By Our Reporter
THE coronavirus outbreak has been labelled a pandemic by the World Health Organisation (WHO).
WHO chief Dr. Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said the number of cases outside China had increased 13-fold over the past two weeks.
He said he was “deeply concerned” by “alarming levels of inaction” over the virus.
A pandemic is a disease that is spreading in multiple countries around the world at the same time.
However, Tedros said that calling the outbreak a pandemic did not mean the WHO was changing its advice about what countries should do.
He called on governments to change the course of the outbreak by taking “urgent and aggressive action”.
“Several countries have demonstrated that this virus can be suppressed and controlled,” he said.
“The challenge for many countries which are now dealing with large clusters or community transmission is not whether they can do the same – it’s whether they will.”
Governments had to “strike a fine balance between protecting health, minimising disruption and respecting human rights”, the WHO chief said.
Norway’s armed forces have cancelled a big NATO exercise involving soldiers from nine countries because of the spread of coronavirus.
About 15,000 soldiers from the United States (U.S.), United Kingdom (UK), France, Germany, the Netherlands, Denmark, Sweden and Belgium had gathered for the Cold Response winter exercise that was set to start today in northern Norway.
The decision was taken after one of the Norwegian soldiers fell ill with coronavirus. About 250 people from his company have been put in quarantine.
However, Maj. Brynjar Stordal from the Norwegian joint headquarters said the reason for cancelling the exercise was that the virus was now spreading in Norwegian society and no longer involved cases that had originated abroad.
“It’s an exercise so there’ll be a time to do it again but now’s the time to focus on supporting Norwegian society,” he told the BBC.
Fears that the coronavirus will spread quickly among large gatherings are continuing to take their toll on cultural events and sports fixtures.
One of the world’s biggest music festivals – Coachella – had been due to take place in California next month with a star-studded lineup. But organisers have shelved it until October. Last year, the Coachella Valley Music and Arts Festival attracted about 250,000 people.
In Spain, the UNESCO-recognised Fallas festival in Valencia has also been postponed.
The festival features giant papier-mache structures that are paraded through the town and on the last night are set alight. Organisers have not set an alternative date.
Also cancelled is Series Mania, a leading European festival featuring upcoming streaming and TV series, due to take place in the northern French city of Lille on March 20. The gathering was expected to draw more than 80,000 people.
The E3 gaming expo, a huge video game industry event scheduled for June in Los Angeles, has been cancelled, its organisers said.
In sport, the English Premier League match between Manchester City and Arsenal was postponed yesterday amid news that several Arsenal players were going into self-isolation. The players and some team staff had come into contact with Evangelos Marinakis – owner of the Greek team Olympiacos – who has contracted the virus. Arsenal and Olympiacos met in a February 27 Europa League tie at the Emirates Stadium in London.
Also yesterday, UK Health Minister Nadine Dorries told the BBC that a member of her parliamentary staff has also been infected with the virus.
Ms Dorries was confirmed as having Covid-19 yesterday.
She didn’t name the staff member, but according to the parliamentary register of MPs’ staff, she employs three people – one of whom is her daughter.
The number of confirmed cases in the UK has now reached 456, the biggest rise in a single day.
The Department of Health confirmed there had been 83 more cases since Tuesday.
NHS England has announced plans to expand the number of people it can test in a day to 10,000, up from 1,500.
Ms Dorries posted in a WhatsApp group of Tory MPs that if any of them had sat next to her last week in the “tea room or library etc”, to please let her know, because it was “hard to remember” everyone she had come into contact with.
Earlier on Wednesday, German Chancellor Angela Merkel warned that up to 70% of her country’s population – some 58 million people – were likely to get infected with the coronavirus.
That figure came from scientists at the country’s public health body, the Robert Koch Institute, and was set against the context of lack of vaccine and specific treatment available for Covid-19.
But another German health expert has disagreed with this, saying it’s unlikely that two-thirds of Germans will get the virus.
YouTube televangelist Jim Bakker is being sued by a US state’s attorney general for pushing a bogus coronavirus “cure” on his show.
In the episode last month, Bakker claimed colloidal silver – a liquid that contains tiny particles of silver – could treat the virus, which has infected more than 1,000 people and killed 31 in the US.
He has long pushed what he calls “Silver Solution” as a cure-all for different ailments.
The video led to the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) and the New York Attorney General’s Office to immediately send him cease-and-desist letters.
Italy is in a national lockdown and health systems in parts of the north are struggling to cope. China has offered a helping hand.
Chinese President Xi Jinping had declared the epidemic in Wuhan, where the virus first emerged, as “virtually curbed”. Now, in a powerful signal, China is sending aid to Italy.
China has offered 100,000 face masks, 20,000 protective suits and 1,000 ventilators to Italy. Chinese state media said the Red Cross Society of China was even considering sending a medical team to Italy.
Late last night, EU Commission President Ursula von der Leyen announced a €25bn (£22bn; $28bn) Corona Response Investment Fund.
At present, three EU states – Germany, France and the Czech Republic – have banned the export of face masks to ensure they don’t go short themselves.
Kuwait has also announced plans to halt commercial flights starting from Friday until further notice over fears of the spread of the new coronavirus.
A government spokesman disclosed this after a cabinet meeting yesterday.
“This decision does not include cargo aircraft and planes carrying Kuwaitis evacuated from abroad,” the official said.
Canada said it is setting up a C$1 billion (728 million U.S. dollars) fund to help its provinces combat a worsening coronavirus outbreak.
Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, who made this known yesterday, added that the government was ready to spend more money if necessary.
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