FILE PHOTO: People, wearing protective masks following an outbreak of the coronavirus disease (COVID-19), are pictured in Tokyo, Japan, March 12, 2020. REUTERS/Edgard Garrido/File Photo
LONDON (Reuters) - The World Health Organisation is considering changing the way it classifies and describes international epidemics, amid a protracted public debate over whether to call the outbreak of the new coronavirus a pandemic.
Officials at the Geneva-based WHO – who this week described it as a pandemic for the first time - are reviewing how the health agency communicates its risk assessment of disease outbreaks in the future, said two people familiar with the discussions. They said that included use of the term pandemic as well as PHEIC, which stands for public health emergency of international concern.
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