EXPERT REACTION: WHO declares coronavirus a pandemic

Why have they declared a pandemic now? 

The WHO have officially declared it a Level 6 Pandemic as it now at epidemic proportions in several countries particularly Italy, Iran and South Korea.

The following is an extract from the WHO Director General’s release:

“We have therefore made the assessment that COVID-19 can be characterized as a pandemic.

Pandemic is not a word to use 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.

Describing the situation as a pandemic does not change WHO’s assessment of the threat posed by this virus. It doesn’t change what WHO is doing, and it doesn’t change what countries should do.”

What does this mean for Australia? 

This does not change the situation in Australia. The disease has not broken out into the general community in Australia at this time. There remain a small number of cases which have mostly acquired the disease overseas or through direct contact with someone who did acquire it overseas. However, this is being closely monitored.

IN Australia we are continuing to excise raised precautions including enhanced personal hygiene measures and maintaining social distancing where practical.

Can people do anything to boost their immunity to the virus?

Eat healthy food

How will coronavirus interact with the upcoming flu season? 

The two viruses are unrelated and so people should get their flu shots as normal.

The declaration of a pandemic by the WHO Director General is welcomed. It reassures the public that what they are reading and hearing and seeing is in fact a new virus infecting people across the world – something to be respected. The Pandemic word sometimes strikes fear, but it can also be a powerful tool of reassurance, to consider individual and collective behaviours that can reduce the impact of the pandemic on our most vulnerable populations, particularly the elderly. As a parent and paediatrician, I remain mindful of the simple things that I can be doing to be reassuring in a pandemic, to protect myself and my children and to keep myself healthy so that I am able to provide care to sick children during this period. This includes hand washing, re-evaluating our social commitments and ensuring good respiratory etiquette when coughing or sneezing. Lessons learned from previous pandemics are important – but with information flying around the globe via social media faster than even the virus is, we are seeing the #pandemic unfold. We all need to remain calm and reassuring in our response to this.

Pandemics are rare events that represent the global emergence and spread of a novel pathogen. There have only been handful over the past 100 years.

The Spanish flu in 1918 was one of the most devastating, but Swine flu (H1N1/09) is another example that did not lead to such severe disease.

The current Covid-19 pandemic is not as deadly as Spanish flu but it is highly contagious. This coronavirus is different from influenza viruses so we are also less prepared; we do not have available antiviral drugs; nor do we have a tried-and-tested pipeline for making a vaccine.

There are, however, concerted efforts around the world to develop a coronavirus vaccine. The best-case scenario is that a successful vaccine will take a minimum of 18 months to be developed, so in the meantime other measures such as good hygiene and social distancing will be crucial for mitigating the effects of the outbreak.

The "pandemic" declaration is acknowledgement from WHO that there is now significant transmission of COVID-19 in multiple countries and in multiple regions. It is a call to action for all countries globally. We will see more cases in Australia. We are well prepared, and the experience in other countries has shown that 'social distancing' measures can help to slow down the spread of the virus. 'Flattening the curve' is critical in order to spread out the load on our health system, and everybody has a role to play in protecting themselves and other people. We are likely to start seeing control efforts expand from specific (identify and isolate patients with the virus) to more general (cancelling large events, encouragement to limit travel and work from home if possible, and so on). It's important that everybody keep up to date with the latest advice from their state health department. The up-coming flu season is a concern, both because of the risk to individuals but especially the pressures on our health system. It will be more important than ever to get our flu shots to protect ourselves, each other, and the health system.

The World Health Organization has declared a pandemic as there is clear evidence that the virus continues to spread, and they are concerned that some governments are not doing enough. To that end, the WHO Director-General declared a pandemic this morning to raise the alert level and prompt those governments who have yet to take action to implement their plans.

A number of countries have yet to detect cases, but it is considered likely that this has more to do with limited laboratory capacity to confirm the presence of the virus, rather than the reality there are no cases. A good example here is the continent of Africa, which has only recorded a handful of cases so far and yet it is believed the virus may be circulating widely. The African Centres for Disease Control (CDC) has successfully mobilised resources to support 36 laboratories across Africa to now test for the virus, so we expect to see more cases being confirmed in the coming weeks. We also have a number of countries in our immediate region that have reported very few cases, but we suspect the virus is circulating. In declaring a pandemic, the WHO is urging countries to take aggressive measures to contain the further spread of COVID-19.

For Australia, the WHO’s declaration of a pandemic does not have any significant consequences for our national response principally as we have been operating now for a number of weeks on the basis that a pandemic was already underway. Australia continues to see imported cases, and we have identified a number of small clusters where localised transmission of the virus has occurred between close contacts. We do not have any evidence of sustained community transmission, although it remains a risk and each state and territory is monitoring the situation very carefully and they are ready to respond with additional measures in the event further cases are detected.

The Australian community should prepare to see more cases emerge, but they should also be reassured that our health system is capable of treating those who become seriously ill, and the government will be responding to this threat in a proportionate and measured way. Given we are soon entering our annual flu season, it will be even more important that people engage in regular infection prevention measures such as regular handwashing, cough and sneeze etiquette and avoiding people who are visibly unwell.  Be mindful of those in our community who are more vulnerable, particularly the elderly, and if we can all be a little more careful with our own health practices we’ll get through this together.