WHO Warns Worst could yet to come

The World Health Organization has warned the world that worst could yet come in the COVID-19 Pandemic. The warning comes six months on from the outbreak. WHO head Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus has said that if governments don’t start to implement the right policies, the virus would infect many more people.

Ghebreyesus said his message remains, “Test, Trace, Isolate and Quarantine” Since the coronavirus emerged in China late last year, the virus has infected more than 10 million people. More than 500,000 people have lost their lives fighting the virus. US and Europe have recorded half of the world’s cases but Covid-19 is rapidly growing in the Americas. South Asia and Africa are also affected by the virus, where it is not expected to peak until the end of July.

Dr Tedros told a virtual briefing on Monday: “We all want this to be over. We all want to get on with our lives. But the hard reality is this is not even close to being over.” He said many countries are making progress against the virus but the pandemic is growing up. He urged global unity in fighting the virus.

He said, “With 10 million cases now and half a million deaths, unless we address the problems we’ve already identified at WHO, the lack of national unity and lack of global solidarity and the divided world which is actually helping the virus to spread… the worst is yet to come.” He said we fear the worst is yet to come with the kind of environment and conditions at hand.

He urged the world governments to follow the examples of Germany, South Korea and Japan. They kept the outbreak at bay through policies that included rigorous testing and tracing. More than 2.5 million cases are reported in U.S. 126,000 people lost their lives due to COVID-19 in U.S. so far- more than any other nation. Brazil has recorded the second-highest number of cases, with a total of 1.3 million, and deaths in excess of 57,000.