The World Health Organization declared on Wednesday that COVID-19 is now a global pandemic.
Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, who is the director of the UN agency, said they’ve been monitoring the situation extremely closely and “are deeply concerned both by the alarming levels of spread and severity.”
The disease, which was unknown to health officials just three months ago, has rapidly spread to more than 118,000 cases in 114 countries, with 4,291 people having died.
? BREAKING ?
"We have therefore made the assessment that #COVID19 can be characterized as a pandemic"-@DrTedros #coronavirus pic.twitter.com/JqdsM2051A
— World Health Organization (WHO) (@WHO) March 11, 2020
“In the past two weeks, the number of cases of COVID-19 outside China has increased 13-fold, and the number of affected countries has tripled,” Tedros said.
The World Health Organization feel that the current mark of 118,000 cases will continue to rise in the following weeks, along with the death toll.
Tedros continued in his address, “Pandemic is not a word to use lightly or carelessly. It is a word that, if misused, can cause unreasonable fear, or unjustified acceptance that the fight is over, leading to unnecessary suffering and death.”
According to Tedros, despite the coronavirus being labelled a pandemic the WHO’s assessment level of the threat posed by the virus hasn’t changed.
Their approach to handling the outbreak of the virus will stay the same as well.
“More than 90 percent of cases are in just four countries, and two of those – China and the Republic of Korea – have significantly declining epidemics,” said Tedros. “We cannot say this loudly enough, or clearly enough, or often enough: all countries can still change the course of this pandemic.”
The World Health Organization is encouraging countries to treating “detect, test, treat, isolate, trace, and mobilize,” pointing out that those techniques have been shown by some countries to help suppress and control coronavirus.
“We know that these measures are taking a heavy toll on societies and economies, just as they did in China.” said Tedros. “All countries must strike a fine balance between protecting health, minimizing economic and social disruption, and respecting human rights.”
Tedros offered up five ‘P’ words to use as guidance when considering coronavirus: prevention, preparedness, public health, political leadership, and people.
“We’re in this together, to do the right things with calm and protect the citizens of the world. It’s doable.”
The announcement comes on the heels of Justin Trudeau announcing the Canadian Government will be allocating a $1-billion response fund to mitigate risks.
CHEK News
