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COVID 19 was today declared a pandemic - which means it is a  disease that is spreading in multiple countries around the world at the same time.

There have been 118,381 confirmed cases identified, leading to 4,292 deaths in 114 countries.  

Tonight, those countries do not include Belize, nor its neighbour Guatemala, through there are confirmed cases in Mexico, Panama, Costa Rica, and now Honduras. 

It has been declared a pandemic because the number of cases outside China have increased 13-fold over the past two weeks.  Here’s this morning’s declaration by the Director General of the WHO:

Dr. Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus - WHO Director-General
"There are now more than 118,000 cases in 114 countries and 4,291 people have lost their lives. Thousands more are fighting for their lives in hospitals. In the days and weeks ahead, we expect to see the number of cases, the number of deaths and the number of affected countries climb even higher. WHO has been assisting this outbreak around the clock and we're deeply concerned both by the alarming levels of spread and severity and by the alarming levels of inaction. We have therefore made the assessment that COVID 19 can be characterized as a pandemic."