“It is not yet a pandemic, worry about Italy”

Published on: 02/24/2020 16:31

“The sudden increase in” new coronavirus “cases in Italy, Iran and Korea is deeply worrying. There is much speculation that this increase may indicate that the epidemic becomes a pandemic: we understand why you ask us this. But for the moment we see no need to change the definition. “So the director general of the World Health Organization (WHO), Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus.

“As you know – he said – the WHO has already declared Covid-19 a health emergency of international interest. The decision to use the term pandemic is based on an ongoing evaluation that is based on the analysis of the spread and severity of the virus and its impact on society as a whole. For the moment we are not seeing a spread, but “the new coronavirus” could certainly still have a pandemic potential “. The organization’s Twitter profile reports statements attributed to Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesu: “We must focus on containment while doing all we can for a potential pandemic.”

According to data released by the WHO director general, there are 77,362 cases of Covid-19 in China, where 2,618 deaths are recorded. “The continuing drop in infections in China is encouraging,” said Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus. In the past 24 hours, 416 new confirmed cases and 150 deaths have been recorded in the Asian giant.

Meanwhile, “in agreement with the Italian authorities, a joint WHO-ECDC mission will be sent to Italy tomorrow“European Health Commissioner Stella Kyriakides said at a press conference in Brussels.” In light of recent developments – said the Commissioner – we asked the ECDC to update their risk assessment in view of the situation developing in Italy and possible scenarios and actions that may have to be taken in light of this “.