Sounds like word salad to me.
A pandemic is defined as an epidemic that occurs on several continents and/or several countries. Maybe that’s what he is trying to say, but maybe he could try to explain what he really means. It may not be a pandemic yet but it looks like we’re gonna find out pretty quick one way or another.
More or less. If it is not widespread and in large numbers outside of China, it is by definition not a global pandemic.
That doesn’t mean it can’t become one, but it isn’t yet.
translation : The Chinese haven’t given us permission to call it a pandemic.
Not trying to downplay this dangerous virus and it’s potential, but typically, an epidemic is defined as widespread and infecting a significant portion of a population at the same time. The CDC is holding this years flu season just below “epidemic level” in the USA, and it has infected Americans in numbers orders of magnitude above the number of Chinese infected by COVID-2019. Even in China, this virus is still at the “outbreak” level. The Chinese are desperately trying to avoid an epidemic, and the world is nowhere near pandemic. Not that it cant happen over the next few months or years, but there is a wide gap between pandemic and where we are now.