The World Health Organization has labelled the coronavirus outbreak a pandemic as the number of cases surged to some 118,000 in 114 countries, with 4,291 deaths.
The change of terminology from epidemic to “pandemic” followed detailed consultations about the spread of Covid-19 with health experts inside and outside the WHO, said Michael Ryan, executive director in charge of health emergencies, on Wednesday. “We balanced the benefit of galvanising the world to fight the virus against the danger that it would lead to countries giving up,” he added.
A pandemic means a disease is spreading rapidly in several different parts of the world.
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