New outbreaks been reported in Iraq, Brazil, Greece, Israel, Nigeria, New Zealand and the list goes on.

There are now more new cases being reported daily from outside China than inside.

But what is a pandemic?

And why are the W.

H.

O.

Only Corning at one?

Now, in this video, we're gonna look at what that means, and it actually changes anything.

What is a pandemic?

Word itself comes from the Greek for all people, but that doesn't mean it has to affect literally every person on the planet.

And currently there's no universal definition that everyone agrees on.

We usually use the word to mean a new infectious illness that is spreading uncontrollably in different regions off the world, although not necessarily everywhere.

And although the W.

H O has said people can call covert 19 a pandemic, they don't give official classifications to illnesses themselves.

Under mixer, such are not declared.

This is a characterization or a description of a situation on the D.

C.

Has said.

It is not a change in what we do is not a trigger for anything other than more aggressive, more intensive actions.

So why has the W.

H.

O only now called covert 19 a pandemic going by the common definition, the Corona virus has some characteristics off a pandemic.

It's a new virus on was unknown to science before December last year, and it's spreading rapidly across borders in multiple continents despite efforts to contain it.

So it certainly appears to meet those criteria.

But the W.

H O was reluctant to use the word pandemic until March the 11th.

That's because although the virus spread to different regions, the majority of cases could be linked back to a thought.

If we say there's a pandemic of Corona, verse were essentially accepting that every human on the planet will be exposed to the virus.

But now the W.

H.

O has used the word pandemic because in the past two weeks, the number of cases outside China has increased 13 fold on the number of affected countries has tripled, but they were quick to urge caution in using this word.

Pandemic is not a word to use lightly or carelessly.

It's a word that, if misused, can coz unreasonable fear or unjustified acceptance that the fight is over.

It's important to note that the word pandemic doesn't tell us anything about the severity of the virus.

Just the spread.

Take mortality rates.

For example, the W H O has put the global death rate from Corona virus at round 3.4% off those it infects on.

That number also changes depending on which country you're in.

So far more than 4000 people have died from the virus around the world.

The mortality rate from a bola was around 50% and it killed 11,000 people.

Yet a bola was never defined as a pandemic as it was mostly with in West and Central Africa.

Just because something is a pandemic, it doesn't necessarily mean that it's extremely deadly.

It just means it has spread far.

The last time the W.

H.

O declared a pandemic for the 2009 swine flu outbreak, it was criticized by some countries for unnecessarily spreading fear about illness.

With the death rate of around 0.2% I have spoken consistently about the need for facts, not fear.

Using the word pandemic now does not fit the facts but it may certainly cause fear.

This is not the time to focus on what word we use does have a pandemic preparedness plan guide for countries on what to do.

It says government should be ready to fully mobilize health care and make safety equipment and medical supplies widely available and distributed where necessary.

Take Victoria in Australia, for example.

In their worst case scenario, they say they're ready to potentially locked down whole cities and closed schools.

They anticipate up to 40% of the entire country's workforce could be sidelined by the virus.

They even say these effects could last up to a whole year.

And in the UK, the government has an emergency plan which could shut down public transport and stop mass gatherings on events.

But again, these are plans for the worst case scenario.

Most countries are already taken huge steps to try and stop.

The virus has spread through quarantine on restricting travel on.

Most countries advise that anyone who thinks they may have come into contact with the virus to self isolate until the incubation period parties, and that's currently thought to be around 14 days.

The scientists are still unsure.

Some people argue that labeling covert 19 as a pandemic doesn't actually mean much as it's already being taken seriously anyway.

On wouldn't really change how countries are responding at the moment.

I think it's just a terminate probably isn't going to make what we do different.

Theo.

Major risk of the virus spreading out of control comes from it, infecting those in countries which do not have advanced healthcare systems.

Those places would be less able to cope with an outbreak on less effective at quarantining and controlling infection.

That's when the virus could spread rapidly on the death toll could spike.

And it's a situation the W H O desperately wants to avoid.

We're not saying that the world should move from containment to mitigation.

81 countries have no cases, so they should do everything to prevent from importing any case.

There are 57 countries who have reported less than 10 cases 10 or less cases.

They can cut it from the butt.

So there you have it.

That's what pandemic is why the Corona virus has now been declared one what it all might mean for how countries tackle the virus as it spreads.

Let us know if there's anything you want to know in the comments below, and don't forget to like and subscribe terrible news to stay up to date with the outbreak.