“WHO” Declares a Global Pandemic!
”We are deeply concerned both by the alarming levels of spread and severity and by the alarming levels of inaction,”
The novel coronavirus “SARS-CoV-2” outbreak is now a global “pandemic,” the World Health Organization (WHO) said on Wednesday, March 11th 2020, reassessing the threat beyond the global health emergency it had announced in January. The last time the organization declared a pandemic was in 2019 during the H1N1 swine flu outbreak.
What exactly is a pandemic?
According to the group’s 2010 definition, a pandemic is “the worldwide spread of a new disease” that affects large numbers of people.
Why did officials wait this long to declare the coronavirus outbreak a pandemic?
The WHO previously avoided using this term over fears that it would make people think the virus could not be contained. By Wednesday, however, it had become clear the virus would continue to spread.
The WHO’s announcement does not trigger any new funding, protocols, or regulations. But it is an acknowledgment of reality and a call for urgency.
“We are deeply concerned both by the alarming levels of spread and severity and by the alarming levels of inaction,” WHO Director General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said.
