The ‘Deeply Concerned’ WHO
The World Health Organization (WHO) has recently declared the disease caused by the novel coronavirus COVID-19, a pandemic. The health officials have recorded more than 120,000 cases across the world and more than 4000 deaths. “WHO has been assessing this outbreak around the clock and we are deeply concerned both by the alarming levels of spread and severity and by the alarming levels of inaction,” said Dr. Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, Director-General of WHO. He further said that calling this outbreak a pandemic does not change WHO’s assessment of the threat posed by this coronavirus. It doesn’t change what WHO has been doing and it doesn’t change what countries should do.
Consequences around the World
Almost 200 people in Italy have died in the last 24 hours due to coronavirus. This is the highest daily increase in deaths registered anywhere in the world since the respiratory illness emerged in China. As a preventive measure, the government of Italy has banned all the non-essential travel and public gatherings throughout Italy until April 3. It has also extended the shutdown of the schools. This outbreak has largely affected the sports sector also. The highly popular American league NBA isn’t an exception. One of the NBA teams, the Golden State Warriors has tweeted that they would be playing Thursday night’s game against the Brooklyn Nets at the chase center-but without fans.
The City of San Francisco has also instituted a ban on gatherings of 1000 or more people to limit the spread of coronavirus. The Virus is slowly expanding its reach in India also. Till the last reports came, almost 60 cases of coronavirus have been confirmed. However, according to health officials, the number of confirmed cases may be up to 65. The state governments and union territories are taking several preventive measures to limit the spread of the virus. In India, any cases of death have not been recorded yet.
