According to the World Health Organization, the new corona virus has now spread to 115 countries. The WHO sees the next step as coming - and is now talking about a pandemic.
Geneva (dpa) - The World Health Organization now classifies the spread of the new corona virus as a pandemic. That said WHO Director General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus in Geneva on Wednesday.
Tedros criticized the lack of action by states around the world. "We rang the alarm bells loud and clear," said the WHO chief.
According to the WHO, the virus has spread to 115 countries and almost 4,300 people have died. "We expect the numbers to continue to increase in the coming days and weeks," said Tedros. In the past two weeks, the number of cases outside of China has tripled and the number of countries affected tripled. "All countries can still change the course of this pandemic," said the 55-year-old. "Finds, isolates, tests and treats every case and investigates every trace."
"The fact that we now call the situation a pandemic does nothing to change WHO's assessment of the threat from this virus," said Tedros. "It doesn't change what WHO does, and it doesn't change what countries should do."
There are no official WHO criteria for when an illness should be classified as a pandemic. It is commonly understood to mean an illness that spreads unchecked across continents.
The new Coronavirus Sars-CoV-2 was first discovered in China in December and has since spread across the globe. In Europe, Italy is particularly affected by the outbreak. In Germany, more than 1,800 people have been proven to be infected with the virus and three patients have died from it.