• The WHO declared Covid-19 a pandemic in March, but this refers to the extent of the spread of the disease and not necessarily its severity.  
• So far, more than 550 000 people have died and more than 12 million cases have been recorded. 
• This is why Covid-19 has been described as a pandemic and why it is not like the typical flu.  

The World Health Organisation (WHO) declared the Covid-19 outbreak a pandemic on 11 March 2020.

But WHO director-general Dr Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus says the declaration does not change how the organisation will deal with the threat the virus poses. 

"It doesn't change what WHO is doing and it doesn't change what countries should do."

It was estimated that, as of Thursday, there were more than 12 million cases of Covid-19 globally, resulting in more than 550 000 deaths. 

But why has Covid-19 been described as a pandemic and why it is not like the typical flu?

News24 takes a look: 

Why is Covid-19 a pandemic? 

Announcing the declaration in March, Ghebreyesus said the WHO did not use the word pandemic lightly or carelessly because if it was misused, it would lead to unreasonable fear. 

Up to that point, Covid-19 was described as an epidemic. An epidemic is the high spread of a disease within a specific community or area, and a pandemic refers to the global spread of a new disease.

At the start of the outbreak, Covid-19 was mostly confined to China and it was therefore referred to as an epidemic, but as it spread to more and more regions, it became a pandemic. 

Pandemic, therefore, refers to the reach of, specifically, a new virus, and not necessarily the intensity of it. 

The WHO has not defined exactly what the threshold is for a pandemic declaration. 

The United States' Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) says the word pandemic is used when viruses "are able to infect people easily and spread from person to person in an efficient and sustained way" in various places around the world.

Why is Covid-19 not like the typical flu? 

While the symptoms of Covid-19 appear similar to the seasonal flu, the diseases differ in key areas which makes the new coronavirus deadly.

According to the Centres for Disease Control and other sources, these include that, among others:  

Those who have been infected with Covid-19 also report long-term effects, such as joint pains, tiredness, a persistent cough and confusion.