WHO withdraw Coronavirus declaration as pandemic

By BBC

25^th Feb 2020

World Health Organization has retracted its earlier warning that put the world on alert that COVID-19 is a pandemic that requires concerted effort from all stakeholders.

WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus explained that the decision to use the word ‘pandemic’ is based on an ongoing assessment of the geographical spread of the virus, the severity of the disease it causes, and the impact on society.

He says at the moment, the world is not witnessing the uncontained global spread of this virus, nor witnessing large-scale severe disease or death,” but what is happening is coronavirus epidemics in different parts of the world, which are affecting countries differently.

A joint WHO-China mission has concluded its visits to several provinces, including Wuhan, the epicenter of the outbreak and found that the epidemic peaked between 23 January and 2 February 2020, and has been declining steadily ever since.

Yesterday there were more than 77,362 cases and more than 2,600 deaths. Outside China, there are now 2,074 cases of COVID-19 in 28 countries, with 23 deaths.

The Countries where the cases have been confirmed so far include Japan, Singapore, Australia, Malaysia, Viet Nam, Philippines, Cambodia, Thailand, India, Nepal, Sri Lanka, Canada, United States of America, Italy, Germany, France, United Kingdom, Russian Federation, Spain, Belgium, Finland, Israel, Sweden, Iran, United Arab Emirates, Kuwait, Egypt Lebanon and the Republic of Korea currently with the highest cases outside china, with 763 confirmed cases and seven deaths.