WHO declares virus outbreak as ‘pandemic’

LONDON: The World Health Organisation has declared the global coronavirus crisis a pandemic but also said it is not too late for countries to act.

By reversing course and using the charged word “pandemic” that it had previously shied away from, the UN health agency appeared to want to shock lethargic countries into pulling out all the stops.

“We have called every day for countries to take urgent and aggressive action. We have rung the alarm bell loud and clear,” said Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, the WHO chief.

“All countries can still change the course of this pandemic. If countries detect, test, treat, isolate, trace and mobilise their people in the response,” he said. “We are deeply concerned by the alarming levels of spread and severity and by the alarming levels of inaction.”

The WHO added that Iran and Italy are the new front lines of the battle against the virus that started in China. They’re suffering but I guarantee you other countries will be in that situation soon,” said Dr Mike Ryan, the WHO’s emergencies chief.

Italy weighed imposing even tighter restrictions on daily life and announced billions in financial relief to cushion economic shocks from the coronavirus, its latest efforts to adjust to the fast-evolving health crisis that silenced the usually bustling heart of the Catholic faith, St Peter’s Square.

In Iran, by far the hardest-hit country in the Middle East, the senior vice president and two other cabinet ministers were reported to have been diagnosed with Covid-19, the illness caused by the virus. Iran reported another jump in deaths, by 62 to 354 — behind only China and Italy.

In Italy, Premier Giuseppe Conte said he would consider requests from Lombardy, Italy’s hardest-hit region, to toughen the already extraordinary anti-virus lockdown that was extended nationwide on Tuesday.

Conte said fighting Italy’s more than 10,000 infections — the biggest outbreak outside of China — must not come at the expense of civil liberties.

China’s new worry is that the coronavirus could re-enter from abroad. Beijing’s city government announced that all overseas visitors will be quarantined for 14 days. Of 24 new cases that China reported on Wednesday, five arrived from Italy and one from the United States. China has had more than 81,000 virus infections and over 3,000 deaths. For most, the coronavirus causes only mild or moderate symptoms, such as a temperature and cough. But for a few, especially older adults and people with existing health problems, it can cause more severe illnesses, including pneumonia. More than 121,000 people have been infected worldwide and over 4,300 have died. But the vast majority of people recover.

Cases in Qatar jumped from 24 to 262, and Kuwait announced a two-week shutdown of the country. For the global economy, virus repercussions were profound, with increasing concerns of wealth and job-wrecking recessions.

US stocks sank again in early trading on Wednesday, wiping out most of a huge rally from a day earlier as Wall Street continues to reel from worries about the coronavirus.

The Wall Street plunge followed a steep decline by markets across Asia, where governments there and elsewhere have announced billions of dollars in stimulus funds, including packages revealed in Japan on Tuesday and Australia on Wednesday. Italy’s government announced it was earmarking 25 billion euros (£22 billion) to boost anti-virus efforts and soften economic blows, including delaying tax and mortgage payments by families and businesses.

Britain’s government announced a £30 billion economic stimulus package and the Bank of England slashed its key interest rate by half a percentage point to 0.25%. Normal life was increasingly being upended.

In the US, the caseload passed 1,000, and outbreaks on both sides of the country stirred alarm. Former US vice president Joe Biden and Senator Bernie Sanders, who are vying to take on President Donald Trump in the presidential election, abruptly cancelled rallies on Tuesday and left open the possibility that future campaign events could be impacted too.

In Europe, deaths soared among Italy’s ageing population. Authorities said Italy has suffered 631 deaths, with an increase of 168 fatalities recorded on Tuesday.

In Spain, the number of cases surged past the 2,000-mark on Wednesday.

Belgium, Bulgaria, Sweden, Albania and Ireland all announced their first virus-related deaths.

In Germany, Chancellor Angela Merkel said that if the virus is not halted by vaccines and cures, up to 70 per cent of the country’s 83 million people could ultimately become infected, citing estimates that epidemiologists have been putting forward for several weeks. Germany has some 1,300 confirmed infections.