WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus on Wednesday said that lockdowns, being implemented by several countries to combat COVID-19, will not be enough to eradicate the virus from the world.
Paramedics, government municipal and police officials stand outside a private hotel as they plan the safe evacuation and hospitalisation of a suspected positive COVID-19 coronavirus customer that allegedly self-quarantined himself in the hotel, during the first day of a 21-day government-imposed nationwide lockdown as a preventive measure against the COVID-19 coronavirus, in Bengaluru. (Photo: AFP)
Even as India is grappling with the novel Coronavirus pandemic and is under a 21-day nationwide lockdown, at least 15 people have died of the deadly disease as of Thursday and the confirmed cases have risen to 649.
Two new deaths were reported from Maharashtra and Jammu and Kashmir due to COVID-19. A 65-year-old man infected with the coronavirus died at Chest Disease (CD) hospital Dalgate, Srinagar in the early hours of Thursday. recording Kashmir’s first death.
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Nearly 21,000 people have died of coronavirus infection across the world with over 7500 deaths being recorded in Italy alone. Spain has also crossed China’s death toll with over 3600 deaths. The virus infection in the United States is spreading at an alarming level with over 900 deaths and 60,000 infections.
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The number of people infected with the novel coronavirus worldwide has soared past 460,000.
WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus on Wednesday said that lockdowns, being implemented by several countries to combat COVID-19, will not be enough to eradicate the virus from the world.
“To slow the spread of COVID-19, many countries introduced “lockdown” measures. But on their own, these measures will not extinguish epidemics. We call on all countries to use this time to attack the coronavirus. You have created a 2nd window of opportunity,” Ghebreyesus said in a daily briefing.
More than three billion people are under lockdown worldwide with India’s stay-at-home order for its 1.3 billion being the biggest.
Meanwhile, the G20 major economies will hold an emergency videoconference on Thursday to discuss a global response to the crisis, as will the 27 leaders of the European Union, the outbreak’s new epicenter.
As far as China is concerned, the country has begun to relax its own draconian restrictions on free movement in the province of Hubei — where the outbreak began in December — after the country reported no new cases.
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