COVID­-19 now a pandemic

Key Facts

• The World Health Organization (WHO) said that according to its assessment, COVID 19 can be characterized as a pandemic
• According to the WHO, a pandemic is declared when a new disease for which people do not have immunity spreads around the world beyond expectations. It noted with concern that 1,18,000 positive cases had been reported in 114 countries, and more than 90% of cases were in just four.

What is a pandemic?

• The description is reserved for an infectious disease where we see significant and ongoing person-to-person spread in multiple countries.
• The last time a pandemic occurred was in 2009 with swine flu, which experts think killed hundreds of thousands of people.
• Pandemics are more likely if a virus is brand new, able to infect people easily and can spread from person to person in an efficient and sustained way.
• Coronavirus appears to tick all of those boxes.
• With no vaccine or treatment that can prevent it yet, containing its spread is vital.

Why is the term being used now?

• At the end of February, Dr. Tedros said while coronavirus "absolutely" had pandemic potential it was not there yet because "we are not witnessing uncontained global spread".
• What has changed is the number of countries dealing with cases. There have now been 118,000 in 114 countries.