Global death toll in coronavirus rises to 2,872

Coronavirus or Covid-19 has spread to new countries although its first outbreak was reported in China. So far, more than 50 countries have now reported cases of coronavirus.

On Friday, countries from Europe, the United States and Africa—Belarus, Lithuania, Netherlands, New Zealand, and Nigeria— all reported their first cases.

Around 84,000 cases of coronavirus have been confirmed globally, the vast majority of them in China, where 78,961 people have been infected and 2,791 have died.

The number of people who died after being infected with the virus across the globe rose to 2,872.

Meanwhile, Dr Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, a senior World Health Organisation (WHO) expert said in Geneva on Friday that it is unhelpful to declare a pandemic when people are still trying to contain COVID-19, although the WHO has raised the epidemic risk alert to the highest level.

The WHO revised on Friday the risk assessment of the COVID-19 from "high" to "very high" at global level, as an increasing number of cases in more countries were reported over the last few days.

"A Pandemic is a unique situation, in which all citizens on the planet will likely be exposed to a virus within a defined period of time," state-run Xinhua news agency quoted Michael Ryan, executive director of WHO Health Emergencies Programme as saying.

However, in the case of COVID-19, it has been proved that the course of the epidemic can be significantly altered through containment measures and robust public health response, the expert noted.

The word "pandemic" is "colloquial," Ryan said, appealing for actions that go beyond colloquial terms.

The existing data do not support the concept of a pandemic so far, he said, highlighting that China has clearly shown that it is not necessarily the natural outcome of the COVID-19 epidemic if indispensable responses are made quickly.

Source: Agencies

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