The World Health Organization on Wednesday officially declared the novel coronavirus a global pandemic but stressed that—with sufficient political will—nations can still “change the course” of the outbreak.
“Pandemic is not a word to use lightly or carelessly,” Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, the WHO’s director general, said in a press conference. “It is a word that, if misused, can cause unreasonable fear, or unjustified acceptance that the fight is over, leading to unnecessary suffering and death.”