More than two months after the start of the outbreak of the novel coronavirus in China, on Wednesday the World Health Organization (“WHO”) formally declared the outbreak a global pandemic. The WHO generally defines a pandemic as a disease that has become widespread around the world.
“We are deeply concerned both by the alarming levels of spread and severity, and by the alarming levels of inaction,” Dr. Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, director-general of the WHO, said Wednesday. The WHO noted that it was “deeply concerned” by the “spread and severity” of the coronavirus, and by “alarming levels of inaction” among governments outside of the disease’s epicenter, China. China reported a rise in coronavirus infections imported from abroad as the number of cases in the U.S. topped 1,000.
President Donald Trump called on the country’s top bankers regarding the coronavirus outbreak, as leaders both inside and outside the United States continue to try to assess the economic damage wrought by the virus – and the economic and financial market fallout that is still to come.
