Germany warns that the coronavirus outbreak has turned into a global pandemic, as countries around the world bolstered supplies and boosted protective measures in a bid to slow the rapid rise of the deadly disease.
More than 90,000 people have been infected and around 3,200 have died worldwide from the virus, the vast majority in China where COVID-19 first emerged late last year.
Germany’s health minister says the outbreak has become a pandemic — defined as an epidemic that spreads throughout the world through local transmission.
“The coronavirus outbreak in China has become a global pandemic,” Jens Spahn tells German lawmakers.
“The situation is changing very quickly… What’s clear is that we have not yet reached the peak of the outbreak.”
The World Health Organization (WHO) has so far stopped short of declaring a pandemic, though it has said the world must prepare for the possibility.
The virus has reached 81 countries and territories around the world, with South Korea, Iran and Italy emerging as hotspots outside China.
— AFP
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