No time for complacency in virus battle, says WHO chief

Countries praised for sacrifices as pandemic declared

On Wednesday the World Health Organization declared COVID-19 a pandemic and criticized some countries for a lack of resolve in fighting the novel coronavirus.

Over the last two weeks the number of cases of COVID-19 outside China has increased 13-fold and the number of affected countries has tripled, WHO announced at a news conference in Geneva.

WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said that the WHO expects to see the number of cases, deaths and affected countries climb even higher in the days and weeks ahead.

"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. "We have therefore made the assessment that COVID-19 can be characterized as a pandemic."

Tedros said that 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," he said.

The WHO chief said that describing the situation as a pandemic does not change the organization's assessment of the threat posed by the virus, nor does it change what the WHO is doing or what actions countries should take.

"We have never before seen a pandemic sparked by a coronavirus. And we have never before seen a pandemic that can be controlled at the same time," he said.

He reiterated his comments of Monday, that merely looking at the number of cases and the number of countries affected does not tell the full story. Of the 118,000 cases reported globally in 114 countries, more than 90 percent are in four countries: China, Italy, South Korea and Iran. WHO figures suggest that in two of those countries, China and South Korea, the epidemic is significantly declining. Tedros emphasized that all countries can still change the course of this pandemic.

WHO expressed its appreciation for the aggressive measures taken in Iran, Italy and South Korea to slow down and control the spread of the virus. "We know that these measures are taking a heavy toll on societies and economies, just as they did in China," he added.

He noted that some countries are struggling with a lack of capacity and resources. "Some countries are struggling with a lack of resolve," he said, without naming names.