World Health Organization warns of coronavirus "global pandemic"

The World Health Organization (WHO) is concerned about the spread of the coronavirus, especially the spike in cases in Iran, Italy, and South Korea.

The rapid spread of the new coronavirus has the World Health Organization (WHO) concerned.

According to AFP, the World Health Organization has called on the international community to prepare for a "potential pandemic" of the COVID-19 disease caused by the coronavirus.

Tedros Adhanom, the head of the World Health Organization, has called the sudden increase in the number of infected people in Iran, Italy, and South Korea “deeply concerning.”

Iran, which reported its first cases of COVID-19 on February 20, put the death toll at 12 on March 25. Kianoush Jahanpour, head of the Iranian Ministry of Health’s Public Relations and Information Center, announced the number of infected people at 61 on Monday.

While social media has been at the forefront of spreading news about the coronavirus outbreak in various cities in Iran and considers the officially published statistics to be only a fraction of the truth, Jahanpour rejected the statements of the representative of Qom in the parliament that 50 people have died from the disease in this city alone, calling them "a cause of weakening the morale of the people."

Ahmad Amirabadi Farahani, a representative from Qom, called the government’s performance in dealing with the coronavirus “zero” in a public session of the parliament on Monday, saying that even nurses do not have proper quarantine clothing. According to him, “10 people in Qom die every day” from the consequences of the disease.

Corona's Onslaught in Italy

Italy alone has reported more than 200 new cases and five deaths as of Monday. Afghanistan, Bahrain, Kuwait, Oman and Iraq have also reported cases.

Italy has quickly become the largest epicenter of the disease in Europe. Since Friday, five people have died in the country after being infected with the new coronavirus, or "SARS-CoV-2." The number of "corona-positive" patients has also reached 219. Deaths have been reported especially in patients who were elderly and had underlying diseases.

Italian authorities took strict measures after seeing the first deaths from the coronavirus. Ten regions, including Lombardy and Veneto, were quarantined. Carnival in Venice, major football matches and other large gatherings were all canceled. Schools and universities were closed in all affected regions, and many venues and cinemas were closed.

Europe in the face of Corona

Italian Health Minister Roberto Speranza announced an emergency meeting in Rome on Tuesday with his counterparts from neighboring countries, including German Health Minister Jens Spahn, to discuss cross-border ways to combat the coronavirus outbreak.

The German Health Minister has said that if the transmission of the disease increases in Germany, more precautionary measures may be taken in the country. The Robert Koch Institute in Germany is currently examining samples sent in for suspected coronavirus.

Despite the increasing spread of COVID-19, the 26 Schengen countries have not yet felt the need to close their borders and, according to the European Union, there are no border controls planned for the time being. Italy's borders are also still open. The German Foreign Ministry has only asked Italian travelers to put their names on a crisis response list and to monitor the news regularly.

Despite these two suspected cases of coronavirus infection, the train from Venice to Munich was disrupted last night, and Austrian officials did not allow the train to move again until the test results of the two German women were confirmed.

In Mauritania, dozens of passengers arriving from Lombardy and Veneto in Italy were forced to wait for hours on a plane. In addition, in Lyon, France, passengers on a bus from Milan were not allowed to disembark because the driver was showing suspicious clinical symptoms.

China, which was the origin of the disease and whose death toll has now risen from 150 to 2,592, canceled the National People's Congress, which was scheduled for early March, for the first time in its history since the Cultural Revolution.

The jump in the number of "coronavirus positive" patients in South Korea from 161 to 763 has also caused many countries to severely restrict travel to the country.

Source: DW