NEWYORK, March. 15 (Saba) - Corona virus has become officially a global epidemic, according to the World Health Organization (WHO), as many countries have announced decisive action to contain the epidemic, amid an increase in infections and deaths around the world.
WHO Director Tedros Adhanom held a press conference in Geneva, Switzerland, in which he stressed that the Corona virus could be classified as a global epidemic.
The number of cases outside China has increased 23-fold in the last two weeks, he said.
The Director of WHO noted that COFD-19 could now be classified as a pandemic, which had never seen a pandemic from corona virus in the past, and expressed concern that states were not taking action to reduce corona.
The state of the global epidemic is declared when a new disease, which humans are not immune to, spreads more than expected around the world, as defined by the World Health Organization, which notes that the description of a global epidemic is not related to the severity of the disease, but to its geographical spread.
"Describing the situation as a pandemic does not change the assessment of the risk posed by THE CORONA virus," he said. "This doesn't change what WHO is doing, it doesn't change what countries have to do."
He added that the number of casualties, deaths and affected countries will increase "in the coming days and weeks," and reiterated his call for countries to act to "contain" the epidemic, which has killed more than 4,000 people.
Australian Professor Nigel McMillan was quoted by the Guardian as saying that declaring a state of the global epidemic should alert health authorities in all countries "to move beyond stopping when the travel ban is announced," including equipping hospitals to receive more expected patients.
UN Secretary-General António Guterres called on all countries to step up efforts to combat the new corona virus if they want to get an opportunity to end the outbreak.
"Today's announcement of a pandemic is a call for action for everyone everywhere," Guterres was quoted by AFP as saying in a statement.
"We are still able to change the course of this pandemic, but this requires addressing the lack of action," he said, calling on "all governments to act and strengthen their efforts immediately."
"Science says that if states conduct detection, testing, treatment, isolation and tracking and mobilize people to address, we can make strides in reducing transmission," Guterres said.
Guterres stressed that the declaration of a pandemic "is also a call for responsibility, solidarity and the Union of Nations and Peoples. "As we fight the virus, we cannot allow fear to spread."
"We must show solidarity with the most vulnerable with the elderly, the sick, those who do not have health care to depend on them and those on the brink of poverty," he said.
Guterres' call comes shortly after a similar call by the World Health Organization (WHO), which now considers Coved 19 to be a pandemic, expressing concern about the world's "alarming levels of inaction."
Against the backdrop of the Corona pandemic, the UN Security Council decided to limit its meetings this month after the United Nations postponed major meetings scheduled for March and April.
The number of new HIV infections has continued to decline in China, with the country's National Health Commission reporting 15 cases of corona on Wednesday, down from 24 the previous day.
China has also reported 11 new deaths, bringing the number of deaths to 3,169 and the number of infections to 80,793 to date.
South Korea recorded 114 new infections and 6 deaths from the Corona virus.
In contrast, the virus has spread rapidly in Italy and many European countries, and has continued to spread in many Asian countries, the Middle East and the Gulf states.
More than 22.3,000 people have died in Europe, including 930, according to an AFP count based on official data released yesterday.
Italy recorded about 60% of all MERS-CoV infections outside mainland China. More than 12,000 people have been infected with the epidemic in Italy, of whom 827 have died.
The Italian Prime Minister announced the closure of all stores across the country, with the exception of those selling food and pharmacies, in an unprecedented measure to curb the spread of the virus.
The British Ministry of Health said the number of confirmed HIV infections in the country had risen to 456, compared to 373 yesterday, and the number of CoV-related deaths had stabilized at six.
In the Netherlands, authorities said the number of people living with the epidemic in the country on Wednesday jumped by a third to 503, and the number of deaths from HIV infection in the Netherlands increased from four to five.
In Spain, the number of people infected in the country in 2002, and deaths 47, Wednesday saw a significant acceleration in the number of confirmed infections in Qatar, Iran, Bahrain and other countries.
Qatar's Ministry of Health has reported 238 new confirmed cases of the virus, explaining at a press conference that the infected people are in contact with the three cases that were reported to be infected with the virus last Sunday, and are living in one residential complex.
In Iran, the Ministry of Health said the number of deaths from the virus rose to 354 after 63 new deaths were recorded, while the number of infections reached 9,000 after 958 new infections were recorded in the past 24 hours.
In Bahrain, health authorities said they had recorded 77 new HIV infections, which were for citizens evacuated from Iran, bringing the total number of infections in the country to 189.
The Kuwaiti Cabinet decided to suspend all passenger flights to and from the country with the exception of freight flights, and the authorities also declared a public holiday in the country for the public and private sectors from March 12 to 26.
In Palestine, the Government said that 30 people had been injured.
In Lebanon, the authorities recorded the second death of the corona virus and monitored eight new infections, bringing the number of infections to 61.
The Lebanese government has announced a three-day suspension of work in all state departments with the aim of sterilizing workplaces, and the Restaurant Owners' Union has announced the closure of all restaurants in the country.
I.M
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