GENEVA, Jan. 29 (Xinhua) -- World Health Organization (WHO) Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said Wednesday that he is very encouraged by the Chinese leadership's efforts to fight the new coronavirus outbreak in China.

Tedros said that the fact that to date the virus has claimed no lives outside China should be largely attributed to China's extraordinary efforts in sharing information on the virus and containing the outbreak within the country's borders. Therefore the world owes a debt of gratitude to China, he said.