The current outbreak of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19), caused by the severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2), continues to spread, and as of March 11, 2020, it has reached 115 countries, with 119 239 cases and 4287 deaths. In January, WHO decided to define the outbreak of COVID-19 as a public health emergency of international concern, which triggered the release of funding and other resources. Despite SARS-CoV-2 now being present in every continent apart from Antartica, WHO remains reluctant to make the next step and call the outbreak a pandemic. On March 5, Tedros Adhamon Ghebreyesus, director-general of WHO, stated that while the outbreak might be uncontrolled in some settings, it is not yet uncontrollable and that would be the threshold to pass for the definition of a pandemic. However, on March 8, Tedros admitted that the threat of a pandemic is becoming very real, and should WHO decide to call the outbreak a pandemic, it would be “the first pandemic that could be actually controlled”.

中文翻译：

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COVID-19，是不是大流行？

当前由严重急性呼吸系统综合症冠状病毒2（SARS-CoV-2）引起的2019年冠状病毒疾病爆发（COVID-19）仍在继续蔓延，截至2020年3月11日，它已遍及115个国家和119个国家239例，死亡4287。1月，世卫组织决定将COVID-19的暴发定义为国际关注的突发公共卫生事件，这触发了资金和其他资源的释放。尽管现在除了南极洲以外的每个大陆都存在SARS-CoV-2，世卫组织仍然不愿采取下一步行动，将疫情称为大流行病。3月5日，世卫组织总干事Tedros Adhamon Ghebreyesus表示，虽然在某些情况下该暴发可能不受控制，但仍无法控制，这将成为大流行定义的起点。但是，在3月8日，