, to deal with a formal response using all the lessons we’ve learned from the Ebola crisis," said Anthony Costello, WHO director for maternal, child and adolescent health.