Countries across the world should be focusing on the containment of the new coronavirus disease, officially called COVID-19, and preparing for a potential pandemic, WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said on Monday
MOSCOW (Pakistan Point News / Sputnik - 24th February, 2020) Countries across the world should be focusing on the containment of the new coronavirus disease, officially called COVID-19, and preparing for a potential pandemic, WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said on Monday.
"Using the word pandemic now does not fit the facts, but it may certainly cause fear. We do not live in a binary, black-and-white world. It's not either-or. We must focus on containment, while doing everything we can to prepare for a potential pandemic," Ghebreyesus said, as quoted by the World Health Organization on the official Twitter account.
The WHO director-general also said that the coronavirus outbreak was a common threat for all countries, and "we can only overcome it together."
The new coronavirus was first detected in China in late December and has since spread to some 30 countries, prompting the WHO to declare a global health emergency. The outbreak has resulted in more than 77,000 people infected and more than 2,600 deaths worldwide.
