Heena Sharma Blog

The World Health Organization (WHO) has declared Coronavirus a pandemic on Wednesday. But the question is will this declaration bring any change in the ways the nations are working to combat the novel coronavirus infection? But first, what is a pandemic? A WHO website defines pandemic as a “worldwide spread of a new disease.” This means, irrespective of how deadly or severe the disease or infection is, to become a pandemic, it has to spread far enough around the world. The last time a pandemic occurred was with H1N1 or Swine flu in 2009, which claimed hundreds of thousands of lives across the globe according to experts. In case you are thinking about the 2002-2003 SARS outbreak, 2014-2016 Ebola outbreak and the 2016 Zika outbreak were not pandemics they did not impact as many people as Coronavirus despite spreading in more than one country. Read More

British Airways has suspended all direct flights to and from mainland China after Britain warned against all but essential travel to the country due to the coronavirus outbreak. BA.com, the airline's website, shows no direct flights to China are available in January and February. "We apologise to customers for the inconvenience, but the safety of our customers and crew is always our priority," BA said in an emailed statement on Wednesday. "Customers due to travel to or from China in the coming days can find more information on BA.com." Britain on Tuesday advised against "all but essential" travel to mainland China due to the coronavirus outbreak. Read More