WHO's Tedros: Threat of a pandemic has become very real

 "Now that the virus has a foothold in so many countries, the threat of a pandemic has become very real," said World Health Organization (WHO) chief Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus on Monday but added that it could still be controlled.

"Strategy should be about both containment and mitigation to stop the spread of coronavirus," Tedros said. "We are encouraged that Italy is taking aggressive measures to contain its epidemic and we hope that those measures prove effective in the coming days."

Risk perception

Flight-to-safety remains the main market theme on Monday. As of writing, the 10-year US Treasury bond yield was down 27.3% on the day and Wall Street's three major indexes were erasing between 4.45% and 6%.