WHO says it no longer uses 'pandemic' category, but virus still emergency
GENEVA - The coronavirus outbreak can still be beaten, the World Health Organization said on Monday, insisting it was premature to declare it a pandemic even though it had the potential to reach that level.
"Using the word 'pandemic' now does not fit the facts but may certainly cause fear," he added as the number of cases continued to mount internationally and financial markets spun lower.Tedros said a sudden increase of cases in Italy, Iran and South Korea were"deeply concerning" but for now authorities were not seeing an uncontained global spread of the virus or witnessing widespread serious cases or deaths.
"Does this virus have pandemic potential? Absolutely, it has," Tedros said."Are we there yet? From our assessment, not yet." WHO emergencies programme head Dr Mike Ryan said:"With regard to Iran, again, a little like was originally the case in China, we need to be very careful in the first wave of infections in any newly affected country, because we may only be detecting severe cases and the deaths would be over-represented."
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