GENEVA — IDINEKLARA na kamakailan ng World Health Organization ang bagong coronavirus bilag isang “a global pandemic.”

Sa isang balitaan sa Geneva sa WHO headquarters, inihayag ni UN health agency, Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, na sa nakalipas na dalawang linggo, 13 beses o naging triple na ang kaso ng COVID-19 sa labas China.

“WHO has been assessing this outbreak around the clock and we are deeply concerned both by the alarming levels of spread and the severity and by the alarming levels of inaction,” aniya.

“We have therefore made the assessment that COVID-19 can be characterized as a pandemic,” dagdag pa ni Tedros.

Mayroon nang mahigit 118,000 kumpirmadong kaso sa 114 bansa at 4,291 bilang ng pagkamatay, habang nasa 81 bansa na lamang ang nananatiling walang kaso sa huling tala.

“We have never before seen a pandemic sparked by a coronavirus. This is the first pandemic caused by a coronavirus,” pagbabahagi ni Tedros.

Aniya, ngayon lamang nakaranas ang mundo ng isang pandemic na maaaring makontrol, habang idinagdag na bigo pa rin ang ilang mga bansa na gumawa ng tamang aksiyon upan mapigilan ang pagkalat ng sakit.

“Describing the situation as a pandemic does not change WHO’s assessment of the threat posed by this virus. It doesn’t change what WHO is doing, and it doesn’t change what countries should do,” ani Tedros.

Sa 118,000 kasong naitala sa 114 bansa, mahigit 90 prosiyento ng kaso ay nasa apat lamang na bansa, kabilang ang China at South Korea—na nakitaan na ng malaking pagbagsak ng bilang ng epidemya.

“If countries detect, test, treat, isolate, trace, and mobilize their people in the response, those with a handful of cases can prevent those cases becoming clusters, and those clusters becoming community transmission,” ani Tedros.

Kailangan din ng mga bansa na maging mahigpit sa pagprotekta ng kalusugan, maiwasan ang pagbagsak ng ekonomiya, at pagrespeto sa karapatang pantao.

“This is not just a public health crisis; it is a crisis that will touch every sector -- so every sector and every individual must be involved in the fight,” pagbibigay-diin ni Tedros.