In case you don’t already know, the World Health Organisation (WHO) increased the global risk of COVID-19 to the highest level yesterday, 28 February, because the virus has essentially reached everywhere and every continent around the world except Antarctica.

Many governments have issued travel advisories to stop their people from travelling or gathering in crowded places.

As of now, COVID-19 has killed more than 2,800 people and infected more than 84,000 people worldwide, with most of them from China because it supposedly started from an animal market in the central Chinese city of Wuhan in late December, though the new cases there are now lower than cases outside of China now.

But this isn’t what worries authorities the most. It is the fact that in the past 24 hours, nine new countries have reported confirmed COVID-19 cases in their countries.

Clearly, the spread is getting more rampant.

Tedros Adhanom Ghebreysus, WHO chief, said, “We have now increased our assessment of the risk of spread and the risk of impact of COVID-19 to very high at global level. We do not see evidence as yet that the virus is spreading freely in communities. As long as that’s the case, we still have a chance of containing the virus.”

He also added, “The key to containing this virus is to break the chain of transmission. Our greatest enemy is not the virus itself, it’s fear, rumours and stigma and our greatest assets are facts, reason and solidarity.”

So, what does that mean?

Got To Be Prepared

While it feels like we’re all just waiting to be infected, UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres said, “This is not a time for panic. It is time to be prepared – fully prepared.”

Global investors have already pulled out of many companies as world markets are suffering their worst week since the 2008 financial crisis.

For a start, Jerome Powell, the chair of the US Federal Reserve, said that the central bank is ready to step in whenever needed, especially since the deadly COVID-19 has been posing “evolving” risks to the world’s largest economy.

Many countries have also taken aggressive measures to ensure that the containment of the virus is maintained. For example, Switzerland cancelled all gatherings of more than 1,000 people, and Saudi Arabia banned Gulf citizens from entering its holy cities of Mecca and Medina.

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Schools have also been closed in Japan and Hong Kong until April. Just yesterday, FIFA warned that international football matches could be postponed.

Additionally, many businesses have been affected by COVID-19, with their earnings taking a hit due to weaker demand.

Oil prices have dropped too, with Brent oil for April delivery dropping to just US$50.05 (~S$69.74) a barrel.

In other words, more measures will be done – both to contain the spread of the virus and to contain the damage done to the economy.

Now, what contributed to this?

New Hotspots

Iran, Italy and South Korea have recently become major new hotspots with a sudden surge in the number of confirmed cases in their countries.

Italy has 650 cases and 17 deaths, while South Korea now has the most number of COVID-19 cases outside of China, with almost 3,000 infections.

Michael Ryan, the head of the Who’s health emergencies programme, said, “We see a number of countries struggling with containment.”

There’s also one major problem.

The WHO is currently concerned about Africa’s preparedness to cope with COVID-19, especially since the continent’s healthcare systems are not well-equipped to fight this epidemic.

Nigeria has also reported their first case yesterday, an Italian man in densely populated Lagos.

According to BBC, at least 210 people have died due to COVID-19 in Iran even though the official death toll is 34. However, a health ministry representative did angrily deny the “210” figure.

The health ministry of Japan has also announced that a British man who was on board Diamond Princess, the COVID-19-stricken cruise ship quarantined near Tokyo has passed away.

As of now, more than 700 people on the ship have been confirmed to be infected with COVID-19.

Experts speculate that the virus had probably “circulated unnoticed for several weeks” before the first confirmed cases, and it well could have started in January.

Nevertheless, more countries are implementing measures to ensure that COVID-19 does not spread any further, despite the difficulty.

In Singapore, we’ve already increased the number of measures early this month so it technically won’t affect us – yet.