hankyoreh

On Mar. 11, the World Health Organization (WHO) has officially declared a global pandemic as the novel coronavirus continues its spread throughout the world. “In the past two weeks the number of cases outside China has increased thirteenfold and the number of affected countries has tripled,” said WHO Director-General Dr. Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus at the beginning of a press conference at WHO’s headquarters in Geneva, Switzerland. “In the days and weeks ahead, we expect to see the number of cases, the number of deaths, and the number of affected countries climb even higher,” he added. Ghebreyesus emphasized WHO’s careful deliberations in describing the coronavirus outbreak as a pandemic, saying, “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.”