WHO declares virus pandemic
Baku, March 12, AZERTAC
The World Health Organization (WHO) has declared the coronavirus outbreak, which has spread to at least 114 countries around the world, a pandemic with Italy tightening its quarantine and the US imposing a ban on flights to Europe.
"We have called every day for countries to take urgent and aggressive action," WHO chief Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said on Wednesday. "We have rung the alarm bell loud and clear."
President Donald Trump announced new measures to address the United States growing outbreak, including a Europe travel ban that will take effect from midnight on Friday.
Italy has further tightened the quarantine it imposed across the country earlier this week - with all but essential services and shops to close for two weeks - after leaders from the European Union promised to do "whatever it takes" to tackle the coronavirus, which first emerged in China at the end of last year.
Meanwhile, the virus continued to spread in the United States and appeared in new countries including Bolivia, Honduras and Turkey, while Indonesia, Bulgaria and Sweden recorded their first deaths.
More than 66,000 people have recovered from the illness around the world, according to John Hopkins University, which is tracking the virus.
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