The coronavirus is closer to causing a pandemic, but outbreaks in countries can still be controlled through a combination of containment and mitigation measures, the World Health Organization (WHO) said on Monday.
Four countries — China, South Korea, Italy and Iran — account for 93 percent of the nearly 110,000 cases reported by more than 100 countries worldwide, WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said.
"Now that the virus has a foothold in so many countries, the threat of a pandemic has become very real," Tedros told a news conference. "But it would be the first pandemic in history that could be controlled. The bottom line is we are not at the mercy of the virus."
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