More than 7 million people have been reported infected with coronavirus worldwide. (Representative)
Geneva:
The World Health Organization (WHO) urged countries on Monday to continue efforts to contain the new coronavirus, noting that the pandemic is worsening globally and has not reached its peak in Central America.
More than 1,36,000 cases were reported Sunday worldwide, “the most in one day to date,” said WHO director-general Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus.
“More than six months after the start of the pandemic, this is not the time for any country to ease off,” he said in an online press briefing.
In response to a question about China, WHO’s main emergency expert, Dr. Mike Ryan, said that retrospective studies on how the epidemic had been treated could wait, adding, “We need to focus now on what we’re doing today to avoid new spikes. “
Ryan also said that infections in Central American countries, including Guatemala, were still on the rise and that these were “complex” epidemics.
“I think this is a time of great concern,” he said, calling for strong government leadership and international support for the region.
Brazil is now one of the hotspots of the pandemic, with the second highest number of confirmed cases, behind only the United States, and the number of deaths which exceeded Italy last week.
After removing cumulative figures for coronavirus deaths in Brazil from a national website, the Ministry of Health has caused confusion and controversy by releasing two sets of conflicting figures for the latest count of infections and deaths .
Ryan said the data from Brazil has been “extremely detailed” so far, but stressed that it is important for Brazilians to understand where the virus is and how to manage the risks, and that WHO hopes that communication would be “consistent and transparent”.
Maria van Kerkhove, WHO epidemiologist, said that a “comprehensive approach” was essential in South America.
More than 7 million people have been reported infected with the coronavirus worldwide and more than 4,000,000 have died.
“It’s far from over,” said van Kerkhove.
At least half of the recently discovered coronavirus cases in Singapore have no symptoms, the government’s virus task force co-chair told Reuters on Monday, reinforcing the city’s decision to very gradually ease lock restrictions.
Van Kerkhove said that many countries conducting contact searches have identified asymptomatic cases but did not find them to cause further spread of the virus, adding: “It is very rare”.
Ryan, when asked about technical cooperation with the United States, after President Donald Trump’s announcement 10 days ago to “ end ” his relations with WHO, said that WHO s relies heavily on experts from the Centers for Disease Control and the National Institute of Health.
“We will continue to do so until we are informed or otherwise informed,” he added.
(With the exception of the title, this story was not edited by GalacticGaming staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)
