Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, director-general of the World Health Organization (WHO), on Feb. 20 in Geneva said the rise in the number of COVID-19 cases in Korea is "manageable" in a daily media briefing held at WHO headquarters. This photo shows Tedros on Feb. 17 at a news briefing in Geneva. (Yonhap News)

By Oh Hyun Woo and Kim Minji 

The chief of the World Health Organization (WHO) on Feb. 20 said in Geneva that the rise in the number of COVID-19 cases in Korea is "manageable."

"The total number of cases Korea has so far reported is 104," WHO Director General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus told a daily media briefing at the organization's headquarters in Geneva, adding, "With measures they can take, which is proportionate to the public health risk they have, I think the number of cases (is) really manageable."

"I hope (Korea) will do everything to contain this outbreak at this early stage."

Oliver Morgan, WHO director for health emergency information and risk assessment, said, "Though the number seems quite high, they are mostly linked to known existing outbreaks," adding, "That doesn't signal a particular change in global epidemiology."

hyunw54@korea.kr