WHO labels Covid-19 as a pandemic

[GENEVA] The new coronavirus outbreak can now be characterised as a pandemic, the head of the World Health Organisation said Wednesday.

"Covid-19 can be characterised as a pandemic," WHO chief Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus told reporters in Geneva.

"We have never before seen a pandemic sparked by a coronavirus."

To date, more than 120,000 people worldwide have been infected with the disease and some 4,300 have died.

A pandemic is a disease that is spreading in multiple countries around the world at the same time.

However, Dr Tedros said it was still not too late for governments to have an impact. "All countries can change the course of this pandemic," he said.

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Governments have to "strike a fine balance between protecting health, minimising disruption and respecting human life".

"We're in this together to do the right things with calm and protect the citizens of the world. It's doable," he said.

AFP