WHO declares coronavirus pandemic; New Zealand Health Minister says nothing changes, but vigilance is needed

This morning, WHO Director-General Dr Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus formally declared the global coronavirus outbreak a pandemic.

 

The novel coronavirus pneumonia outbreak began in Wuhan, China, around December last year and spread worldwide within three months. In the two weeks before WHO's declaration, confirmed infections worldwide surged 13-fold.

WHO Director-General Tedros said he was “deeply concerned” by the indifference and inaction in response to the virus.

He described this complacency and underestimation of the outbreak as “alarming”.

The distinction between an epidemic and a pandemic is one of scale: the former spreads over a smaller area, while the latter generally refers to an infectious disease spreading across multiple countries or around the world.

Tedros urged countries to take immediate, decisive action to contain further spread within their borders.

He said some countries had been relatively successful in fighting the outbreak. For many others battling clusters of infections or community transmission, the challenge was not whether they could take the same approach, but whether they would.

He acknowledged that governments must balance protecting health, minimising disruption and respecting human life, but no one could stand apart from the outbreak: everyone must work together to “calmly take the right action to protect the world's people”.

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 Since the outbreak began late last year, more than 118,000 people worldwide have been diagnosed with COVID-19, including 5 in New Zealand.

 

New Zealand Health Minister Dr David Clark said on a TVNZ programme today that declaring an influenza pandemic “changes nothing”.

 

“The World Health Organization says that, in fact, this does not change any of its response measures,” Dr Clark said.

 

“New Zealand's Director-General of Health has been saying for some time that this is a pandemic in name, so in a sense it changes nothing.

 

Dr Clark said it did highlight the importance of New Zealand's public health response and of New Zealanders taking responsibility for their own health during the outbreak.

 

“We have been implementing our pandemic plan since early January, but I think what this does is highlight how seriously the world is taking this issue, the importance of the public health response, and the need for people to take responsibility for their own health and be more health-conscious.”

 

Yesterday, New Zealand Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern announced that travellers arriving in New Zealand from anywhere in Italy would need to self-isolate for 14 days, matching the requirement for arrivals from South Korea.

People from Iran and mainland China are currently subject to a travel ban.

 

Today, Dr Clark said the Government was “reviewing the daily advice on [New Zealand's] borders”.

 

“If we receive advice, we will take further action in the best interests of New Zealanders,” Dr Clark said.