With nearly 800 people diagnosed with the mysterious coronavirus sweeping the cities of Wuhan and Huanggang in China, the WHO has determined that the outbreak is an emergency- within China, not on an international scale. So for some insight into the policy responses being carried out, we spoke to Dr Ying-ru Lo, WHO Representative to Malaysia, Brunei Darussalam, and Singapore, about the responses from China and other countries in the region, as well as the policy lessons learned from the SARS apidemic.