As the Coronavirus continues to reach new locations, the Worldwide Health Organization has labeled the outbreak as a ‘pandemic.’
According to Deadline, the number of countries affected by the Coronavirus within the last two weeks has tripled.
However, Worldwide Health Organization director-general Dr. Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus says that the virus “can be controlled.”
“WHO has been assessing this outbreak around the clock, and we are deeply concerned both by the alarming levels of spread and severity and by the alarming levels of inaction,” he said.
Ghebreysus is worried that calling the outbreak a pandemic, will send the world into a frenzy, however, the virus isn’t anything to take “lightly.”
“Pandemic is not a word to use lightly or carelessly. It is a word that, if misused, can cause unreasonable fear, or unjustified acceptance that the fight is over, leading to unnecessary suffering and death,” Ghebreysus continued.
He also explained current statistics regarding the virus, stating that over 90% of cases are in four countries and China and South Korea, Deadline reports.
The virus so far has affected 114 countries and over 118,000 individuals, with 4,291 of those cases being fatal.
The virus also has not been reported in 81 countries, and 57 countries that have reported cases have been significantly low numbers as in 10 or less.
Ghebreysus also revealed that in South Korea and China, where the virus originally began to spread, have had “significantly declining epidemics.”
“If countries detect, test, treat, isolate, trace, and mobilize their people in the response, those with a handful of cases can prevent those cases becoming clusters, and those clusters becoming community transmission,” Ghebreysus continued.
According to the Centers For Disease Control (CDC) to date, 38 people in the United States have reportedly passed away from the Coronavirus.
The virus continues to spread throughout the United States each day, with New York, Washington, and California all having over 150 confirmed cases.
More states are beginning to test for the virus, as the total number of affected patients rises each day.
