Greta Thunberg to move climate rallies online amid fear of coronavirus spread

Teenage climate change activist Greta Thunberg on Wednesday called on fellow climate change activists to move their Friday rallies online in the wake of coronavirus outbreak. Thunberg, the founder of Fridays for Future, took to her official Twitter handle and asked fellow activists to keep the numbers low and listen to local authorities. Thunberg urged her followers on Twitter to join the digital strike instead and post a photo of themselves striking with a sign and also asked them to use the hashtag #ClimateStrikeOnline. 

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Thunberg's decision to move the rallies online came after the World Health Organisation (WHO) on Wednesday officially declared the coronavirus outbreak a global pandemic. Many countries around the world are banning large public gatherings and as Thunberg's rallies attract massive crowd she decided to move her Friday rally online and also urged fellow activists to do the same in order to prevent the spread of the virus. 

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Coronavirus outbreak

The novel coronavirus, also known as COVID-19 has so far claimed more than 4,600 lives across the world and has infected over 1,26,000 people globally. According to reports, the virus outbreak has affected more countries and more people than SARS, which broke out in 2002-2003. Media reports suggest that the virus originated from a seafood market in China's Wuhan city, where animals were reportedly being traded illegally. China is the most affected country where over 3,100 people have lost their lives so far. 

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Italy, Iran and South Korea are the most affected countries outside mainland China, where a combined death toll stands at 1,247 as of March 12. Spain, France and the United States are also battling to tackle the outbreak as 55, 48 and 38 people have died in the following countries respectively, which are again most affected countries after China, Italy, Iran, and South Korea. As per reports, health experts around the world are estimating that a vaccine to fight coronavirus could take around one year to develop. 

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