On January 30, 2020, the World Health Organization declared the Coronavirus outbreak a public health emergency of international concern. Health authorities now believe infected people can spread the virus before they begin to show symptoms, increasing the likelihood that they will pass the illness to others. With an incubation period of at least two weeks, symptoms associated with the virus include fever, cough and difficulty breathing. COVID-19 can be deadly and they are taking the issue very seriously and taking precautionary measures.
However, the WHO has been assessing this outbreak around the clock and they are deeply concerned both by the alarming levels of spread and severity and by the alarming levels of inaction. Therefore, on March 11, 2020, the WHO decided to officially make the assessment that COVID-19 can be characterized as a pandemic.
The WHO has further stated that describing the situation as a pandemic does not change the WHO’s assessment of the threat posed by this virus and that it can be controlled. It doesn’t change what the WHO is doing, and it doesn’t change what countries should do. “We have never before seen a pandemic sparked by a coronavirus. This is the first pandemic caused by a coronavirus. And we have never before seen a pandemic that can be controlled, at the same time.”
