{"id":38147,"date":"2020-03-12T03:00:46","date_gmt":"2020-03-12T02:00:46","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.cde.ual.es\/?p=38147"},"modified":"2021-12-19T13:56:17","modified_gmt":"2021-12-19T12:56:17","slug":"covid-19-coronavirus-is-a-pandemic","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.cde.ual.es\/en\/covid-19-coronavirus-is-a-pandemic\/","title":{"rendered":"COVID-19 coronavirus is a pandemic"},"content":{"rendered":"

The director of the World Health Organization has officially characterized the coronavirus COVID-19 as a pandemic.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

Tedros Adhanom Gebreyesus said that thousands of people are fighting for their lives in hospitals, and that the number of deaths and cases is expected to increase even more within the next days.<\/strong><\/p>\n

\u201cWHO has been assessing this outbreak around the clock and we are deeply concerned both by the alarming levels of spread and severity, and by the alarming levels of inaction.\u00a0We have therefore made the assessment that COVID-19 can be characterized as a pandemic\u201d\u00a0said Tedros.<\/p>\n

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. There are now more than 118,000 cases in 114 countries, and 4,291 people have lost their lives.<\/p>\n

“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” said Tedros.<\/p>\n

What does the consideration of a pandemic change?<\/h3>\n

“Describing the situation as a pandemic does not change WHO\u2019s assessment of the threat posed by this virus. It doesn\u2019t change what WHO is doing, and it doesn\u2019t change what countries should do”, added.<\/p>\n

The leader of the World Health Organization said that we have never before seen a pandemic sparked by a coronavirus.” And we have never before seen a pandemic that can be controlled.”<\/p>\n

\u201cAs I said before, just looking at the number of cases and the number of countries affected does not tell the full story.\u00a0Of the 118,000 cases reported globally in 114 countries, more than 90 percent of cases are in just four countries, and two of those \u2013 China and the Republic of Korea – have significantly declining epidemics.\u00a081 countries have not reported any cases, and 57 countries have reported 10 cases or less.\u201d<\/p>\n

All countries have the power to change the course of this pandemic,<\/strong> Tedros said.<\/p>\n

The director asked all the countries to:<\/p>\n