The World Health Organization (WHO) has officially declared the outbreak of Coronavirus a Pandemic disease.

The Director-general of WHO, Dr. Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus has made the announcement at a press conference on Wednesday.

He said:

 “Over the past two weeks, the number of cases of COVID-19 outside China has increased thirteenfold and the number of affected countries has tripled. There are now more than 121,000 cases in 118 countries, according to statistics from researchers at Johns Hopkins University.

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. We’re deeply concerned both by the alarming spread and severity, and the alarming levels of inaction.”

For these reasons, he said, the WHO determined that the disease outbreak should be called a Pandemic.

“We have never before seen a pandemic sparked such as Coronavirus,” he said. “And we have never before seen a pandemic that can be controlled.”

Also Read: Coronavirus: Safety Health Measures Beyond the Surgical Mask and Hand Sanitizers

China Shuts All Temporary Coronavirus Hospitals in City of Wuhan

COVID-19: Global Businesses Hampered as Top Companies Bans Business Trips

Trump Jr. defends saying Democrats want millions to die from coronavirus

Dangote Donates N200m To Contain the Spread Coronavirus in Nigeria

“If countries detect, test, treat, isolate, trace and mobilize their people in their response, then those with a handful of cases can prevent those cases becoming clusters, and those clusters becoming community transmission.”

More than 90% of cases of COVID-19 are in just four countries, he noted, and both China and South Korea have recently seen declines in new cases.

 He continued;

 “We’re deeply concerned both by the alarming levels of spread and severity and by the alarming levels of inaction. We have rung the alarm bell loud and clear. We cannot say this loudly enough or clearly enough or often enough, all countries can still change the course of this pandemic.

Some countries are struggling with a lack of capacity. Some countries are struggling with a lack of resources. Some countries are struggling with a lack of resolve”, the DG regretted.