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Mar 11, 2020 6:10 PM -

WHO declares that virus crisis is now a pandemic

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Officials wearing protective attire work to diagnose people with suspected symptoms of the new coronavirus at a hospital in Daegu, South Korea, Wednesday, Feb. 26, 2020. (Kim Hyun-tae/Yonhap via AP)

The World Health Organization says COVID-19 is officially a pandemic.

WHO director general Dr. Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus made the announcement at a news conference in Geneva, but is urging calm, saying with prevention, preparedness and political leadership it can be managed.

He says calling the situation a pandemic doesn't change the organization's assessment of the threat from the illness or what countries should do to prepare and combat it.

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