WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus adjusts his glasses during a press conference at the World Health Organisation's headquarters in Geneva, on December 14, 2022. (Photo by Fabrice Coffrini/ AFP)
Three years ago, the Associated Press reported on the World Health Organization's declaration of "the outbreak sparked by a new virus in China that has spread to more than a dozen countries as a global emergency Thursday after the number of cases spiked more than tenfold in a week."
"The U.N. health agency defines an international emergency as an 'extraordinary event' that constitutes a risk to other countries and requires a coordinated international response," the report continued.
The same day, U.S. health officials reported the first known case in which the new coronavirus was spread from one person to another in the United States. President Donald Trump described the handful of U.S. cases of the virus as a “very little problem” and said people infected were “recuperating successfully.” The State Department advised U.S. citizens against traveling to China, and Russia ordered the closure of its 2,600-mile-long land border with China in an effort to limit the spread of the virus.
In his speech declaring a global public health emergency, WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said "Our greatest concern is the potential for this virus to spread to countries with weaker health systems which are ill-prepared to deal with it.”
"The only way we will defeat this outbreak," said Dr. Tedros, "is for all countries to work together in a spirit of solidarity and cooperation. We are all in this together, and we can only stop it together."
As of Jan. 27, 2023, more than 6.8 million people have died of Covid-19, according to WHO data.
Lithium ion battery fires have been on the rise across the country since about 2019 due to the increasing number of e-bikes and scooters on the road. Cheddar’s own Ashley Mastronardi spoke to a business owner who was personally affected by an e-bike blaze.
The Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) has formed a panel aimed at improving the safety and reliability of the nation's air traffic system after several close calls on airport runways during takeoffs and landings.
Donald Trump's lawyer sought Thursday to pick apart a decades-old rape claim against the former president, questioning why accuser E. Jean Carroll did not scream or seek help when Trump allegedly attacked her in a department store.
Some residents along the swelling Upper Mississippi River evacuated their homes this week while others scrambled Wednesday to stack sandbags in preparation for what forecasters say could be near-record flooding caused by the rapid melting of a huge snowpack in northern Minnesota.
Cheddar News correspondent Shannon LaNier continues his weeklong series, Shannon Shapes Up, exploring alternative ways to get fit. In today's episode, he learns about the benefits of surfing as exercise with Aaron Thouvenin, owner of Surf Set in midtown Manhattan.
U.N. officials said Tuesday that one side in the Sudan conflict has seized control of a national health lab in the capital of Khartoum that holds biological material, calling it an “extremely dangerous” development.
A ground assault by the Taliban killed the Islamic State militant who spearheaded the August 2021 suicide bombing at the Kabul airport that left 13 U.S. troops and about 170 Afghans dead during the chaotic U.S. withdrawal from Afghanistan, U.S. officials said Tuesday.
