New Vocabulary Created by a Pandemic

On the 12th March 2020, the World Health Organization (WHO) and Europe’s Standing Committee of the Regional Committee met. Dr Hans Henri P. Kluge, WHO Regional Director for Europe, briefed the group on the rapid escalation of COVID-19 in the WHO European Region, now placing it at the centre of this pandemic.

As of the morning of 12 March, there were more than 20 000 confirmed cases and there were almost 1000 deaths in the European Region. The meeting followed the announcement that COVID-19 would be characterised as a “Pandemic”. Pandemic differs to an Epidemic because whilst an Epidemic is a disease that affects a large number of people within a community, population, or region, a Pandemic an epidemic that’s spread over multiple countries or continents. Hence our familiarity with this word.