The World Health Organisation has declared the coronavirus outbreak a pandemic. Photo:AP
By Patryk Krych | The World Daily MARCH 11th 2020
Coronavirus Declared a Pandemic Threat by World Health Organisation
The World Health Organisation (WHO) has officially announced the coronavirus COVID-19’s new status as a pandemic threat. This comes in the face of over 125,000 infections reported worldwide, and an increasing death rate.
A pandemic is defined as a disease that’s started to appear and grow in several countries worldwide, differing from an epidemic in the sense that it is on a much larger scale – where pandemics refer to a worldwide crisis, and an epidemic is far more concentrated on a certain community or area. The declaration of the COVID-19 virus as a pandemic means that the issue has grown to troubling, difficult-to-manage levels.
Dr Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, the WHO chief, spoke on the announcement, stating that "Several countries have demonstrated that this virus can be suppressed and controlled. The challenge for many countries who are now dealing with large clusters or community transmission is not whether they can do the same - it's whether they will."
He added that labelling the virus as a pandemic does not in any way change the WHO’s advice on how to best deal with infection, and the precautions that should be taken. Although, he did express concerns over the "alarming levels of inaction" being taken by most countries in regards to the virus’ spread.
He said that the difficulty for governments lies in having to "strike a fine balance between protecting health, minimising disruption and respecting human rights,” and added that "We're in this together to do the right things with calm and protect the citizens of the world. It's doable."
Initial reports of virus deaths have been recorded in several new European countries as of late, which include the Republic of Ireland, Sweden, and Bulgaria. Infection rates are also heightening. As I write this, there are just under 125,000 reports of infected cases, and over 4,500 deaths. The majority of these numbers come from China, with 80,754 infected reports, and 3,136 deaths, all still rising though not as exponentially as they did on initial outbreak.
Italy is in deep crisis over the virus, with over 12,000 cases having been confirmed and reported, and with a death toll that’s recently risen to over 800 on Wednesday, according to Italian health officials. The immediate shutdown of venues and institutions including schools, museums, clubs and otherwise was also announced by Italian Prime Minister Giuseppe Conte. Michael Ryan, the WHO’s emergencies head, said that at least 900 people in Italy had to be put on intensive care as a cause of the virus’ severity.
"Iran and Italy are suffering now but I guarantee you other countries will be in that situation very soon," Ryan said, adding that the situation in Iran in particular was “very serious,” with over 350 deaths and more then 9,000 cases reported.
By Patryk Krych | The World Daily
