Medical Xpress March 10, 2025
Five years ago on Tuesday, the World Health Organization announced COVID-19 had become a pandemic—a moment when the world finally woke up to the unfolding disaster.
The WHO had already sounded its own highest alarm five weeks earlier. But that warning—which does not mention the “p” word—had gone unheeded.
At a press conference on March 11, 2020, the head of the United Nations’ health agency, Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, finally said the worsening outbreak could be “characterized as a pandemic”.
Only then did many countries grasp the severity of the situation and—way too late—jolt into action.
The pandemic, the likes of which had not been seen in a century, killed millions, shredded economies and crippled health systems.
SHOC room scene
Tedros...
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