The deadly outbreak of a novel coronavirus has the world on edge, but it has not yet developed into a pandemic, according to the World Health Organization.
World Health Organization declares coronavirus a public health emergency of international concernAlthough WHO has declared the outbreak a"public health emergency of international concern," the outbreak has not met the criteria needed to be described as a pandemic when it comes to its geographical spread and impact, WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said during a press briefing with reporters on Monday.
What do you need to know about coronavirus? 02:29"What we don't understand yet in Covid-19 are the absolute transmission dynamics," Ryan said."So we're in a phase of preparedness for a potential pandemic," he said."Let's focus on what we can do and what we need to do, which is prepare. When we mean prepare, we mean prepare to detect cases, prepare to treat cases, prepare to follow contacts, prepare to put in place adequate containment measures.
Dr. Anthony Fauci, director of the US National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, said earlier this month that there is no actual scientific, definitive definition of what constitutes a pandemic."It really is borderline semantics, to be honest with you," Fauci said, adding that there could be arguments on either side as to whether the coronavirus outbreak could be described as a pandemic."I think you could have people arguing each end of it," he said.
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