World Health Organization declares Covid-19 as a pandemic

World Health Organization (WHO) has characterized the new coronavirus outbreak as a pandemic, WHO chief TedrosAdhanomGhebreyesus told reporters pointing to the over 118,000 cases of the coronavirus illness in over 110 countries and territories around the world and the sustained risk of further global spread.
An epidemic refers to an uptick in the spread of a disease within a specific community.The declaration refers to the spread of a disease, rather than the severity of the illness it causes.
UN chief Antonio Guterres has urged world governments to urgently scale up their response to the novel coronavirus if they are to stand a chance of stemming its spread.
In a statement, UN Secretary General said, the declaration of coronavirus outbreak as a pandemic is a call to action – for everyone, everywhere. He called on every government to step up and scale up their efforts now.
SARS-CoV-2, the virus that causes COVID-19, is thought to have first jumped from an animal host to humans in Wuhan, China.Cases have now been confirmed on every continent except Antarctica, and secondary disease hotspots have emerged in places such as South Korea, Italy and Iran.