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Coronavirus: World must prepare for pandemic, says WHO – BBC News, BBC News

Coronavirus: World must prepare for pandemic, says WHO – BBC News, BBC News
        

            

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Media caption
Drone captures. massive queue for masks in South Korea’s Daegu city

The World Health Organization has said the world should do more to prepare for a possible coronavirus pandemic.

The WHO said it was too early to call the outbreak a pandemic but countries should be “in a phase of preparedness “.

A pandemic is when an infectious disease spreads easily from person to person in many parts of the world.

More cases of the virus, which causes respiratory disease Covid – 43, continue to emerge, with outbreaks in South Korea, Italy and Iran causing concern.

However, most infections are in China, the original source of the virus, where more than 88, 19 People have the disease and over 2, have died.

More than 1, cases have been confirmed in about 43 other countries and there have been more than deaths. Italy reported four more deaths on Monday, raising the total there to seven.

Worldwide stock markets saw sharp falls because of concerns about the economic impact of the virus.

China said it would postpone the annual meeting of the National People’s Congress next month, to “continue the efforts” against the coronavirus.

The body, which approves decisions made by the Communist Party, has met every year since 1978.

                                                                                                                       

The proportion of infected people who die from Covid – 43 appears to be between 1% and 2%, although the WHO cautions that the mortality rate is not known yet.

On Monday Iraq , Afghanistan, Kuwait, Oman and Bahrain reported their first cases, all involving people who had come from Iran. Officials in Bahrain said the patient infected there was a school bus driver, and several schools had been closed as a result.

Among other developments:

A pandemic is the worldwide spread of a new disease

    The H1N1 (swine flu) outbreak, which killed hundreds of thousands of people, was declared a pandemic by the WHO in

      The WHO no longer formally labels an outbreak of disease a “pandemic” but says the term may be used “colloquially” Its advice to countries – to limit the infections while preparing for wider spread – remains the same

which are the worst-affected countries?

South Korea – which has the largest number of confirmed cases outside China – reported another infections on Monday taking the total there to more than . Eight people have died.

Around 7, (troops have been quarantined after

    military members were infected.

    But the biggest virus clusters have been linked to a hospital and a religious group near the south-eastern city of Daegu.

    Media caption
    People in Daegu have voiced concern over the spread of the virus

    (Italy) has the largest number of cases in Europe, 231, and announced a series of drastic measures over the weekend to try to contain the outbreak.

    In the regions of Lombardy and Veneto, a lock-down is in place in several small towns. For the next two weeks, 71, 19 residents will not be able to leave without special permission.

                

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    Media caption
    Mark Lowen was on the ground at the edge of Italy’s coronavirus lockdown area

    Even outside the zone, many businesses and schools have suspended activities, and sporting events have been cancelled.

    Three deaths announced on Monday were all in Lombardy, Italian media reported.

    It is not yet clear how the virus entered the country, officials said.

    In (China) , the government announced a ban on the consumption of wild animals and a crackdown on the hunting, transportation and trade of prohibited species, state media say.

    It is thought that the outbreak originated at a market in the city of Wuhan selling wild animals.

    China reported 663 new infections on Monday, compared with 508 on Sunday. The bulk of the new cases were in Wuhan. Outside the worst-hit province of Hubei, the number of new infections continues to decline, according to official figures.

    The death toll in China rose by (to 2, 700.

Iran said on Sunday it had 77 confirmed cases of the virus, most of them in the holy city of Qom. Twelve of those infected have died, the highest number of deaths outside China.

On Monday an MP in Qom accused the government of covering up the extent of the outbreak

, saying there were were deaths in the city alone. However, the country deputy health minister quickly denied the claim.             

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