A little over two months since the coronavirus emerged, more than 92,000 people have been infected and over 3,000 have succumbed to it.
The World Health Organization (WHO) recently raised the global risk assessment level to ‘very high’, but many have been questioning why it has yet to declare COVID-19 a pandemic.
By definition, a pandemic is the worldwide spread of a new disease, with increasing and sustained transmission in the general population.
For now, there is comparatively lesser infected cases and slower spread outside of China, South Korea, Italy and Iran.
With the world monitoring the outbreak and appropriate measures in place, Programme Leader (Infectious Diseases), Associate Professor Hsu Li Yang doubts that declaring the coronavirus a pandemic would make much difference.
However, he acknowledged that a declaration by WHO may affect how some places react.
“WHO is still working with member states in an effort to contain the virus. When a pandemic is actually announced, countries will shift to mitigation mode,” he said.
Declaring a pandemic essentially means accepting that the virus can no longer be contained. Mitigation efforts, such as social distancing and school closures, aim to reduce damage from the virus until a vaccine or treatment is available.
Media coverage: