Coronavirus News
Coronavirus WHO raises global coronavirus risk to “very high”
WHO says coronavirus is not yet a pandemicWHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus. Photo: Fabrice Coffrini/AFP via Getty ImagesThe World Health Organization will not yet call the coronavirus a pandemic, claiming that needs across affected countries are too varied and the classification would increase fear, director-general Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said during a briefing Monday. Context: WHO…
Coronavirus
WHO says coronavirus is not yet a pandemic
WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus. Photo: Fabrice Coffrini/AFP via Getty Images
The World Health Organization will not yet call the coronavirus a pandemic, claiming that needs across affected countries are too varied and the classification would increase fear, director-general Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said during a briefing Monday.
Context: WHO considers the classification of a global pandemic when epidemics occur in several countries at once. However, there’s no clear threshold for the number of cases that meet the definition of an epidemic, with the CDC defining it as “an increase, often sudden, in the number of cases of a disease above what is normally expected in that population in that area.”
China confirms coronavirus cases in all regions
Binjiang Dao, at downtown Tianjin, a major port city in northeastern China. Photo: Zhang Peng/LightRocket via Getty Images
Coronavirus has now reached every region in mainland China, with health authorities confirming the first confirmed case in Tibet on Wednesday.
The big picture: 170 people have died and 7,711 confirmed cases in China were reported early Thursday, as the WHO prepares to hold talks on whether coronavirus is a global health emergency. WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus told a news conference the progress of the virus in some countries, “especially human-to-human transmission, worries us.”
Go deeper: What’s happening with the coronavirus
WHO declares deadly coronavirus outbreak a global health emergency
WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus. Photo: Naohiko Hatta – Pool/Getty Images
The World Health Organization declared the fast-spreading strain of coronavirus a public health emergency of international concern, WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus announced Thursday.
Why it matters: Ghebreyesus said the organization made the declaration not because of the outbreak in China, but out of fear it could spread to countries that do not have the capacity to contain it. The threat is WHO’s highest alert level.
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