One month ago, the World Health Organization declared the outbreak of novel coronavirus disease, COVID-19, a pandemic.
The global health authority made this call a little late, according to experts — the virus, which was first reported to the organization just over 100 days ago, had already shown the ability to kill and spread between people, and had been found in several countries.
Back when the WHO made that declaration on March 11, there were only around 128,000 confirmed cases worldwide. Canada had only reported 103 cases.
A lot has happened in a month. Here’s a look at some of the big developments.
March 11 – Pandemic declared
“We’re deeply concerned both by the alarming spread and severity, and the alarming levels of inaction,” said WHO director-general Dr. Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus during his announcement.
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The WHO expected the COVID-19 outbreak to grow, and decided to call it a pandemic for this reason, he said.
1:46Coronavirus outbreak: WHO declares COVID-19 a global pandemic
Coronavirus outbreak: WHO declares COVID-19 a global pandemic
Declaring a pandemic only draws attention to the problem,
