The World Health Organization says in the past two weeks the number of COVID-19 cases outside of China has increased 13-fold and the number of countries affected has tripled.
The Director-General says there are now more than 118 thousand cases in 114 countries and almost 43-hundred deaths with the expectation the number of cases, the number of affected countries and the number of deaths will continue to climb.
Tedros Ghebreyesus says the WHO is concerned both by the spread and severity of the virus but also by what the Director-General describes as alarming in-action.
“We have formed the assessment that COVID-19 can be characterized as a pandemic.”
The use of the word Pandemic came with a cautionary note and he says it should not be used lightly or carelessly.
“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.”
Ghebreyesus says it doesn’t change W-H-O’s assessment of the threat posed by the virus and it doesn’t change what countries should do in the face of the virus.
While answering questions from the world’s media, Dr. Michael Ryan, Executive Director, with WHO’s Health Emergencies Programmes explained that containment of the disease is still key, to prevent health care systems from being overwhelmed.
“There have to be very strong efforts made to suppress infection, to push the infection back, because at the very least it will take the pressure, it will allow and flatten the curve, allow your health system to remain in control, and achieve some success in case fatality.”
And, just as the WHO characterizes COVID-19 as a pandemic, Innovation Saskatchewan says it is providing researchers at the University of Saskatchewan with $200 thousand to help find a vaccine for COVID-19. The University’s Vaccine and Infectious Disease Organization-International Vaccine Centre told CJWW news that a vaccine has been produced that is now being tested in animals.
Volker Gerdts CEO and Director of VIDO-InterVac told our newsroom that he is pretty positive the vaccine will work, but the vaccine would need to be sent away to clinical studies before it would be safe for human use. They are a few weeks away from finishing the current stage of research. VIDO-InterVac has already received almost a million dollars from the federal government for this research.
