Joshua Parfitt
CORONAVIRUS has been named as a global ‘pandemic’ by the World Health Organization (WHO).
It comes as the contagious virus has spread to more than 121,000 people across Asia, Europe, the Middle East and parts of North America, with WHO officials fearing infections will continue to rise.
The organisation has been reluctant to categorise the virus as a global pandemic until now, as the declaration is charged with major political and economic ramifications.
“In the past two weeks the number of cases outside China has increased thirteenfold and the number of affected countries has tripled,” WHO Director-General Dr. Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said at a press conference at the organisation’s headquarters in Geneva.
“In the days and weeks ahead, we expect to see the number of cases, the number of deaths and the number of affected countries to climb even higher.
“We’re deeply concerned both by the alarming levels of spread and severity, and by the alarming levels of inaction.
“We have now rung the alarm bell loud and clear.”
He added that, with proper containment, countries can still ‘change the course’ of the coronavirus pandemic.
