The (WHO) World Health Organization has on Wednesday, March 12, declared the new coronavirus outbreak, COVID-19, a pandemic.
The director-general of WHO, Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, who made the declaration said the spread and severity of the new coronavirus are alarming.
The virus has infected more than 110,000 people and killed more than 4,000 as the fear of global economic recession mounts.
With the WHO’s declaration of Covid-19 as a pandemic, many are wondering what the latest tag by the world health body means.
This piece highlights five key facts about a pandemic and how it is different from an epidemic.
While epidemic is an outbreak of a disease in a community, a pandemic can be described as the ‘apex level’ when the outbreak spreads rapidly across continents, recording huge fatality rates.
1. Viral, global spread
For a disease to be tagged as a pandemic, it must pose a significant threat to the lives of many people across the world simultaneously.
The new coronavirus is declared a pandemic as it is spreading rapidly through person to person infection in different parts of the world.
2. The fatalities recorded
The number of lives claimed by a disease is also a key factor in determining whether or not it is a pandemic.
However, if the fatalities recorded by a disease is limited to a particular area and is effectively contained from spreading to other parts of the world, such a disease does not qualify as a pandemic.
3. Severity not a key factor
The geographic spread of a disease is more important than its severity for it to be tagged a pandemic.
There are many severe diseases in terms of fatality rate but they don’t qualify as a pandemic because they have limited geographic spread.
Covid-19 has spread to at least 114 countries and territories on six continents, infecting more than 118,000 people and killing more than 4,200.
4. New virus, no vaccine
Another common feature of a pandemic is that the disease is usually new and has no vaccine in place that can cure it.
This is why it usually spreads widely and infects many across the world before it can be contained.
5. Common animal origin
Most of the diseases that end up as pandemic usually have their origins in animal influenza viruses.
The health ministry made the shocking confirmation on Monday morning, March 9, in a statement on the verified Twitter page of Nigeria Centre for Disease Control (NCDC).
According to the ministry, the second case is a “contact of the index case” in Ogun state which was confirmed after testing positive to the virus from quarantine centre.
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