The World Health Organization has officially declared COVID-19 a pandemic.
To date, nearly 125,000 coronavirus cases have been reported from 118 countries; more than 4,000 people have lost their lives to the infectious disease.
“We are deeply concerned both by the alarming levels of spread and severity, and by the alarming levels of inaction,” WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said on Wednesday.
“We have therefore made the assessment that COVID-19 can be characterized as a pandemic,” he announced.
The term, which refers to a disease epidemic that has spread across a large region (think Bubonic Plague, smallpox, tuberculosis, HIV/AIDS), is not to be thrown around carelessly.
“It is a word that, if misused, can cause unreasonable fear,” Tedros explained, “or unjustifiable acceptance that the fight is over, leading to unnecessary suffering and death.”
WHO made its evaluation based on two main factors: Speed and scale of transmission, and lack of political commitment needed to control the virus.
“Let me be clear,” Tedros said. “Describing this as a pandemic does not mean that countries should give up. The idea that countries should shift from containment to mitigation is wrong and dangerous.”
On the contrary, this is a controllable pandemic—one that requires nations to “strike a fine balance between protecting health, preventing economic and social disruption, and respecting human rights.”
“We cannot say this loudly enough, or clearly enough, or often enough,” he continued. “All countries can still change the course of this pandemic.”
The Director-General doesn’t want people to focus too much on one daunting expression, though.
“Let me give you some other words that matter much more, and that are much more actionable,” he said. “Prevention. Preparedness. Public health. Political leadership.
“And most of all, people,” Tedros added. We’re in this together, to do the right things with calm and protect the citizens of the world. It’s doable.”
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