Sj Desk
The World Health Organisation has warned that the spread of the deadly coronavirus in China could turn into a pandemic, as the virus continues to spread in other countries.
The word 'pandemic' is used to describe a disease that spreads across a whole country or world.
Even as the situation in China, where the virus originated, appears to be calming with the death toll at its lowest for three weeks, the situation is worsening in other countries with more than 2,000 cases and 30 deaths reported outside the mainland. This has promoted the financiaal markets to go into complete chaos.
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Iran, South Korea, and Italy have particularly recorded a sharp increase in the number of infections and deaths.
While the novel virus appears to be spreading to other nations at an alarming speed, WHO chief Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyes insists that the virus could still be contained. He also praised China’s drastic quarantine measures in several cities that helped contain the virus from spreading more.
“For the moment we are not witnessing the uncontained global spread of this virus and we are not witnessing large-scale deaths,” Tedros told reporters in Geneva.
He added, however, that countries should be “doing everything we can to prepare for a potential pandemic.”
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Next to China, South Korea has recorded the highest number of coronavirus cases with 900 infected and 8 dead.
The virus has claimed the lives of at least 12 people in Iran, making it the highest toll outside China.
